Vernissage | Der Weg zur Kunst. Das Hamburger Auktionshaus Hauswedell & Nolte

In the organizer's words:

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The Hamburg auction house Hauswedell & Nolte closed its doors in 2015 and handed over its business records to ZADIK. They bear witness to the almost 80-year history of the house, which sold books and autographs, modern art, old masters and non-European art and cultural assets in 466 auctions. Countless objects thus made their way from Hamburg to collectors, dealers, museums and libraries all over the world.

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The exhibition sheds light on the activities, history and development of one of the most important German auction houses of the second half of the 20th century. Using selected examples, it traces the path taken by sold objects, who collects what and why, which different actors can be involved in collecting and what traces collecting has left behind in our archives.

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These traces are of great importance for many research questions such as art market and provenance research. The documents handed over to ZADIK by the auction house Hauswedell & Nolte are important sources for this - but they are rarely made public. The exhibition also aims to make them visible.