Apr 27, 2022

Gurlitt Status: source German Lost Art Foundation website April 27 2022


What are the results of a decade of provenance research into the origins of the stash of artworks found in the home of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of Hitler's art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt? 

The German Lost Art Foundation publishes online a selection color coded Green, Yellow or Red from the "Provenienzrecherche Gurlitt".

At present, only four are coded RED. A whopping 615 are coded YELLOW. And 28 have received the GREEN code. As for the artworks that have not been coded, there is a note:

After the research reports on works originally suspected of Nazi looting have successfully undergone an expert review, they are approved by the board of the project sponsor. The final note summarizes the key data and research findings on the work and completes the Object Record Excpert (ORE). Then the investigated artwork is assigned to one of the categories of the agreement. Works that are classified as so-called "Degenerate Art" with a clearly unencumbered origin and the family collection* do not undergo a review and therefore do not receive a final note.

*The family holdings are works that are attributed to the Gurlitt family because they were either created after 1945, were created by family members, or can be directly attributed because of personal dedications

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Below are the  artworks in each color category:

Apr 23, 2022

Forgery and false provenances


False provenances are needed to insert art forgeries into the historical record.

Where there is forgery there is false provenance.

Dealers who sell forgeries are great sources of false provenances. A special kind of writing is involved in the creation of false provenances. A talent for making things that are not true seem at least plausible. 

Question: Do dealers of forgeries also sell looted art?

Some, like Knoedler, are known to have sold both at one time or another. Knoedler's prestige and power enables it to insert lies into the historical record without being challenged for a very long time. 

What about the others? How to find out?

Apr 8, 2022

Did the Musée de l'Orangerie make a spelling error in the name of a Holocaust victim in the provenance of this Cézanne?


Max Silberberg was a Jewish art collector in Breslau murdered by the Nazis.

Is he the same person as "Silbergerg" in the provenance text of "Fruits, serviette et boîte à lait" by Paul Cézanne? 

Apr 1, 2022

ALIU Red Flag List of Names in Italian (with DeepL)

This post publishes in Italian the Art Looting Investigation Red Flag List of Names which was originally written in English in 1945-6.

(Translated from English into Italian by Deepl)

OSS ALIU Art saccheggio lista di nomi con bandiera rossa tradotta in italiano

(update in progress)

Titolo

OSS (USS Office of Strategic Services) Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU) Reports 1945-1946 e ALIU Red Flag Names List and Index  

https://www.lootedart.com/MVI3RM469661

Descrizione

Nel 1944 il governo degli Stati Uniti creò un'unità speciale di intelligence che si occupava di arte saccheggiata, formata e amministrata dall'OSS.  Nel corso del 1945 e 1946, questa unità, chiamata Art Looting Intelligence Unit (ALIU), produsse 16 rapporti stampati. 


Un indice dei nomi che elenca tutti gli individui, i commercianti e le agenzie che appaiono in uno di questi rapporti è disponibile qui. L'indice dei nomi può anche essere cercato su questo sito cliccando sul pulsante "Cerca" e digitando un nome nella casella di ricerca delle informazioni.   


I NOMI DELLE BANDIERE ROSSE E I DETTAGLI DELLE LORO ATTIVITÀ IN TEMPO DI GUERRA SONO ANCHE RIPORTATI IN FONDO A QUESTO DOCUMENTO, ORGANIZZATI IN ORDINE ALFABETICO PER PAESE DI ATTIVITÀ.   


I rapporti ALIU sono di tre tipi: