Art Market and the Holocaust: New Questions about the Miedl Looted Art Network

Alois Miedl: art looter 

Miedl's network according to the Art Looting Investigation Unit Final Report of 1946 Red Flag Names List includes a number of names that appear frequently in provenances. Every one of the names below was identified as a Red Flag Name by the ALIU.

Questions for Holocaust-era art historians: Which artworks in which collections include any of these names in their provenance?

Are there gaps in the ownership history 1933-1945?

What is the appropriate action to resolve these unclear provenances?

Hendricks	Frankfurt	Dealer who did business with Miedl
Lempertz	Cologne	Art dealer who worked with Miedl	Bornheim once worked under him
Leegenhoek, M O	Paris, 1 rue de Rennes/230 blvd Raspail	Belgian national	Prominent restorer and subsequent dealer who sold extensively to Hofer, Lohse, Wendland, Wuester, Dietrich, Haberstock, Miedl, Goepel and the great majority of important German purchasers	Formerly associated with Lagrand, and connected with van der Veken and Renders in Belgium	Believed still to be in Paris	Possibly active in Wendland’s behalf
de Boer, Pitt	Amsterdam, Heerengracht 512	Important and active dealer	President of the Dutch Dealers Association since Goudstikker’s death	Acquired Swiss as well as Dutch nationality early in the war, and visited Switzerland during the occupation	Discovered the first in the series of false Vermeers by van Meegeren	Close contact of Hofer, Muehlmann, Posse, Voss, Lohse and Miedl
Brack	Amsterdam	Dealer	Worked with Hoogendijk and Miedl
Denijs, Frl J	Amsterdam, N Spiegelstraat 32 or 29/Kaisersgracht	Member of Dutch Art Dealers syndicate (Vereeniging van Handelaron in Oudo Kunst)	Active during occupation	In contact with Hofer	Assisted Miedl in liquidation of Goudstikker firm	Worked with Jan Dik Jr
Erasmus, Dr	Hilversum Geldern bei Haarlem	German middleman/dealer, formerly in Berlin	Escaped to Holland shortly before the war	In contact with Plietzsch, Miedl, Katz, Modrczewski
Goudstikker, J (deceased)	Amsterdam, Heerengracht 458	The most prominent of the Dutch art dealers before the war	Killed while escaping from Holland by ship at the time of the German advance	His family escaped to America	His business was taken over by Alois Miedl
Hoogendijk	Amsterdam, Kaizersgracht 640/Roemorvischerstraat 34	Prominent dealer who sold to Miedl, Hofer, Posse, Muehlmann and Voss during the occupation	Close friend of Friedlander and Schneider	Contact of Nathan Katz	Goering frequently visited his shop
Katz, Nathan	The Hague, Lange Voorhuit 35 Dieren, bei Arnhem	Prominent dealer	Worked principally with Hofer, Posse and Miedl, as well as Lange, Haberstock, Boehler and other German buyers	Two brothers in the Western Hemisphere: Benjamin Katz, Hotel Dauphin, New York and Abraham Katz, 18 Pietermaai, Wilhelmstad, Curacao
Paech, Walter	Amsterdam, Rokin 57/Diepenbroekstraat 9	German dealer-artist, resident for many years in Holland	Not accepted for membership in Dutch syndicate of art dealers before the war	Close contact of Wieth, Jan Dik Jr, Hofer, Miedl, Muehlmann and Schilling	Also believed to have sold to Posse
de Wild	The Hague, Laan van Meerdeveert	Dealer-restorer	Son of a well known restorer	Worked for the Dienststelle Muehlmann	Did business with Miedl	Has a brother in the United States

Why are Hong Kong bots visiting Open Art Data?

Dear Readers,
Many of you are tech savvy, so I'm hoping that maybe one of you can help.
Open Art Data is getting thousands of visits from Hong Kong for reasons that are unknown.

They do not appear to be interested in reading or commenting on the posts.  (Why would anyone in Hong Kong be interested in provenance research into Nazi looted art?)
Have any of you had a similar experience?
Is there some way I can block these suspicious visitors?
All tips and suggestions much appreciated!
   Thanks!

   Open Art Data

DATASET: National Gallery of Art Nazi Era Provenance PUBLIC

Dataset name: National Gallery of Art Enhanced Provenance Research Dataset NEPIP PUBLIC

Description: This enhanced Provenance dataset has been constructed from  information available on the public internet site of the National Gallery of Art (NGA)  The dataset merges the list of artworks on the Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal with provenance texts published on the NGA detailed item pages. 

This dataset is intended to facilitate research into Holocaust-era provenance for scholars, art historians and families. 

The original and best source of information concerning provenance remains the National Gallery of Art  public website.

Format: Google Sheet

URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTnJR2T4TtT-iFaioInvWpn8xhnhxjrWebFyWCvM3lodUssE0b_j64-vOC-PT17aVrxd-lcGp_SDntU/pubhtml?gid=1646299987&single=true


Download: CSV


Contents:

1. NEPIP National Gallery of Art 

2. About this file

3. NEPIP by Artists

4. NEPIP by Credit Line

5. NEPIP Provenance includes "private", "anonymous", "art market"

6. All of above

Publisher: OAD

Date of Publication: April 6, 2020

Example of content: Provenance text contains word "private", "anonymous", or "art market" 

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Original data sources that were merged to create the new DATASET: National Gallery of Art Nazi Era Provenance PUBLIC:

•  NEPIP National Gallery of Art 
  
  
•  National Gallery of Art  website Provenance texts of artworks 

Dataset : Museum of Fine Arts Boston Enhanced Provenance Research Dataset NEPIP PUBLIC

Dataset name: Museum of Fine Arts Boston Enhanced Provenance Research Dataset NEPIP PUBLIC

Description: This enhanced Provenance dataset has been constructed from  information available on the public internet site of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The dataset merges the list of artworks on the Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal with provenance texts published on the Boston MFA detailed item pages. 

This dataset is intended to facilitate research into Holocaust-era provenance for scholars, art historians and families. 

The original and best source of information concerning provenance remains the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston public website.


Original data sources that were merged to create new dataset:

•  NEPIP Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)

•  Boston Museum of Fine Arts website Provenance texts of artworks 

Format: Google Sheet



URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSFfpdQ1Y6sWQuTAdHejqghDwPvlu4W2cevOxjkLUQYdTOZXdxRM4OH5U_rkAvLUEh38VbFdntHeHoR/pubhtml



Download: CSV


Contents:



1. NEPIP MFA



2. About this file



3. NEPIP Artists


4. NEPIP Credit Line


5. NEPIP Provenance includes "private", "anonymous", "art market"


Publisher: OAD



Date of Publication: April 6, 2020



License: CC0

Example of content: Provenance text contains word "private", "anonymous", or "art market" 

Curt Valentin in provenances at the Harvard Art Museums

- The Persistent Crime of Nazi-Looted Art, by Sophie Gilbert, in The AtlanticLooted Art

The director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Alfred H. Barr Jr. used art dealer Curt Valentin as an intermediary to secretly purchase artworks confiscated by Nazis from German museums. What else did Barr and other American museums directors purchase through Valentin?

In this next series of posts, we will look at the provenances of artworks that mention Curt Valentin. 

An interesting exercise for young art historians and provenances researchers is to examine each provenance with the questions: 

1) Who owned this artwork before Curt Valentin? 

2) Are there provenance gaps for the years 1933-1945?

3) What share of artworks that mention Curt Valentin in the provenance lack information about sellers, dates and places for the Nazi years? (0-25%; 26-50%; 51%-75%; 76%-100%).

4) What possible explanations might there be for the observations in 3)?

5) What actions does this suggest?

1. Mentions of Curt Valentin in the provenances of artworks at the Harvard Art Museums

See  Valentin Harvard Art Museums Provenance



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for more information on Curt Valentin's role in bringing European art into American museums, see:

MoMA’s Problematic Provenances by William D. Cohan published November 17, 2011 by Artnews