 |
Research – Provenance Research Project
Introduction | Objects | Restitued Objects | Interim Reports | Press Releases | Resources
Press Releases
Queensland Art Gallery Commits to Tracing Nazi Loot
26 April 2001
The Queensland Art Gallery has established a research team dedicated to identifying any works of art in the Gallery's collection that were confiscated or looted by Nazi authorities during the Second World War.
The team of Gallery staff will formally examine the QAG catalogue and undertake further research in an effort to establish the Gallery's good title to particular objects.
"While it is unlikely that the Gallery's collection contains any objects stolen by the Nazis, we have established a moral commitment to trace the history of any works that might be questioned", said Queensland Art Gallery Director, Mr Doug Hall.
The objects being scrutinised are paintings and sculpture of European origin, created before 1945 and acquired by the Queensland Art Gallery after 1932, which may have vague or inaccurate information regarding ownership during the Nazi/World War II (1933-45)
Fifty-nine objects from the collection are under consideration with research already revealing that one of these works was confiscated by Nazis in 1939.
The Austrian Government's Commission for Provenance Research (Kommission für Provenienzforschung) confirmed that the late 15th Century painting by the Master of Frankfurt, Virgin and child with Saint James the Pilgrim, Saint Catherine and the Donor with Saint Peter, was part of a collection confiscated by Nazis from Czechoslovakian Jew, Oscar Bondy in 1939.
The painting was retrieved by Allied forces in April 1946 and returned to Bondy's widow in September 1947. It was legally purchased by the Queensland Art Gallery in 1980.
Documentation held by the Austrian Government also confirms that the painting had been earmarked by Hitler for his planned Führermuseum in the Austrian city of Linz. This museum was to be the showcase for the finest of European art treasures which were being accumulated by Hitler.
Mr Hall said that while the total value of Holocaust era assets is unknown, a significant number of pieces are still missing.
"The research being undertaken at the Gallery is evidence of new levels of international standards of responsibility in dealing with art from this period" Mr Hall said.
The Queensland Art Gallery initiative follows that of museums and galleries worldwide in an attempt to identify Nazi loot and return them to their rightful owners.
< RESEARCH HOME
|
|
