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Why is it taking so long? Insights into provenance research on Nazi-looted art on 27 September 2017

12.09.2017
Gemäldegalerie

How can provenance researchers discover whether an artwork changed hands illegally during the Nazi period? Are there any differences between the way research is carried out in Germany and in the USA? On 27 September 2017 experts will explain how provenance research is actually done.

At a public evening event, participants in the German and American Provenance Research Exchange Programme (PREP) will be talking about the challenges and achievements of their work. 

Date: 27.09.2017
Venue: Gemäldegalerie
FREE ENTRY

PROGRAMME

WELCOME

• Hermann Parzinger (president, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz)
• Jane Milosch (director, Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative, Office of the Provost and under secretary for Museums and Research, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.)
• Christina Haak (assistant director-general, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)

INTRODUCTION

• Gilbert Lupfer (head of Department of Research and Scholarly Collaborations, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and honorary board member at the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste)

FROM VIENNA TO NEW YORK: TRACING SELECT WORKS FROM THE OSCAR BONDY COLLECTION (in English)

• Leonhard Weidinger (provenance researcher, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich – Kommission für Provenienzforschung, Vienna) and
• Christine Brennan (senior research associate, Medieval Art & the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

THE KEY TO THE PREVIOUS OWNER: CODES – ABBREVIATIONS – CIPHERS AND THEIR DECIPHERING (in German)

• Hanna Strzoda (provenance researcher, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) and
• Jasmin Hartmann (provenance researcher, Düsseldorf)

VARIATIONS AND COPIES: A CHALLENGE FOR PROVENANCE RESEARCH (in English)

• Nancy Karrels (doctoral student, University of Illinois) and
• Meike Hopp (provenance researcher, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich) 

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRANSATLANTIC COMMUNICATION IN PROVENANCE RESEARCH: A CASE STUDY OF TWO MEDIEVAL BEAKERS FROM THE COLLECTION OF BARON MAXIMILIAN VON GOLDSCHMIDT-ROTHSCHILD AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK (in English)

• Katharina Weiler (provenance researcher, Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt) and
• Christine Brennan (senior research associate, Medieval Art & the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art) 

INSTITUTIONAL ENTANGLEMENT: THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES AND MUSEUMS FOR PROVENANCE RESEARCH (in English)

• Christine Howald (researcher/lecturer – ‘Art Market and Provenance’, Technische Universität Berlin) and
• Nicolas Pearce (Sir John Richmond Chair of Fine Art, School of Culture & Creative Arts, University of Glasgow) 

DISCUSSION 

Admission to this event is free. The talks will be held in either English or German (the language of each talk is indicated above).

PREP stands for (German/American) ‘Provenance Research Exchange Program for Museum Professionals’. The programme is specifically aimed at museum professionals from either Germany or the USA whose work entails researching Nazi-looted art. The chief aim of the programme is the creation of a professional network among individual researchers.

In the period 25–29 September, participants in the 2017 PREP programme will meet in Berlin.

The project is supported by the Transatlantic Programme of the Federal Republic of Germany, with funds from the European Recovery Programme (ERP), which are administered by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). PREP also receives support from the office of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media, as per a resolution passed by the German parliament. The Smithonian Women’s Committee is an additional sponsor of the programme.