His mansion in Potsdam, Herbertshof, was designed to exhibit his collection. Several photographs taken at Herbertshof around 1930 and the catalogue of the auction at Paul Graupe give us an idea of his art holdings in 1934. The collection reflected his varied business and cultural interests. It was a very personal collection showing the strong relation of the family to the city of Dresden and the kingdom of Saxony. For instance, Pietro Rotari’s famous varie teste were attractions at the Russian and Saxon courts. Purchased from the Saxon Royal collection, Gutmann’s Rotari portraits were painted for the decoration of Schloss Pillnitz.

Herbert M. Gutmann was fascinated by Oriental culture, by Persian, Arab, and Ottoman ceramics, as well as Chinese porcelain. He was adviser for the Department of Islamic Arts at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Museum in Berlin and had donated some pieces to that museum.

A special gallery was added to his mansion to exhibit the “Arabicum,” a Syrian Boiserie dating back to the eighteenth century. In addition, Herbert M. Gutmann collected Scottish and English portraits, reflecting his close connection to Scotland. His mother was born in Edinburgh; he was an avid golfer.

After the National Socialists assumed power in Germany in 1933, Gutmann was persecuted due to his Jewish decent and his political position in the Weimar Era. Herbert M. Gutmann lost memberships of advisory boards and also income, was forced to sell shares of companies and was limited to work in Germany.

For this reason, he was forced to auction his art collection at the auction house Paul Graupe in Berlin.