Nov 9, 2024
Jan 16, 2024
Tracking Looted Art with Knowledge Graphs: A Wikidata Case Study
Art looting networks operate on many levels, many of them hidden, over long periods of time. The native graph function of Wikidata enhanced by federated queries can help track them.
Tracking Looted Art with Graphs
April 9, 2022, Laurel Zuckerman
Graphs and Networks in the Humanities 2022 Technologies, Models, Analyses, and Visualizations
6th International Conference, 3. – 4. February 2022, Online
The 6th international conference on Graphs and Networks in the Humanities took place from Thursday 3. February to Friday 4. February 2022 online, co-organized by scholars from the Huygens Institute (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), the Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz, Vienna University, University of Leipzig, and the University Ca’ Foscari Venice
Paper: Tracking Looted Art with Graphs: A Case Study
See also:
The Error is the Message: Extracting Insights from Deceptive Data for Nazi looted art
VIDEO:
Jun 22, 2021
Bruno Lohse Nazi Art Looter Transcription of ALIU Detailed Interrogation Report NARA RG239 DIR 6
The text below is a transcription of a document in the National Archives concerning Nazi art looting that was declassified in 1975. It concerns the notorious Nazi art looter, Bruno Lohse. This Detailed Interrogation Report was written by Monuments Man and OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit member James S. Plaut in 1945. It detailed the interrogation of Nazi art looter Bruno Lohse conducted from June 15, 1945 to August 15, 1945.
NARA : copy of transcription D. I. R. # 6 - Bruno Lohse, 1945-1946
A photocopy of the Detailed Interrogation Report Number 6 can be downloaded here: Download PDF
The text, transcribed in a digital searchable text, is below
Jun 19, 2021
The Munich Connection
Research Question: How did Nazi plunder get from a cabal of looted art dealers in Munich to the art museums of the United States of America?
Which names have replaced theirs in the provenance texts?
Feb 2, 2021
Lies Provenance Researchers Told
This post aims to collect, little by little, published provenances that have been proven to be false, and, where possible, to specify their authors and publishers.
Why try to identify lies in provenances?
Lying about the fate of artworks owned by Jewish collectors who were persecuted by the Nazis inserts false information into the historical record of the Holocaust.
For a provenance researcher to do this deliberately is, in my opinion, a grave act of immorality which facilitates Holocaust denial.
For a provenance researcher to do this "accidentally" is evidence of incompetence, which should be sanctioned and not rewarded by employers and funders.
Readers are invited to add examples of published false provenances in the comments.
False Provenances Concerning Ownership during the Nazi Era by Artist
Gustav Klimt
Edgar Degas, Landscape with Smokestacks
(read Simon Goodman's The Orpheus Clock on the battle to establish the correct provenance for the Degas looted from his grandfather.)
Marc Chagall
***
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
- Provenance errors by Nazi art collector Kurt Feldhäusser and the Museum of Modern Art in New York ("location mixup")
(why did MoMA’s version carry yet another title, “Sand Hills in Engadine”?...MoMA realized Mr. Feldhäusser had mistaken the hills for ones on an island near Denmark while the museum had mistaken them for hills in Switzerland. -WSJ)
for more examples of Jewish owned art passing under the Nazis through Ferdinand Möller Galerie, Berlin ==> Kurt Feldhäuser, Berlin ==> museums see Fischer, Max lostart.de
***
Paul Gauguin
Faaturuma (Melancholic)
[5] The Wildenstein catalogue raisonné of 1964 claims that Justin K. Thannhauser owned Faaturuma between Wolfensberger and Stransky, but there is no documentary evidence to support this." - (source: Nelson-Atkins museum online provenance text (December 2017))
***
George Grosz
***
Claude Monet
Amedeo Modigliani
Pablo Picasso
Thomas Couture
Édouard Vuillard
François Boucher
El Greco
Egon Schiele
André Derain
Paul Klee
Jan van Goyen
Cranach
Renoir
Sisley
Camille Pissarro
Georges Braque
Wassily Kandinsky
Henri Matisse
Gustave Courbet
Gerard T. Borch
Albert Gleizes
Frans Hals
Macchiaioli
Corneille de Lyon
Lucien Adrion
Bernardo Bellotto
Carl Blechen
Van Gogh
Lovis Corinth
Carl Spitzweg
Mondrian
Giambattista Tiepolo
Cornelis Troost
Jean-Louis Forain
Constantin Guys
Adolph von Menzel
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
Émile Vernet-Lecomte
(update ongoing...)
*****
images
Gustav Klimt Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (also called The Lady in Gold or The Woman in Gold) by (Former owner, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Adele_Bloch-Bauer_I
*
El Greco “Portrait of a Gentleman” Seized by Nazis Returns to Owner’s Family in Artsbeat NYT. (Former owner, Julius Priester)
https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/an-el-greco-seized-by-nazis-returns-to-owners-family/
*
Edgar Degas “Landscape with Smokestacks” (1890) Landscape with Smokestacks – Friedrich Gutmann Heirs and Daniel Searle
*
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1917-18 painting ‘Sand Hills in Engadine aka ‘Sand Hills (By Grünau)’ Museum of Modern Art Returns Painting to Heirs of Man Who Fled Nazis, WSJ (Former owner, Max Fischer
*
Claude Monet "Monet’s Garden at Argenteuil" (Le Repos Dans Le Jardin Argenteuil) , Settlement Reached on Monet’s Garden at Argenteuil (Former owner, Maria Newman, widow of Henry P. Newman)
*
Paul Klee “Swamp Legend,” from 1919 After 26 Years, Munich Settles Case Over a Klee Looted by the Nazis in NYT (Former owner, Ms. Lissitzky-Küppers)
*
Jan van Goyen (1595 – 1656), “River Landscape with a Swineherd”, A Goudstikker van Goyen in Gdańsk: A Case Study of Nazi-Looted Art in Poland (Former owner, Jacques Goustikker)
*
May 9, 2020
The Holocaust and the Art Market: Alfred Daber
![]() |
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.265 |
DABER is a name that can be found in the provenances of numerous artworks. However Alfred Daber, an ALIU Red Flag Name, was known to have trafficked in looted art during the Nazi era.
In this post, we gather information publicly available online in digital form about Alfred Daber. 1) Where - in which museums - does the name Daber appear in provenances? 2) What other names appear together with Daber? 3) What mentions of Daber can be found in databases such as France's Rose Valland MNR and the Getty Provenance Index and its Knoedler file? 4) What Fold3 archival documents mention Daber? and 5) What books or catalogs did Daber author or edit?
In short, what kind of picture emerges of the fates of artworks that, at one time or another, passed through Alfred Daber's hands?
Obviously, the presence of Daber's name in a provenance does not mean that the artwork was ill-gotten. However it is a Red Flag that should not be ignored. Further research is clearly required to account for 1933-1945 provenance gaps and to verify, down to the original sources, the narratives that are provided.
![]() |
https://www.fold3.com/image/270257378 |
1) Museums holding artworks that mention the name Daber in the provenance (not exhaustive):
- National Gallery of Art in Washington DC (four artworks source: Spoliation Reports))
- Bristol Museums & Art Gallery (five artworks source: Spoliation Reports))
- Glasgow Museums (source: Spoliation Reports)
- National Galleries of Scotland (source: Spoliation Reports)
- National Gallery in London (five artworks source: Spoliation Reports)
- Cleveland Museum of Art (source: CMA)
- Milwaukee Art Museum (source: Knoedler)
- Norton Simon Museum (source: Knoedler)
- Art Institute of Chicago (source: AIC)
- Yale University Art Gallery (source: Yale website)
- Metropolitan Museum of Art (source:metmuseum.org)
![]() |
https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/25543 |
2) Associated Names
- César de Haucke*
- Raphael Gérard*
- George Petit*
- Jacques Dubourg*
- E.V. Thaw
- Stephen Hahn
- Fritz Nathan*
- Sam Salz
- Arthur Tooth and Sons
- Knoedler*
- Michel Fert
- Ludwig Gutbier
- G. Tanner*
- Georges Renand*
- Daber Gallery
- Blondeau Gallery
* Art Looting Investigation Unit Red Flag Name
3) Daber in France MNR
![]() |
Looted paintings in France's MNR that mention Daber |
"Le tableau est acheté 11 250 RM chez Daber, Paris, en 1941 par M. Gutbier"
"Acheté 20 000 RM chez Daber, Paris, en 1941 par Ludwig Gutbier"
"Émile Staub, à Männedorf, en Suisse (où il est encore en 1931) ; on le voit ensuite chez G. Bernheim, Paris (1932) ; chez Carlo Frua de Angeli, à Milan ; chez G. Tanner, à Zurich ; il est exposé en 1937 dans la galerie Alfred Daber, Paris ; enfin il est acheté peu avant la guerre par Georges Renand (cat. Exposition d'Amsterdam en 1938). Le tableau est acheté à Georges Renand à Paris 50 000 RM par M. Wüster (1) pour Joachim von Ribbentrop en 1941"
The Getty Selected Dealer Archives & Locations lists Daber with Blondeau Gallery.
The Getty Provenance Index lists 32 artworks with Daber as the seller, the earliest transaction dates to 1954.
BONNARD, PIERRE
BOUDIN, EUGÈNE LOUIS
BRIANCHON, MAURICE
CARRIÈRE, EUGÈNE
COROT, JEAN BAPTISTE CAMILLE
COURBET, GUSTAVE
DAUMIER, HONORÉ VICTORIN
DELACROIX, EUGÈNE
FANTIN-LATOUR, HENRI
GÉRICAULT, JEAN LOUIS ANDRÉ THÉODORE
GONZALÈS, EVA
GUIGOU, PAUL CAMILLE
MONET, CLAUDE
RENOIR, PIERRE AUGUSTE
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 187, Stock No. A6507
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 66, Stock No. A7173
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 200, Stock No. A6709
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 219, Stock No. A9243
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 137, Stock No. A5825
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 154, Stock No. A6065
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 154, Stock No. A6066
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 183, Stock No. A6438
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 183, Stock No. A6439
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 183, Stock No. A6440
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 183, Stock No. A6441
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 206, Stock No. A9095
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 107, Stock No. A5375
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 154,
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 171, Stock No. A8691
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 84, Stock No. A7405
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 180, Stock No. A8791
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 82, Stock No. A7384
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 148, Stock No. A8408
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 175, Stock No. A6334
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 73, Stock No. A7269
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 73, Stock No. A7270
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 73, Stock No. A7271
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 137, Stock No. A5833
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 154, Stock No. A6064
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 40, Stock No. A6064
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 174, Stock No. A8723
Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 186, Stock No. A6492
Knoedler Stock Book 11, Page 173, Stock No. A8720
4) FOLD 3 and the archival mentions of Alfred Daber
https://www.fold3.com/document/270104113/
https://www.fold3.com/document/270101397/
https://www.fold3.com/image/270037474