On the Trail of Otto Greiner: The Fate of a Lost Drawing

Why It Matters

The episode highlights how provenance research, archival databases and cross-institutional cooperation can resolve wartime dispersals and drive restitution, underscoring ethical and legal responsibilities for museums and collectors. It also signals that other looted or missing works may be recoverable through similar investigative methods.

Summary

The Getty Research Institute identified a 1892 Otto Greiner drawing in its holdings as a work long listed as missing from Dresden’s Kupferstich-Kabinett after World War II. The sheet surfaced on the market in 2001 and passed through private collectors before entering the Getty archive; curators confirmed its identity by matching a 1900 museum catalog image and a distinctive ink spot. Dresden researchers notified the Getty in 2025, and the Institute agreed to exhibit the work briefly before returning it to its rightful owner. The case illustrates a multi-decade trajectory from wartime loss to modern restitution.

Original Description

“Standing Male Nude From the Back, with a Smaller Sketch,” 1892, Otto Greiner. Kupferstich-Kabinett Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Speakers: Dr. Nancy Um, Associate Director of Research and Knowledge Creation, Getty Research Institute, and Dr. Steven Zucker, Smarthistory

This drawing of a male nude is a stunning anatomical study that also reveals a fascinating history of loss and recovery spanning the past two centuries.

Produced in 1892 by the German artist Otto Greiner, it came into the collection of what is today the Kupferstich-Kabinett (Museum of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs) in Dresden, Germany. It remained there until World War II, when it was removed from the museum for protection to Weesenstein Castle outside the city. After the war, when the museum’s collections were brought back to Dresden, it was discovered that some artworks were missing—including this one.

The whereabouts of the drawing remained unknown for over 50 years. But then in 2001, it appeared in an art sale in Berlin. The only clue as to where it had been was a faded pencil inscription written in Cyrillic, the alphabet used in many Slavic countries. After the war, the Soviet Union had organized “Trophy Brigades” to seize cultural materials in reparation for the massive losses they had experienced at the hands of the Nazis. That small clue, barely visible on the back of the drawing, suggested that this drawing may have been part of that sweep.

In 2001 the work was purchased by a New York collector, and then sold again in 2005 to a collector in Los Angeles. It then came into the collection of the Getty Research Institute as part of a larger archive. In 2025, the Kupferstich-Kabinett became aware of the drawing’s location and initiated a conversation with the Getty Research Institute to inform them about the drawing’s provenance. It is now being returned to its rightful home in Dresden.

Provenance, which refers to the history of an artwork’s past ownership, involves close looking at minute details as well as big-picture research in vast online databases. Both methods are needed to make connections and understand the full stories of these objects.

Many artworks remain lost, but hopefully, with more provenance research and museums working together, others will find their way back.

The research for this project was carried out collaboratively by teams in Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections), Katja Lindenau of the Provenance Research team and Marion Heisterberg of the Kupferstich-Kabinett, and Los Angeles (Getty Research Institute), Lidia Ferrara, Sandra van Ginhoven, Anna Cera Sones, Giulia Taurino, and Nancy Um. Special thanks to Stephanie Buck, Kupferstich-Kabinett, and Doreen Mende, Research Department.

The Getty exhibition “Lost. Found. Returned.” will be on view from June 23, 2026 through October 18, 2026.

https://www.getty.edu/exhibitions/lost-found-returned/

Learn more about the Getty Provenance Index:

https://www.getty.edu/databases-tools-and-technologies/provenance/

Getty Research Institute:

https://www.getty.edu/research-institute/