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LOT 3347
Adolf Hitler Signed Floral Watercolor Dated
1911 with Peter Jahn Authentication Certificate - Rendered in watercolor on brown paper, 8” wide by 13 1/2” tall, the painting depicts a set of flowers in bloom, with four open blooms and two closed buds. Signed in black on a leaf on one of the flowers is “A. Hitler 1911”. Per an included narrative/certificate from Peter Jahn, this painting was from the inventory of a frame-maker named Morgenstern in Vienna, Austria, who Jahn
first met c.1937/1938. As a young man in Vienna from 1905 to 1913, Hitler spent a lot of time trying to pay his bills with art; while he originally had aspirations
to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, he failed the entrance exam twice and was told that he’d be better off as an architect. Unwilling to go back to school to get the needed credentials to apply for architecture, he tried to slog it out as a street artist. While he often flogged off individual paintings as payment for goods
or services, he also made connections with men like Samuel Morgenstern, who could act as intermediaries or up-front buyers for his works. Abandoning his artistic endeavors after World War I, Hitler went into politics instead. Later, a group of experts (including Peter Jahn) would be recruited to find, assess and recover Hitler’s works; the ones Hitler personally found to be a good reflection on his work became VIP gifts, the ones found wanting were destroyed. While Jahn states that he procured this painting (among others) from Morgenstern, the exact chain of ownership
from that point is unrecorded. The aforementioned certificate bears notary seals from Vienna and includes a black and white photo of this art on the back, stamped at the corners with the notary seal and reinforced with tape.
CONDITION: Fine overall. The edges show some minor staining and foxing.
Estimate: 7,500 - 15,000
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