VMFA AND NAZI ERA PROVENANCE RESEARCH

VMFA conducts research on all works of art in its collection. An important part of that research is the effort to establish the complete provenance, or full history of ownership, of each object in the museum collection. Documentation of the provenance of a work of art, ideally from the point created to the point acquired by a museum, can provide great insight into the history of art collecting. Furthermore, it can serve as a way to authenticate and to establish legal ownership of the object.

In recent years, VMFA has particularly increased its efforts to ascertain the complete provenance for artworks that fall within a category relating to the “Nazi era” period: 1933-1945. In accordance with guidelines issued by the American Association of Museum Directors (AAMD) and the American Association of Museums (AAM), provenance research at VMFA is currently focused on paintings that were created before 1946 and that might have changed hands in Continental Europe between 1933 and 1945.

VMFA Returns Painting Looted by Nazis to Descendant of Rightful Polish Owners
VMFA Trustees Vote to Return French Painting Belived to Have Been Stolen by Nazis in 1944

A feature story, U.S. Museums Cope with Art Tainted by Nazi Looting, ran on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" on October 10, 2007 and included an interview with VMFA director Alex Nyerges. VMFA has restituted two works from its collection to the rightful owners after conclusively determining that the works were appropriated by the Nazis during World War II.

Nazi era (1933-1945)

The National Socialist German Worker's (Nazi) Party was founded in 1919 and headed by Adolf Hitler from 1921. The term "Nazi era" refers to the period of 1933-1945 when the Nazi party was in power in Germany. During the years 1933-1945, the Nazis conducted one of the largest confiscations of art and cultural property known in history. After World War II, great efforts were made by the Allied forces and other governments to return objects to their countries of origin and to original owners. In fact, many members of the American museum community have been recognized to have played a significant role in the success of the post-war restitution effort. Although large amounts of artwork were restituted, many works entered the art market and eventually found their way into various collections in Europe, the United States and elsewhere with lost, obscured, or false provenance information. Today, VMFA joins the museum community in efforts to identify any artworks for which restitution was never made.

Provenance Research

Provenance research can be challenging as many factors over time have made it difficult to locate important information. Among other factors, the upheavals of World War II, the inaccessibility of many archives during the Cold War, destruction from natural disasters, and loss of information through the passage of time have added to the complexity of determining an absolutely complete provenance for an object. Sometimes provenance records will reflect a past owner’s wish for anonymity. Other times, the attribution of an artwork may change over time, creating confusion in tracking documentation. Furthermore, many dealers and auction houses are no longer in business and their records may have been lost or destroyed. Despite such challenges, there is an increasing availability of resources and an improved accessibility to previously inaccessible records and archives. These changes reflect a continuing awareness and support of Nazi era provenance research. Also, fairly recent technological developments such as the Internet have had an enormous impact on the availability of resources.

What is VMFA doing now?

VMFA is currently focusing its provenance research on European paintings in its collection created before 1946 and that might have changed hands in Continental Europe between 1933 and 1945, identifying gaps in the provenance history.

In an effort to make information on such objects in its collection more publicly accessible, VMFA is a participating museum with the American Association of Museum’s (AAM) Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal (NEPIP), which was designed and is currently managed by AAM on behalf of the U.S. museum community. NEPIP provides a central searchable registry of objects in U.S. museum collections that were created before 1946 and that possibly changed hands in Continental Europe during the Nazi era (1933-1945). VMFA has begun to post artworks on NEPIP that have gaps in their provenance for this time period. It should be noted that such gaps in provenance reflect the current state of research and by themselves neither suggest nor prove that these works were looted during the Nazi era.

By making information available to the public, the VMFA seeks to fulfill its mandate of responsible stewardship of its collections. The museum welcomes and encourages the sharing of any information that might further clarify the provenance of objects in its collection.

Due to the challenging nature of provenance research, it is an ongoing and continuous endeavor, and requires a significant commitment of staff time and other resources. One staff member at VMFA coordinates this research, working with curators and other museum staff as well as contacts worldwide as each case requires. VMFA will update information on this website and will continue to update information on specific objects on the AAM NEPIP portal.

VMFA welcomes any information that might help clarify the provenance history of artworks in its collection. For inquiries and information, please contact the museum at the following email address: provenance@vmfa.state.va.us. Please send written inquiries to: Provenance Research Project, VMFA, c/o Karen Daly, Senior Assistant Registrar & Administrator of Nazi Era Provenance Research, 200 N. Boulevard, Richmond, VA 23220-4007.

Websites of Interest:

The Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal     www.nepip.org

American Association of Museums     www.aam-us.org

AAM Guidelines Concerning the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects During the Nazi Era     www.aam-us.org/resources/ethics_guidelines/nazi_guidelines.cfm

Museums with On-line Nazi-Era Provenance Information     www.aam-us.org/initiatives/nazi-era/museum_nazi.cfm

Association of Art Museum Directors     www.aamd.org

J. Paul Getty Museum Provenance Research     www.getty.edu/art/provenance

The Getty Research Institute Provenance Index Databases     www.getty.edu/research/tools/provenance/

The National Archives and Records Administration of the United States, Holocaust Era Assets     www.archives.gov/research_room/holocaust_era_assets/

The Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Final Report     docproj.loyola.edu/oss1/index.html

Final Report of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and related resources     www.pcha.gov

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Holocaust Era Assets     www.ushmm.org/assets/

Lost Art Internet Database     www.lostart.de

Art Loss Register     www.artloss.com

Central Registry of Information on Looted Cultural Property 1933 - 1945, and the Commission of Looted Art in Europe (ECLA), based in London     www.lootedart.com

Holocaust Claims Processing Office, of the New York State Banking Department     www.claims.state.ny.us/index.htm

International Foundation of Art Research     www.ifar.org

The Project for the Documentation of Wartime Cultural Losses (The Documentation Project)     docproj.loyola.edu

For articles on looted art, see www.theartnewspaper.com (see section "Focus on Looted Art")

Related Publications:

Feliciano, Hector. The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, Inc., 1997.

Howe Jr., Thomas Carr. Salt Mines and Castles: The Discovery and Restitution of Looted European Art. New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1946.

Nicholas, Lynn H. The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.

Petropoulos, Jonathan. Art as Politics in the Third Reich. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Petropoulos, Jonathan. The Faustian Bargain: The Art World in Nazi Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Elizabeth Simpson, ed. The Spoils of War: World War II and Its Aftermath. The Loss, Reappearance, and Recovery of Cultural Property. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.: New York, 1997.

Nancy Yeide, Konstantin Akinsha & Amy Walsh. The AAM Guide to Provenance Research, Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 2001.