Helmut Ruhemann was born into a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany in 1891. He practiced as a freelance picture restorer from 1921 before becoming Chief Restorer at The Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin in 1929, where he promoted the use of x-rays as an analytical tool and the complete removal of old varnish in cleaning pictures. Ruhemann fled from Nazi Germany to England in 1933, working as a restorer for the National Gallery, Tate and the Glasgow Art Gallery, as well as lecturing at the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Leading picture restorer Helmut Ruhemann was born into a Jewish family in Berlin, Germany in 1891. He studied painting in Karlsruhe, Munich and Paris, and, during the First World War, at the Prado in Madrid. He practiced as a freelance picture restorer from 1921 before becoming Chief Restorer at The Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin in 1929. There he promoted the use of x-rays as an analytical tool and favoured the complete removal of old varnish in cleaning pictures, in contrast to the more conservative approach of some of his contemporaries. Ruhemann also acted as an expert witness in a major art fraud trial and through this and subsequent work became an acknowledged expect in the detection of art forgery.
In 1933, following Hitler's accession to the Chancellorship in Germany and the introduction of anti-Semitic legislation, Ruheman was dismissed from his post and, later that year, brought his family to England, where he already had clients among the leading London art dealers (his brother, architect Fritz Ruhemann, also re-settled in England and became an active member of the FGLC (Free German League of Culture)). Helmut was also actively assisted by refugee organisations including the German Refugees Hospitality Committee and the Jewish Refugee Committee who wrote to influential contacts at the Royal Academy and National Gallery respectively to try and obtain him a position (Blewett 2019). By 1934 he had set up a successful studio in Golden Square, Soho and was employed to restore paintings for the National Gallery. A photograph from Lady Ottoline Morrell’s album (c. 1934, National Portrait Gallery), shows Ruhemann with the painter Mark Gertler, Gertler's wife Marjorie, and Philip Hendy (later Director of the National Gallery) taking tea together in the garden. Gertler also made entries in his 1937 notebook citing his discussions about technique and choice of materials with Ruhemann, who briefly had an active influence upon his painting. Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and the introduction of internment for so-called 'enemy aliens' in June 1940, Ruhemann was exempt and became naturalised the same year. Early on in the war he worked on the many paintings from the National and Tate Galleries sent to Wales for safekeeping and was highly regarded by Kenneth Clark, but after concerns were raised about his German origins, Ruhemann was replaced in that post in 1942, and instead appointed restorer at the Glasgow Art Gallery, a position he kept until 1944.
From 1934 he lectured at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where he was also in charge of the Technology Department between 1946 and 1951. He was appointed Consultant Restorer at the National Gallery in 1946 and Chief Restorer until 1972 under the Directorship of Sir Philip Hendy. At several points in his post-war career – especially 1947 and 1963 – his approach to restoration was challenged and particularly his practice of complete removal of varnish and the brightening of the restored painting. These controversies did not detract from his highly successful career and he wrote many articles for Conservation and History of Art journals and published two books: the first, The Artist at Work, written in collaboration with Ellen Kemp, and published in 1951, was also widely read outside his profession. The second, his more substantial technical work, The Cleaning of Paintings, was written towards the end of his career and published in 1968; the following year he was awarded a CBE. Helmut Ruhemann died in London in 1973.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Helmut Ruhemann]
Publications related to [Helmut Ruhemann] in the Ben Uri Library