Provenance research, research on the history of an artwork’s ownership, has been a central area of importance at Museum Folkwang for some time now. It helps our team gain deeper insight into the origins and the originality of paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings, and also provides important information on the history of collecting. The results of this research are published regularly in catalog contributions and essays on individual works, artists, and collectors.
The complete reconstruction of the ownership history for a single artwork is — especially for the distant past — often very difficult, and sometimes impossible. Numerous documents pertaining to ownership were lost due to negligence or other reasons, or this kind of information was kept secret when a work changed hands because previous owners wanted to remain anonymous. In addition, references to ownership need to be carefully examined in each individual case, because again and again collectors, traders, historians, and curators relate a piece of information they find to the wrong artwork.
Since the Washington Declaration of 1998 and the German Federal Government’s commitment of 1999 as formulated in the Declaration by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federal States, and Municpal Organizations Concerning the Retrieval and Restitution of Cultural Properties Seized in the Context of National Socialist Persecution, German museums have increasingly been undertaking efforts to research their purchasing policy during the years from 1933 to 1945. The provenance of paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints is currently being examined and, if there are gaps in known information, these are being filled in to the extent possible.
Since 1998, Museum Folkwang has been carrying out provenance research on those art works that came to the collection between 1935 and 1945 and in the years directly after the war. The guidelines for this research are based on the principles defined by the Washington Conference. So far, research has focused on individual works for which there have been requests from other institutions, and on establishing the provenance of works owned by Museum Folkwang where provenance is uncertain or missing information on their provenance makes examination necessary.
The Museum Folkwang has recently focused his research on art works that were acquired between 1937 and 1942 by the dealer Dr. Wilhelm August Luz, Berlin. Luz had a significant position as an art dealer, but remarkably little is known about him.
The Berlin Galerie Dr. Wilhelm August Luz during the Nazi Regime and in the Postwar Years
The Museum Folkwang and the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte in Dortmund have been examining the provenance of all paintings from the nineteenth century acquired between 1935 and 1945, or which came to the collections in Essen and Dortmund in one way or another during this period. The project is supported by the Arbeitsstelle für Provenienzrecherche/-forschung, Berlin (Berlin Provenance Research Office).
More...
Links
Bureau for Provenance Investigation & Research
Lost Art Database run by the Koordinierungsstelle Magdeburg
Contact
Hans-Jürgen Lechtreck
hjlechtreck@museum-folkwang.essen.de
F +49 201 8845 124
