Marcel Kapferer (December 30, 1872 – March 18, 1966) was a prominent French lawyer and art collector based in Paris, widely known for his significant collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century French art.
Born in Paris on Rue de Rivoli, Kapferer worked as an attorney (avocat) and lived much of his life in an hôtel particulier (townhouse) located at 64, Avenue Henri-Martin in the 16th arrondissement.
He married Yvonne Aron in 1914. His daughter, Martine Kapferer (1920–2018), married the French art dealer Daniel Wildenstein in 1939. His brother, Henri Kapferer (1870–1958), was a notable engineer and industrialist who also shared an interest in fine arts.
Kapferer was an avid patron of contemporary French artists and assembled a renowned collection, particularly strong in works by the Post-Impressionist and Nabi painters:
He was close friends with artist Édouard Vuillard, who painted portraits of him and his brother Henri. Kapferer commissioned Vuillard to paint a cycle of six decorative panels for the dining room of his Avenue Henri-Martin home. Several of his Vuillard pieces, such as Femme au corsage à rayures, eventually entered national collections.
Paintings from Kapferers collection are currently in major museums. Edouard Vuillard's Interior with Paintings and a Pheasant and Roger de la Fresnays Still Life with a Diabolo are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Odile Redon's Jacob and the Angel is in the MoMa and his The Death of Orpheus is at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum. The Dessert by Pierre Bonnard in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Van Gogh's Blossoming Chestnut Trees was in the private Blaquier-Arietta collection, and Three Pairs of Shoes is in the Cleveland Museum of Art. The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. has eight artworks that passed through Kapferer.
After the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, Kapferer was targeted because of his Jewish heritage. The Nazi looting organisation known as the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) seized works from his collection in April 1944, transfering them to the Jeu de Paume before shipping out to other destinations. Some of these works became part of postwar repatriation and restitution claims. The Database of Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg lists 32 entries for Marcel Kapferer.
{{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)Jos Hessel, Paris (from 1928; purchased on October 7, 1928 from the artist); Marcel Kapferer, Paris; Georges Renand, Paris (1931–47; sold in June 1947 through Alfred Daber, Paris, for Fr 300,000 to Kleinberger); [F. Kleinberger & Co., New York, 1947; stock no. 1011; sold in June 1947, as "Still Life," for $7,000, to Lehman]; Robert Lehman, New York (1947–48; his gift to MMA)
Marcel Kapferer, Paris (by 1931–38; sold on November 4, 1938, for Fr 110,000, to Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., New York and Roland Balay & Louis Carré, Paris); [Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., New York, in half share with Roland Balay & Louis Carré, Paris, 1938–42; stock no. 6747; sold by Seligmann on November 16, 1942, for $7,300 to Ludington]; Wright Ludington, Santa Barbara, Calif. (1942–at least 1969); Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, New York (until 2002; their gift to MMA)
This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection. Marcel Kapferer, Paris. Walter Goetz, Paris. Matthew H. and Erna Futter, New York. 1963 - December 1986, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (acc.no. 784.1963), acquired as gift from Matthew H. and Erna Futter. December 1986/January 1987, E.V. Thaw & Co., Inc., New York, purchased from The Museum of Modern Art. December 1986/January 1987, Guttmann Picture Frame Associates, New York, purchased from E.V. Thaw & Co. December 1986/January 1987 - 2000, The Ian Woodner Family Collection, Inc., New York, purchased from Guttmann Picture Frame Associates. 2000, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as gift from The Ian Woodner Family Collection.
Jos Hessel, sold; to Gustave Fayet (1865-1925), Béziers, 1910. [1] probably Marcel Kapferer, Paris, by 1938. [2]. [Wildenstein & Co., New York, New York], sold; to Private Collector, 1955, gift; to Fogg Art Museum,1955
Samuel Fischer, Berlin Grunewald (acquired from the above in 1909). Brigitte and Gottfried Bermann-Fischer (né Bermann), Berlin Grunewald and Vienna (acquired by descent from the above in 1934). Henriette and Marcel Kapferer, Paris (acquired from the above in 1936 through Paul Cassirer, Amsterdam, with whom it was on deposit since 1932/33). Wildenstein & Co., New York (on deposit from the above from 1939 and later consigned)