Analysis of Piet Mondrian Trees c. 1912 (Accession Number 61.1) at the Carnegie Museum of Arts, provenance information from Github
Dialogue with ChatGPT about Nazi era provenance gaps
(Note the impact of telling it to disregard uncertain dates.)
User
The artwork described in the following provenance text was created in 1912 and acquired by the museum in 1961. Please tell me 1) if it has a clear ownership history from 1933 to 1945; and 2) calculate in year the gap between the creation of the artwork and the first solid ownership history. "Willem Beffie [1880-1950], Amsterdam and Brooklyn, New York, 1912 until 1943?. (Nierendorf Gallery, New York, 1943? until 1946?). Charmion von Wiegand [1896-1983], New York, 1945?; G. David Thompson [1899-1965], Pittsburgh, PA, after 1956; Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 1959 until 1961; purchased by Museum, February 1961."
ChatGPT
Based on the provenance text, we can answer the two questions as follows:
The ownership history from 1933 to 1945 is not entirely clear. Willem Beffie is listed as the owner until 1943? (the question mark indicates uncertainty). The Nierendorf Gallery is then listed as the potential owner from 1943? until 1946?. There is also a possibility that Charmion von Wiegand owned the artwork in 1945? (again, the question mark indicates uncertainty). Thus, we can say that the ownership during this period is not absolutely clear due to the uncertainties indicated.
The artwork was created in 1912. The first solid ownership history is with Willem Beffie, who owned the artwork from 1912 until at least 1943 (though this date is uncertain). Therefore, there is no gap between the creation of the artwork and the first solid ownership history because Beffie owned the artwork from the time it was created.
User
Please recalculate so that, if a date is uncertain it does not count as information
ChatGPT
I understand. If we do not count uncertain dates as valid information, the information changes as follows:
The artwork does not have a clear ownership history from 1933 to 1945. All the dates within this period are followed by question marks, indicating that the ownership during this time is uncertain.
The artwork was created in 1912. The first solid (certain) ownership history comes with G. David Thompson, who owned the artwork after 1956. Therefore, if we consider only definite information, the gap between the creation of the artwork and the first solid ownership history is 1956 - 1912 = 44 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment