Martin Flersheim

The Frankfurt merchant Martin Flersheim (1856-1935) was a prominent art collector and patron in his time. He owned an extensive collection of contemporary German artists, including paintings by Franz von Lenbach, Jakob Nussbaum, Franz von Stuck, Wilhelm Trübner, Fritz von Uhde and Max Liebermann. A list of the entire collection was destroyed during the World War II. However, one copy of an inventory dated to approximately 1910 survived the war and is available in the Berlin Art Library. Flersheim was a board member of the Städel Museum Association and was a Director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein. In 1921 he donated the famous „Violinist at the Window“ by Otto Scholderer to the Städel Museum, as well as Carl Spitzweg’s painting „Der Einsiedler vor der Klause“. His brother, Ernst Flersheim, a Frankfurt based ivory dealer, was forced to sell his collection in 1937 in order to emigrate to Amsterdam. Nonetheless, he and his wife were caught up by the Nazi regime and murdered in 1944 in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Martin Flersheim’s widow Florence, who had the American nationality, emigrated together with her son via Holland to the United States. After 1945, they claimed of works of art they had to sell prior to emigration. Links: https://artresearch-service.com/martin-flersheim-jewish-collector-and-patron-of-frankfurt/. Accessed 29 May 2021. For works of art claimed by the Flersheim family, please see the Lost Art Database: https://www.lostart.de/Webs/EN/Datenbank/MeldungVerlust.html?cms_param=menu%3Dobjgrp%26INST_ID%3D11537. Accessed 29 May 2021.