Kurt Martin
[1] In 1920 he started his philosophy studies (among others with Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl) and majored in art history (with Hans Jantzen) at the University of Freiburg.
He completed his art studies in 1924 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München with Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) with his PhD thesis on the subject of "Die Nürnberger Steinplastik im 14.
Soon he was appointed research assistant and subsequently curator at the Badisches Landesmuseum (Baden State Museum), Karlsruhe.
In 1931 he addressed himself to the task of organizing the exhibition "German Poets as Painters and Drawers" for the Kunstverein (art society) Heidelberg.
[5][6] In his opening speech from the balcony of the palace, Martin declared that the museum had benefited from over one thousand donations of military antiques.
Erich Blankenhorn commented on the state of the museum on the date of the opening and said that due to the short preparation period "it was only possible to decorate the first royal stables with historically incoherent paintings and objects."
He succeeded Hans Adolf Bühler, who was loyal to the party line and whose management of the museum was characterized by a radical opposition to the so-called degenerate art.
In the years between 1934 and 1937 the orangery building of the botanical garden was remodeled in order to accommodate a special department for the Baden paintings of the late 19th and 20th century as from 1938.
[14] Between 1934 and 1937 the Kunsthalle acquired 115 paintings under the direction of Martin, including works of Hans Thoma, Emil Lugo and Hermann Daur.
Martin emphasized paintings of Wilhelm Trübner, Anselm Feuerbach and Hans Thoma in his account report.
Among the works that were marked as "transfers" were paintings by Karl Buchholz, Hermann Burte, Joseph Fratrel and Adolph von Menzel.
[21] In 1935, Kurt Martin acquired the work Portrait of the Marchesa Veronica Spinola Doria by Peter Paul Rubens for 63.000 Reichsmark at the liquidation auction of the Gallery van Diemen & Co.
[17] With the occupation of Alsatia, Robert Wagner became chief of the Alsatian Civilian Administration and had complete political freedom.
[26] Kurt Martin was responsible for the museums and helped Wagner prepare his "vision of a cultural model-district Alsatia-Baden".
[27] On 17 November 1940, as "State Representative for the Museums in Alsatia", Martin describes the initial situation in Strasbourg in the light of the new political realities in an article about the future of the museums in "our land at the Upper Rhine": In the city, the Palais Rohan[28] and the Frauenhausmuseum unite the architecture of the Middle Ages and the 18th century in a "unique way in Germany".
[32] In 1946, Martin was investigated for his role in acquiring art from Nazi-occupied areas for German museums and placed on the "Red Flag" list.
The entries concerning him were mixed, featuring both a reputation for integrity and suspicions that he was playing a "double game" concerning Nazi-looted art.
Martin supported the French and American authorities in locating and rescuing the artworks that had been stored for purposes of protection during wartime.
In 1948 he curated an exhibition of German art for the Federal Foreign Office, which was shown in several cities in the United States.
[37] In 1950 he organized the exhibition Des maîtres de Cologne à Albrecht Dürer showing works of old German masters in Paris.
In 1957 he transferred to Munich, succeeding Ernst Buchner in the General Direction of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Bavarian State Painting Collections).
