FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What is provenance research?
2. Why only now, 50 years after the end of the War, has there been a sudden surge in the restitution of works of art affected by the Holocaust?
3. If a work has a provenance gap that coincides with the War, does it mean that it was looted?
4. Why are the museums only agreeing to "full disclosure" at this late date? What is the difference between 'full disclosure' and disclosure of works with gaps in provenance?
5. Why don't museums publish hard copies of their research, wouldn't it be easier for an 80 year old widow in Tel Aviv to find her lost work in a book than using a computer to search thousands of records that art museums are now posting?
6. When a survivor or heir comes forward with a claim, why does it seem to take so long for a museum to return it? Why isn't it returned immediately, especially considering the age of these claimants and all they've been through?
7. What's the estimated number of works held in U.S. art museum collections that were looted by the Nazis that may be returned to Holocaust victims or their heirs?

1. What is provenance research?

Provenance research is the history of the life of a work of art. It identifies the artist, his/her nationality, the name of the work, the size, the medium and the history of its ownership. Provenance research, as a central part of the mission of every American art museum, is a continuous process. As new information is brought to light, it is made available to the public.

Some provenance research is relatively simple. For example, if a painting has had few owners and there is primary evidence of that ownership, then the provenance may be considered complete. However, it is not unusual for a work of art to have had a number of owners and to have moved frequently, from country to country and even continent to continent.

To track the historic movement of works of arts, in general, and those affected by the Holocaust, in particular, requires highly trained specialists who have a working knowledge of several foreign languages and the ability to conduct research in foreign archives. In addition, the provenance researcher must understand the art market as it existed during and after the war, for example, and be trained in art history.

Many of the archives holding relevant material do not pertain solely to works or art but encompass a wide range of information. Furthermore, these archives have not been specifically organized for art historical research nor are they indexed, thus necessitating the researcher to sift through enormous amounts of material to find relevant information.

Record keeping has also varied greatly throughout the years, both in terms of the kind of information that was deemed relevant to record and the reasons for recording it. Unfortunately, down through time many archives and information sources were lost or destroyed, especially during times of war, making research even more difficult and, in certain cases, making it impossible to fully trace the history of a work of art.


2. Why only now, 50 years after the end of the War, has there been a sudden surge in the restitution of works of art affected by the Holocaust?

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, archives that had long been inaccessible were opened to researchers. A number of archives that held materials that were specifically relevant to provenance research started to be opened in the mid-to- late 1990s, thus allowing scholars, American museums professionals and representatives of heirs of holocaust survivors to conduct new research.

American art museums professionals actually started working on restitution in 1943 focusing on the restitution of works of art within Europe that had been looted by the Nazis. These were not works that had ever been in American art museums. Rather, they were works seized from individuals and institutions by the Nazis, primarily as war booty. It is estimated that at least 200,000 works of art were repatriated through these American-led initiatives.


3. If a work has a provenance gap that coincides with the War, does it mean that it was looted?

No. Record keeping has varied greatly throughout the years, both in terms of the kind of information that was deemed relevant to record and the reasons for recording it. Unfortunately, down through time many archives and information sources were lost or destroyed, especially during times of war, making research even more difficult.


4. Why are the museums only agreeing to "full disclosure" at this late date? What is the difference between 'full disclosure' and disclosure of works with gaps in provenance?

The Commission's use of the term 'full disclosure' refers to the identification of all objects that were created before 1946 and acquired by the museum after 1932, that underwent a change of ownership between 1932 and 1946 and that were or could have been in continental Europe between those dates. This encompasses even those works in which the museum is confident of its provenance. The Commission has recommended and the museum community has agreed that the provenance of works be made available on a central database, even if the works do not appear to have gaps in their provenance.

Several years ago, museums started to post works with gaps in provenance on their own Internet sites. This was done in compliance with AAMD's Guidelines and in an effort to make relevant information available as quickly as possible. A gap in provenance, however, does not mean that a work was stolen. It means that further research is necessary to answer all the provenance questions. Museums posted these works in the hopes that a claimant or someone else would come forward and help establish the full history of ownership, even as museums continued their own research.

During the past five years, with the opening of relevant archives, the American art museum community, which holds 14,000,000 works of art, has been focusing its efforts primarily on those works in their collections with provenance gaps that may have been affected by the Holocaust.


5. Why don't museums publish hard copies of their research, wouldn't it be easier for an 80 year old widow in Tel Aviv to find her lost work in a book than using a computer to search thousands of records that art museums are now posting?

In fact art museums do publish their research in books - called catalogs - where a photograph and the history of the work is given. Some museums have every work of art published in this manner. Others publish new works as they are acquired. But it would mean that the claimant would have to examine hundreds of publications, probably not any easier than finding someone to search the Internet for her. There is no easy solution to the problem. But there are several avenues open to claimants, which includes published works as well as works on the Internet.


6. When a survivor or heir comes forward with a claim, why does it seem to take so long for a museum to return it? Why isn't it returned immediately, especially considering the age of these claimants and all they've been through?

American art museums hold 14,000,000 works in public trust. They therefore have the responsibility to look after the public interest, but to do so in a timely and sensitive manner, especially when it comes to Holocaust survivors and their heirs. When new information is brought forward through a museum's own efforts or those of a claimant, the museum needs to double-check and confirm this information before it returns a work of art. A museum has only one opportunity to do the right thing when it comes to returning a work of art. Should a work be returned to the wrong claimant, the museum could be liable. A museum could also be liable should there be multiple claimants, all with legitimate claims. Unfortunately, verification takes time and there are no short cuts.

In the last three years, thanks to new research that has been made available, six paintings in American collections have been identified as having been seized by the Nazis and restituted to the heirs of Holocaust victims. In three of these 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.


7. What's the estimated number of works held in U.S. art museum collections that were looted by the Nazis that may be returned to Holocaust victims or their heirs?

This is impossible to estimate, but based on the results to date and new research, it is probably less than 20 works. American museum collections are well researched and documented, and the vast majority of the works of art were not in any way affected by the War. Nonetheless, museums will vigorously and timely pursue any and all Holocaust-era claims brought to their attention and will certainly not be constrained by numbers or estimates.

Many of the great private collections on which American museums are based were formed before the War. American museums and private collections were not subject to seizure by the Nazis or others, as they were not in countries in which the war was fought. Nor did any American museums or government institutions claim ownership of works from private collections repatriated from the Nazis after the War, as happened in Europe.