The Chazen Museum of Art recently added to its collection seventeen artworks descended within the Lachmann-Mosse family and generously donated by John Tortorice. Altogether, they demonstrate the eclectic collection that the wealthy and influential German-Jewish family formed over multiple generations.
Illustrated here is a portrait of George L. Mosse around age eight. This portrait was likely commissioned by his father Hans Lachmann-Mosse and was painted by the well-known Viennese artist Max Oppenheimer. The artist lived in Berlin from 1925 until 1932 and made portraits of influential Berliners, including Lord Mayor Gustav Böss, actor Emil Jannings, author Thomas Mann, and actress Maria Orska.
Also included in the gift is a cast bronze drum dating to the fourth or third centuries B.C.E. created by the Đông Sơn culture (also referred to as Lạc Việt) centered in northern Vietnam and parts of Southern China. This drum may have entered George’s grandfather Rudolf Mosse’s collection through his brother, Albert Mosse.[1] From 1886 to 1890, Albert, a prominent Prussian judge, lived in Japan with his family while advising the Japanese government during the restructuring of its legal system.
Another highlight of the recent gift is a group of Florentine tapestries dating to the reign of Ferdinando I (1587–1609) that celebrate wine. Based on their iconography and size, they may have been made for an individual outside the court, perhaps for the dining or dessert room of a country house.[2] Another panel from the same tapestry cycle was gifted by Tortorice to the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, where it is featured in their spring exhibition Remaking the Renaissance (on view until May 19).
Several other pieces round out the gift: a selection of Chinese export porcelains from the eighteenth century, a drawing of George also by Max Oppenheimer, a print by German artist Käthe Kollwitz, and a painted portrait of George’s great-great grandfather. At the Chazen, these artworks join important and rare examples of Chinese export porcelains previously bequeathed by George, and a group of pewter plates, utensils, and various vessels donated in 2021 by George’s step nephew Hans Strauch.
[1] Werner E. Mosse, “Albert Mosse: A Jewish Judge in Imperial Germany,“ The Leo Baeck Institute Year Book 28(1) (January 1983): 170-175, https://doi.org/10.1093/leobaeck/28.1.169, accessed 03/26/2024.
[2] We are grateful to Dr. Sophie Pitman, Pleasant Rowland Textile Specialist & Research Director, and Carolyn Jenkinson, Collections Manager, both of the Center for Design and Material Culture, for lending their expertise on these tapestries.
Katherine Alcauskas was appointed Chief Curator at the Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison in September 2019. Previously, she was Collections Curator and Exhibitions Manager for the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY; Collection Specialist in the Department of Drawings & Prints of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; and the Florence B. Selden Senior Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, CT. She earned an M.A. in art history from the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art and a B.A. from Wellesley College.