E. & A. Silberman Galleries

E. & A. Silberman Galleries was a New York commercial art dealership founded in 1938 by the Austrian Jewish brothers Elkan Silberman and Abris Silberman. The business grew out of a long-established Silberman art-dealing tradition in Vienna, where the family had reportedly operated an art dealership since the late eighteenth century. Before emigrating, the brothers ran an art dealership in Vienna during the 1920s on Figtengasse. The Anschluss of Austria in 1938 radically altered the family’s circumstances. Their Vienna business was expropriated under Nazi rule, and its inventory was divided, with some works sold and others transferred to Hungary. In response to the threat of persecution, Elkan and Abris Silberman left Austria for the United States and established E. & A. Silberman Galleries, Inc. in New York during the same year. The gallery became part of the transatlantic movement of art dealers, collectors, and artworks shaped by wartime displacement and emigration. In the United States, the gallery developed a reputation for supplying important private and institutional collections. Descriptions of its activity associate the dealership with the formation of museum collections and with collections assembled by figures including G. H. Clowes, Dan Fellows Platt, Booth Tarkington, and L. M. Rabinowitz. Its business was therefore not limited to retail sales to individual clients; it also participated in the circulation of paintings and other works into prominent American collections. The gallery’s historical record is also connected to later investigations into Nazi-looted art. In 2000, the North Carolina Museum of Art determined that its painting Madonna and Child in a Landscape by Lucas Cranach the Elder had been looted from the Jewish collector Philipp von Gomperz. The work had passed through the possession of Vienna Nazi governor Baldur von Schirach and was later sold by E. & A. Silberman Galleries to George and Marianne Khuner of Beverly Hills, California, who were described as unsuspecting purchasers. In 2011, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, restituted another painting that had been looted from the Jewish collector Walter Westfeld; the museum had acquired that work from E. & A. Silberman Galleries in December 1941. These cases do not by themselves establish that the gallery knowingly participated in Nazi looting. They do, however, place some of its transactions within the complex provenance problems created by wartime confiscation, forced sales, displacement, and postwar art-market transfers. The available reference material does not specify the gallery’s closing date, a successor organization, or its complete inventory. It is therefore best characterized as a historical, now-defunct New York art dealership with Austrian origins and a documented role in the movement of European art into American collections.

The Silberman family’s art-trading background was rooted in Vienna. Reference material states that the family had operated an art dealership there since 1780. In the 1920s, brothers Elkan Silberman and Abris Silberman were associated with an E. & A. Silberman dealership on Figtengasse. Their business operated within the broader Viennese market for European art before the political destruction of Austria’s Jewish commercial and cultural institutions. Following the Anschluss in 1938, the brothers’ Vienna company was expropriated. Its stock was reportedly divided between sales and transfers to Hungary. Facing persecution as Jews under Nazi rule, Elkan and Abris emigrated to the United States and founded E. & A. Silberman Galleries, Inc. in New York in 1938. The New York gallery represented both a continuation of the family’s profession and a forced relocation of its commercial base from Central Europe to the United States. The gallery became known for dealing in European paintings and for contributing works to significant American collections. Its activity has been associated with the collections of G. H. Clowes, Dan Fellows Platt, Booth Tarkington, and L. M. Rabinowitz, as well as with museum holdings. This reputation reflects the important role that émigré dealers played in helping American collectors acquire European art during and after the period of political upheaval in Europe. The gallery’s legacy is complicated by later provenance research. In 2000, the North Carolina Museum of Art identified its Lucas Cranach the Elder painting Madonna and Child in a Landscape as an artwork looted from Jewish collector Philipp von Gomperz. The work had entered the possession of Baldur von Schirach, the Nazi governor of Vienna, before passing through E. & A. Silberman Galleries and being sold to George and Marianne Khuner in California. In 2011, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, restituted a separate painting looted from Jewish collector Walter Westfeld; the museum’s records identified E. & A. Silberman Galleries as the seller from which it acquired the work in December 1941. The available sources do not provide a closing date, a detailed list of directors after the founders, or evidence of a current operating entity. The gallery is consequently treated as defunct. Its historical significance lies in three overlapping areas: the continuity of a multigenerational Viennese art-dealing family, the forced migration of that business to New York after Nazi persecution, and the later provenance and restitution questions surrounding artworks that passed through the international art market during the wartime era.

• 2011

  Boston museum restitutes a painting linked to Walter Westfeld

  [1]E. & A. Silberman Galleriesen.wikipedia.org

  The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, restituted a work looted from Walter Westfeld that it had purchased from E. & A. Silberman Galleries in 1941.

• 2000

  Cranach provenance investigation becomes public

  [1]E. & A. Silberman Galleriesen.wikipedia.org

  The North Carolina Museum of Art identified Madonna and Child in a Landscape by Lucas Cranach the Elder as having been looted from Philipp von Gomperz; the painting had passed through the Silberman gallery.

• 1938

  New York gallery founded

  [1]E. & A. Silberman Galleriesen.wikipedia.org

  After the expropriation of their Vienna business and their flight from Nazi persecution, Elkan and Abris Silberman founded E. & A. Silberman Galleries in New York.

• 1780

  Silberman family art dealership established in Vienna

  [1]E. & A. Silberman Galleriesen.wikipedia.org

  Reference material places the beginning of the Silberman family’s Viennese art-dealing tradition in 1780.

A specialist commercial art dealership serving collectors and museums, with roots in the Austrian art trade and a post-1938 base in New York.

• Art dealership · 1938

  European paintings

  The gallery dealt in European paintings for private collectors and institutions. The available record connects it with works that entered prominent American collections and with at least two paintings later examined through Nazi-era provenance research.

• Art dealership

  Old Master works

  The gallery’s documented transactions included works associated with the Old Master market, including Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Madonna and Child in a Landscape. The available material does not establish the full range of artists or periods represented.

• 2011

  Restitution of a painting formerly sold by the gallery

  The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, restituted a painting looted from Jewish collector Walter Westfeld. Museum records identified E. & A. Silberman Galleries as the seller in a December 1941 acquisition.

  Source

• 2000

  Provenance dispute involving Cranach’s Madonna and Child in a Landscape

  The North Carolina Museum of Art determined that its Cranach painting had been looted from Jewish collector Philipp von Gomperz. The work had passed through the possession of Baldur von Schirach and later through E. & A. Silberman Galleries before being sold to George and Marianne Khuner. The available source does not state that the gallery knowingly handled looted property.

  Source

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• 1938

  Relocation and re-establishment in New YorkStrategy

  Background

  The brothers’ Vienna dealership was expropriated after the Anschluss, and they faced persecution as members of a Jewish family.

  Action taken

  Elkan and Abris Silberman left Austria and founded a new art dealership in New York under the E. & A. Silberman Galleries name.

  Aftermath

  The New York business became associated with the formation of private and museum collections in the United States.

  Source

1. 1E. & A. Silberman Galleriesen.wikipedia.org