National Socialist art theft: Provenance researchers from Germany and America establish network
Press release from 10/30/2019
German/American Provenance Research Exchange Programme (PREP) has come to an end: Transatlantic network has been established
The German-American Exchange on Provenance Research in Museums, PREP for short, has come to an end in Washington. Museum experts from 25 German and American institutions specialising in provenance research on the National Socialist era met for the sixth time to network and exchange information on new projects and research findings.
What is unusual about the PREP project, which was launched in 2017, is that the focus was not on the development of concrete joint work results, but on sustainable networking. In particular, the participants were to be given the freedom to develop ideas for future projects together.
In each of the three project years, around 25 experts from Germany and the United States met for two one-week workshops. The central topics were the research structures and archive resources in both countries, the legal framework of the work, but also the question of how the results of provenance research can be better communicated to the public. Participants from all three PREP years and numerous guests travelled to the final workshop in Washington, which was also held in cooperation with the German Historical Institute in Washington. In two public panel discussions, the importance of international exchange in provenance research was highlighted and finally the link was made to provenance research on objects from colonial contexts.
The project has succeeded in creating a lively, constantly growing network of experts from Germany and the United States. It became clear at the final workshop that PREP has laid the foundations for numerous other projects and research collaborations. For example, there are plans for a joint publication on the fate of archaeological cultural property during the Nazi era, which will appear as a special issue in the RIHA Journal in 2020. The idea for the workshop 'Pillage is formally prohibited. Provenance Research on East Asian Art #3, which will be organised by the Museum für Asiatische Kunst der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, the Technische Universität Berlin and the University of Glasgow on 8 and 9 November 2019 and will take place at the Museum für Asiatische Kunst. The results of PREP will also be documented permanently and publicly in an online publication hosted by the Getty Research Institute.
PREP was organised by the Smithsonian Institution and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz/ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. It also cooperated with the German Centre for the Loss of Cultural Property in Magdeburg. The programme was chaired by Richard Kurin, Acting Provost of the Smithsonian Institution, and Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK. PREP was financially supported in particular by the German Programme for Transatlantic Encounters and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.