Where to find provenance information about Gurlitt items

Even today, six years after more than one thousand artworks were found in Munich in the possession of Cornelius Gurlitt, son of one of Hitler's official art dealers, Hildebrand Gurlitt, remarkably little light has been shed.

Several sites list artworks from the Gurlitt "collection". However it is not always easy to obtain a file that contains all the items with their provenance. Lootedart.com published a table in 2014 (see below), but since then the information has been updated.

For Holocaust and art provenance researchers who need Gurlitt provenance data in tabular form, here is a dataset in a public google sheet and as a CSV.

Google Sheet: Gurlitt provenance data (unites public data originally published by the Lostart Datenbank and lootedart.com) 

CSV: Gurlitt provenances CSV

(Holocaust research dataset published under Creative Commons for reuse)


Below are the sources for the dataset as well as additional sites that provide information about artworks found in Gurlitt's possession.

1. Lootedart.com Gurlitt Case :

17 January 2014: Table of 458 Gurlitt Works of Art posted on www.lostart.de

458 artworks are posted in a table that can be easily copied. The provenance is not in the table but can be reached via a link to the internet archive. This link no longer works but one can extract the original lostart.de link within the lootedart link.  

 2. Lostart Datenbank: 

One can search on Gurlitt, and consult each record individually

http://www.lostart.de/Webs/DE/LostArt/Service/GlobalSuche/ServiceSuche.html;jsessionid=C10BF326E6A3628D40FF28E9366A98BB.m0?nn=4084&resourceId=33792&input_=4084&pageLocale=de&templateQueryString=gurlitt&suche_typ=Global&submit=Suchen

Lost Art-Datenbank:

• 1.019 Ergebnisse im Bereich "Such- und Fundmeldungen"

Modul "Provenienzrecherche":

• 4 Ergebnisse im Bereich "Kunst- und Kulturgutauktionen 1933-1945"

3. Freie Universitäte Berlin Beschlagnahmeinventar "Entartete Kunst"

http://emuseum.campus.fu-berlin.de/eMuseumPlus

One can search on Gurlitt and consult records one by one.

4. Victoria and Albert Museum digitized 'Entartete Kunst'Inventory at the V&A 

See Lootedart.com at https://www.lootedart.com/QH3E7U275681

Download the Entartete Kunst inventory

Entartete Kunst inventory, volume 1 (PDF file, 32.8 MB)

Entartete Kunst inventory, volume 2 (PDF file, 31 MB)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. 

Kunstmuseum Bern: Nachlass Gurlitt – Salzburger Kunstfund:

  

http://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch/admin/data/hosts/kmb/files/page_editorial_paragraph_file/file_en/1021/141127_gurlitt_salzburg.pdf?lm=1417099001

Tate Provenance Research Project: Paintings, sculpture and works on paper

Lists of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933 - 1945

Tate

Contact details for further enquiries about works of art in this list, can be found in the Tate Spoliation Report.

• Sections: 
• Oppé Collection
• Paintings, sculpture and works on paper

Paintings, sculpture and works on paper

Paintings, sculpture and works on paper

AMICONI, Giacomo 1682-1752

Mercury about to slay Argus (1730-32)

• Materials: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 65.5 x 64.5 (25 3/4 x 25 1/4)
• Acquisition: Purchased by Colnaghi's for the Tate Gallery 1971
• Reference: T01299

Provenance

private collection near Freiburg im Breisgau c.1964*
anonymous German art dealer
Galerie Münsterburg, Basle +
Sotheby's, London, sale 24 March (53)
P & D Colnaghi & Co. Ltd

Questions in the operative period

No information on the identity of the private collection in Freiburg

Additional Information

+ In correspondence with the Tate Gallery, May 1971, the Galerie Münsterburg stated that the picture had been in a private collection near Freiburg, but could not provide more specific information.

Tate Provenance Research Project Spoliation Reports

UK Museums Provenance Research Projects: TATE

Lists of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933 - 1945

Spoliation Reports Phases 1,2 and 3

Phase 4 - List of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933 - 1945

ABBOTT, Lemuel Francis (1760-1803)

Portrait of the Engraver Francesco Bartolozzi, No date
Oil paint on canvas
756 x 676 mm
Presented by Mrs M. Bernard 1968
T01067

Provenance:

• …; Mrs M Bernard, by 1968
Questions in the operative period:
No published provenance pre-1968
AGASSE, Jacques Laurent (1767-1849)
Two Hunters with a Groom (circa 1805)
Oil on canvas
638 x 759 mm
Presented by Paul Mellon through the British Sporting Art Trust 1979
T02350

Provenance:

• …; reportedly bought by Oscar Johnson (d.1968), before 1963
• Oscar & Peter Johnson Ltd
• From whom purchased by Paul Mellon 1968
• Presented by Paul Mellon, 1979
Questions in the operative period:
No information on whereabouts prior to acquisition by Oscar Johnson
ALKEN, Henry Thomas (1785-1851)
The Belvoir Hunt: Jumping into and out of a Lane (circa 1830-40)
Oil on canvas
451 x 648 mm
Presented by Paul Mellon through the British Sporting Art Trust 1979
T02353
Provenance:
• …; Arthur Ackermann and Son Ltd
• From whom purchased by Paul Mellon 1964
Questions in the operative period:
No information on whereabouts prior to acquisition by Ackermann and Son Ltd

Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and Staff Report DECEMBER 2000

PLUNDER AND RESTITUTION: Findings and Recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and Staff Report DECEMBER 2000

Sometimes, to get a sense of where we are and what progress has - or has not - been made, it's useful to look back. In December of 2000 the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States published a major report.

The official PLUNDER AND RESTITUTION report is reproduced at the links below for historians, journalists, historians, families of Holocaust victims and anyone else interested.

Google Doc with a copy of the Plunder and Restitution Presidential Advisory Report of 2000

Internet Archive record of Plunder and Restitution: Findings and Recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and Staff Report DECEMBER 2000

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Women and the Arts: Art Dealers in Wikidata

In honor of Women in the Arts, a list of Women Art Dealers with name, birthdate, birth place, Viaf LCCN, GND, ULAN and spouse. (Link to Wikidata Query and Public Google Sheet)

(photo: Joachim Wtewael - Portrait of Christina Wtewael van Halen (1568-1629) - Google Art Project.jpg occupation: Art Dealer)