As a fundamental aspect of the Art Institute’s mission, our curators, researchers, and conservators produce scholarship of the highest quality on the objects in our collection.
Integral to this research is an object’s provenance and documentation—its ownership history, exhibition history, and publication history. This critical information can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the history of an object before its arrival at the Art Institute and can become the foundation upon which our curators build their scholarship.
We seek to establish an object’s chain of ownership from the moment it leaves the artist’s hands to its entry in the museum’s collection. Many objects come directly from galleries or donors, but our collection also contains fascinating stories about objects that have been given to us by their creators or that have even been part of a royal collection.
To research an object, curators and conservators physically examine the object, consult with museum files, and investigate documents, including auction and exhibition catalogues, monographic studies, directories and catalogues of collections, dealer records, photographic archives, and publications of wartime activities of dealers and collectors. Some of these resources are found in the databases compiled by the Art Institute’s Ryerson and Burnham Libraries; others related to the search for and recovery of lost artworks are listed in a bibliography compiled by the Ryerson. When researching an object’s provenance, curators and researchers also often seek the advice of specialized scholars. The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) Provenance Guide provides a helpful starting point for provenance research.
Our provenance research is in keeping with the Standards Regarding the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects During the Nazi Era set forth by the American Association of Museums and Association of Art Museum Directors in 1998, as well as the Standards Regarding Archaeological Material and Ancient Art set forth in 2008. Of particular importance are works that had gaps in their chains of ownership or that lack conclusive provenance documentation during the Nazi era (1933 to 1945) and those that have come from source countries that have historically been subject to looting and trafficking of cultural property.
Provenance research can be challenging—records may have been lost or destroyed in the upheaval of war, and the passage of time and world events often make important information difficult to locate. Gaps in the provenance of a particular work may be attributable to different causes, from an owner’s desire for anonymity to the unavailability of records of purchase and sale. For these reasons, incomplete provenance information does not necessarily mean that a work has been tainted by the events of the Nazi era or that it has been looted from a country. Furthermore, in some cases, a work may have been seized by the Nazis but later restituted to its original owners and subsequently donated or sold by them; similarly, a work may have been looted, returned to its source country, and then sold or donated by that country.
Provenance research is ongoing. As this work continues, our website is updated to reflect new information. Even if an object’s documentation is robust, there may still be other information that is yet to be discovered: anyone with provenance information or questions concerning works in our collection should contact publicaffairs@artic.edu.
The provenance for a work of art in the Art Institute’s collection is listed in chronological order, beginning with the earliest known owner. Death dates of owners, if known and significant to the transfer or inheritance of the work, are enclosed in parentheses. Relationships between owners and methods of transactions are indicated in the text and clarified through punctuation. Uncertain information is preceded by the terms “possibly” or “probably,” while methods of transfer are specified with terms such as “sold,” “by descent,” and “given.”
A semicolon is used to indicate that the work passed directly between two owners (including dealers, auction houses, or agents), and a period is used to separate two owners (including dealers, auction houses, or agents) if a direct transfer did not occur or is not known to have occurred. Information that documents and/or clarifies the provenance is included within brackets. The format of our provenance citations has been adapted from the style suggested by The AAM Guide to Provenance Research(Washington, D.C., 2001).
Following an initial survey of all the European paintings and sculpture in the collection that were created before 1946 and acquired by the museum after 1932, we have focused our research on objects that changed owners during this period and that were, or could have been, in continental Europe during that time. In this survey, curators and researchers identified the objects that had gaps in their chains of ownership during the Nazi era. In keeping with the Standards Regarding the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects During the Nazi Era set forth by the American Association of Museums and Association of Art Museum Directors in 1998, these objects were first published on the Art Institute’s website in 2000 as part of the museum’s Provenance Research Project. This group was subsequently expanded to include works that were in continental Europe from 1933 to 1945 and that had changed hands during the period but that have a documented chain of ownership with no gaps.
For antiquities, knowing an object’s provenance or provenience—the object’s findspot at archaeological discovery—allows our researchers to verify an object’s origins. Both in historic and current political climates, the cultural heritage of many nations has been endangered by the looting of antiquities. In response to these threats, international communities have collaborated to create guidelines and agreements, including the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The Art Institute strictly adheres to the UNESCO Convention agreement and the subsequent Standards Regarding Archaeological Material and Ancient Art, put forth by the American Association of Museums. Moreover, the guidelines dictated by the Association of Art Museum Directors provide that, with certain exceptions, museums normally should not acquire an antiquity unless provenance research substantiates that the work was outside its country of probable modern discovery before 1970 or was legally exported from its probable country of modern discovery after 1970. The Association of Art Museum Directors guidelines also require member museums to post acquisitions made under an exception on an object registry.
Art Looting, 1933–1945
To locate books in the library collections, search the online catalog for the following phrases using the Library Catalog scope:
Art and War
Art Treasures in War
World War 1939-1945—Art and the War
World War 1939-1945—Confiscations and Contribution
World War 1939-1945—Destruction and Pillage
The following websites contain information on this topic:
The following materials in the libraries’ collection are good starting points for learning about pre-war collections.
CALL # N50 .M3 1927, OPEN SHELF TITLE Maecenas / herausgeben von Joachim Stern. IMPRINT Berlin: J. Setern, 1927. DESCRIPT v, 594, [1]; 25 cm.
CALL # N50 .M3 1930, OPEN SHELF TITLE Maecenas / herausgebeben von Joachim Stern. IMPRINT 2. Aufl., Berlin : J. Stern Verlag, 1930- DESCRIPT v. ; 25 cm.; no more published
CALL # 703 P19 1925 AUTHOR Schramm, Albert, 1880-1937. TITLE Pantheon internationales Adressbuch der Kunst … : ein Handbuch fur das Sammelwesen der ganzen Welt / bearbeitet von Albert Schramm. IMPRINT 2 Aufl., Esslingen : Paul Neff, 1926 DESCRIPT viii, 472 p. ; 20 cm.
Wartime Auctions
The following materials in the libraries’ collection are good starting points for learning about wartime auctions. CALL # 702.9444 A6156 TITLE Annuaire general des ventes publiques en France. IMPRINT Paris :Editions art et technique, 1942-1943 DESCRIPT v., plates : ill. ; 27 cm. Anne 1-2, 1941/2-1942/3; succeeded by: CALL # 702.9444 V465
TITLE Les Ventes publiques en France : repertoire general des prix, 1943/4-1946/7 IMPRINT Paris : Bureau international d’edition et de publicite, [1943-1947] DESCRIPT v., plates : ill. ; 21 cm
