Location of "Degenerate Art" seized by Nazis and sold by Curt Valentin (where it it known)
raw data source: Beschlagnahmeinventar "Entartete Kunst", "Degenerate Art" Research Center, FU Berlin; filtered for "Curt Valentin" and Location not blank or "Unbekannt"
See also: Buchholz and Valentin in Provenance Texts in American Museums
EK no. 3688: Stillleben, blaues Zimmer. One of 139 paintings removed from the Folkwang Essen in July and August 1937 (exh. cat. Folkwang 2010, p. 348). [4] Included in the exhibition Art in Our Time, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, May 10- September 30, 1939 (no. 93).
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| Franz Marc, The Foxes (1913) Wikimedia Commons |
Recommendation of the Advisory Commission in the case of the heirs of Kurt and Else Grawi vs. Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf
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| The Bend in the Road by Cézanne, Exhibited at the Bignou Gallery in New York in 1940* |
Patterns. Repetition. Familiar faces.
Those art dealers who just keep "popping up".
In this post we see what we can learn from the provenance published by auctions houses which have been authorized to sell previously looted art AFTER it has been restituted to the families.
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:
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.
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?
Is he the same person as "Silbergerg" in the provenance text of "Fruits, serviette et boîte à lait" by Paul Cézanne?
Half-length Portrait of the Duchess of Courland
1785
Angelica Kauffmann
Switzerland
1741–1807
Oil on canvas, 30 ¼ x 25 in. (76.85 x 63.5 cm), signed and dated "Angelica Kauffmann Pinx. Romae 1785," Gift of Zacharie Birtschansky, 46.33.1.
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)
(update in progress)
Titolo
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:
The content below has since disappeared from the internet. A few entries can now be found in the internet archive or, in modified form, on Proveana. Others appear to be lost.
Search for Benno Geiger
Provenance alerts
Click to View the Public Google Sheet
Geiger has been a subject of interest to us for a while. (See: "Geiger" artworks currently in American or British museums)
In this post, we look at a few of the artworks that have been auctioned at Christies or Sothebys that have some link to Benno Geiger, either in the provenance (an obvious red flag that calls for in depth verification) or in the references. Why references? Because Nazi art looters like Benno Geiger have been known to lie about ownership histories.
Warning: given Geiger's involvement in the art market for Nazi-looted artworks and forced sales, there is no guarantee that the provenances are correct or complete. Sometimes, however, bringing the texts together in one place can make it easier to see the patterns that remain hidden when one studies each artwork individually.
Looted Art Newsflash 26 May 2022 Former Louvre Director Jean-Luc Martinez Has Been Charged With Money Laundering Over Ties to Alleged Antiquities Trafficking Ring Jo Lawson-Tancred Artnet News
Looted Art Newsflash 25 May 2022 Jean-Luc Martinez, ancien patron du Louvre, mis en examen dans une affaire de trafic d’antiquités Il est soupçonné de blanchiment et complicité d’escroquerie en bande organisée. En cause, une stèle gravée au nom de Toutânkhamon exposée au Louvre Abu Dhabi, qui pourrait avoir été pillée. Par Roxana Azimi Le Monde
(Please help us to update this list as museum websites evolve.)
There is a field "Herkunft". However it does not give the ownership history. It only states who sold, gave or loaned it to the museum. There is no link to or mention of Lostart, Linz or Munich Collecting point information.
There is no ownership history. There is no link to or mention of Lostart, Linz or Munich Collecting point information.
There is a field "Zugang". However it does not give the ownership history. It only states who sold, gave or loaned it to the museum. There is no link to or mention of Lostart, Linz or Munich Collecting point information.
WALLRAF-RICHARTZ-MUSEUM & FONDATION CORBOUD
No real online collections database, no provenance on the Wallraf-Richartz website - not even for iconic works like Asparagus (about whose Nazi-era provenance artist Hans Haacke famously did an entire exhibition). To find information about the history of artworks one must go to LostArt.de or plunge into Immunity from Seizure documents. And yet, provenance research projects have been announced with great fanfare. But whatever the results are, they do not appear to be on the website.
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The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts maintains an "up-to-date register of all works with incomplete provenance records for the years 1933 to 1945" in order to facilitate provenance research.
We have put the information into an easy to use file for digital analysis.
VIEW MBAM artworks with incomplete provenances 1933-1945 HERE.