THE ASSOCIATION OF ART MUSEUM DIRECTORS' STATEMENT ON THE ISSUANCE OF THE REPORT BY THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON HOLOCAUST ASSETS IN THE US

The Association of Art Museums Directors (AAMD), founded in 1916, enthusiastically endorses the Findings and Recommendations of the President's Commission on Holocaust Assets in the US. The Association worked closely with the Commission in drafting its report.

Our nation's museums hold more than 14 million objects in public trust. A central part of the mission of every American art museum is the ongoing research and publication regarding provenance information on its collection. Research in museums is a continuous, labor-intensive process and as new information is brought to light, it is made available to the public.

Since 1943 American museums have taken a leadership role in the restitution of art. However, it was the lifting of the Iron Curtain that enabled museums to initiate new research. As long-closed archives began to open in the mid-to late-1990s and historians and researchers published several seminal investigative works, American museums have been able to accelerate their provenance research.

In 1997 the AAMD formed a Task Force to draft guidelines on art looted by the Nazis during World War II. The Guidelines, which were published in June 1998, formed the basis of the Washington Principles drafted by the Washington Conference on Holocaust-era Assets, the first international conference held in the US addressing Holocaust assets. Among the AAMD's recommendations was the development of a centralized database using newly available technologies. The Task Force is now in the process of ensuring that the AAMD Guidelines are consistent with the Commission's recommendations.

Since the publication of the Guidelines, all AAMD museums with relevant works in their collections have focused their provenance research efforts on those works that may have been affected by the Holocaust. Most of the larger art museums have already completed much of their research and are continuing this work as new information resources become available. Those museums with the capacity to do so have made their research available on their web sites. The new AAM/AAMD project to create uniform guidelines for posting information on Holocaust-era works will help museums formalize their efforts and make it easier for claimants to pursue lost works.

Museums are and always have been committed to restitution of Nazi-looted art. In the last three years, thanks to the new research that has been made available, six paintings in American museum collections were identified as having been illegally seized by the Nazis and were restituted to the heirs of the Holocaust victims. In three of the cases, the heirs have graciously worked with the museums to find a solution that allowed the works to remain at the museums for the public good.

The AAMD thanks the Commission for its work, which has been useful in formalizing the ongoing efforts being made by museums. We look forward to working together with the Commissioners and claimants to help right a grievous wrong in a timely and sensitive manner.

The Association of Art Museum Directors, representing 180 art museum directors in the US, Canada and Mexico, aids its members in establishing and maintaining the highest professional standards for themselves and the museums they represent. It serves as a forum for the exchange of information and the exploration of ideas, and as a voice with which museum directors may express their joint concerns and those of their institutions.

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