Paula de Koenigsberg has been described as “the great dealer disguised as a collector” (Schávelzon, 2017). Originally from Germany, she settled in Argentina in 1941, fleeing from Nazism. There, she frequently exhibited the pieces that comprised her personal collection at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires as well as at other prestigious museums and institutions. According to the catalogue of the Gothic Art Exhibition held in the halls of the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Hispanic American Art (1947), Koenigsberg exhibited a sacristy portal from Spain at the National Salon of Fine Arts in Montevideo in 1945 and at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires in the same year. These exhibitions enabled her to legitimise the provenance of the artworks, facilitating their subsequent sale, and provided her with access to collectors and museums that would otherwise have been difficult to reach (Schávelzon, 2017). She established branches around the world to sell her pieces; among the most significant locations were Paris, New York, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires.
Bibliography
(1947): Exposición de Arte Gótico Colección Paula de Koenigsberg en los Salones del Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano Isaac Fernández Blanco, Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano Americano Isaac Fernández Blanco, Buenos Aires, p. 27.
SCHÁVELZON, Daniel (2017): El silencio es oro: Tráfico de arte durante el nazismo en la Argentina, Olmo ediciones, Buenos Aires, pp. 60-67; 87-91; 93-101.