Archive
About us
The painter’s son, Dr. Robert Purrmann, and his niece Heidi Vollmoeller, an antique trader from Zurich, built up the archives and rendered excellent services for Purrmann’s remembrance.They had interviewed the painter about his work since 1950 and collected a wide range of material and information about his life and work in Starnberg. Until Robert Purrmann’s death almost the whole painter’s oeuvre had been documented. All paintings, water colours, drawings, and sculptures that were known to them had been photographed, many questions regarding dating and provenance been solved and references of exhibitions and literature been registered in the files of the works.
The Hans Purrmann Archiv in Munich contains many autographs of the painter, many letters written to the artist, several photos of different life periods and of his family, as well as press articles and a library on Purrmann and his environment. Original works by Hans Purrmann are not part of the Archive.
The documentation set up by Robert Purrmann and Heidi Vollmoeller has – after the death of Mechtild Purrmann – been continued and maintained in Munich since 2008. It formed the basis for the research for the catalogue raisonnés of the paintings (published in 2004), watercolors and gouaches (2008) and drawings (2014).
The extensive collection of letters, photographs, newspapers and literature will continue to be gradually catalogued and supplemented. Since 2011, the “Edition Purrmann Briefe” has been published from this fund: the correspondence with Hermann Hesse (2011), with childhood friend Wilhelm Wittmann (2013), with wife Mathilde Vollmoeller-Purrmann (2019/2020), and with art critic Karl Scheffler (2021).
The archive helps museums, art traders and private collectors with questions about Purrmann’s life and work and questions regarding the attribution; expert’s opinions can be ordered. The archive assists in exhibitions on Hans Purrmann and his Circle. The archive also assists you with publications and scientific research.
Visit
A visit to the Hans Purrmann Archiv is possible by appointment.
Please contact us in advance by phone or e-mail and let us know your request in your inquiry. This way we can advise you and prepare your visit.
Expert reports
If you suspect that you own a work by the hand of Hans Purrmann, the archive will be happy to help you clarify the attribution. Your enquiry will be clarified in a final consultation with members of the Purrmann family and, if desired, documented in the form of an expert opinion. The prerequisite for any statement is a written commission.
For an appraisal, which is always necessary, the original of the work in question must be brought to the Hans Purrmann Archive in Munich or, if requested, to the Doerner Institute in Munich at your own expense and risk. If available, all surviving provenance documents (information on previous owners, documents on purchases and sales, auctions, etc.) should also be submitted.
For a certificate of authenticity the following fees are charged:
Oil painting: 1.000 €
Water colour: 400 €
Drawing: 100 €
Printed graphic: 100 €
All prices plus 19% VAT
No fees are charged for the confirmation of a write-off or forgery.
Team
Felix Billeter, PhD, independent art historian in Munich, study in Vienna, Braunschweig, Würzburg and Munich, dissertation on Flemish Baroque painting, project-related cooperation with museums and private collectors, publications and editorships about art and collections of the 19th and 20th century.
Dr. Billeter has been head of the Hans Purrmann Archiv since 2001 and has been significantly involved in writing the catalogues raisonnés of the paintings (2004), the water colours and gouaches (2008) and the drawings (2014).
Julie Kennedy, M.A., art historian in Munich, studied German and art history in Montréal, Regensburg, Cologne, Munich and Berlin. From 1996 to 2000, research assistant at the Department of Art History at the Université de Montréal, where she specialized in European Symbolism and the work of Franz von Stuck. From 2003 to 2013, curator of several exhibitions on behalf of the Förderverein Franz von Stuck. Publications on Stuck’s life and work, on his fellow students and pupils at the Munich Art Academy (including Julius Exter, Hans Purrmann, Winold Reiss, Walter Trier), as well as on graphic art and caricature in Munich artists’ associations around 1900 and on the satirical reception of art in the 19th and 20th centuries. Julie Kennedy is currently working on a dissertation on Franz von Stuck in caricature as well as a biography of the artist. She is a staff member at the Stadtarchiv München, the Historical Association of Upper Bavaria, and since February 2016 at the Hans Purrmann Archiv.
Eva Fritz, M.A., art historian in Munich, studied ”Literature-Art-Media“ and administrative sciences at the University of Konstanz, after that she completed the master degree course: “Aisthesis – Art and Literature Discourses from a Historical Perspective” at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Augsburg University, and Regensburg University.
From 2010 until 2012, she worked for the press and public relations department of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen for the Pinakothek Museums in Munich. Since 2014 she has been working as assistant curator for the Munich Re Art Collection, and for the Hans Purrmann Archiv.
Address
Hans Purrmann Archiv
Schleißheimer Str. 9 | Rbdg.
80333 München
Contact
Phone: 089 – 54 24 35 70
Fax: 089 – 54 72 63 98
office@purrmann.com