THE HUNT FOR THE HUNT’S MISSING PROVENANCES Part I

Part I
According to the Associated Press- http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6957061,00.html-  

The Hunt Museum in Limerick, Ireland was absolved last week of all accusations looming against it that that its founders were Nazi spies who bought art works from dealers trafficking in items stolen during the Holocaust. Those strong allegations against founders John Hunt and his German wife Gertrude were first made in 2003 by the Paris-based Centre Simon Wiesenthal (CSW) in a public letter to Irish President Mary McAleese.

As a result of the highly sensitive nature of the allegations, The Irish Academy retained WWII-era researcher and writer of Rape of Europa (currently in film release) Lynn Nicholas. She analyzed the methodology of the group investigating the Hunt Museum, responded to the criticisms of Centre Simon Wiesenthal and suggested further action in her August 8, 2007 report. 

Even though the Irish Academy formally cleared The Hunt Museum with the release of Nicholas’ Report, Shimon Samuels maintains his position and is quoted as saying, that, as far as he was concerned, “The show is not over.''

What could Shimon know that we don’t know?

Didn’t Lynn Nicholas clear The Hunt Museum of doing anything wrong as the AP reported?

"This does not to me give a clean bill of health to the Hunt Museum,'' Samuels said of the report. "I do not feel the research has been exhaustive or complete, basically due to the fact that we were denied access to the archive and to the entire process.'' 

She did castigate the Centre Simon Wiesenthal (CSW) for several things:

In 2003, Dr. Shimon Samuels of the CSW wrote an open letter that Nicholas describes as “confrontational and personally offensive”. Dr Samuels suggested that the provenance of some of the material in the museum was suspect. Also, he claimed that the Hunts had links with Nazis and colloborationists dealers in art objects looted during World War II. Although Nicholas acknowledges, “the discovery of a ‘red flag’ dealer’s name associated with an art collection is certainly a valid reason for an inquiry”, she berates the tactics used in the pursuit of truth about the Hunt collection. In a scathing rebuke, Nicholas admonishes Dr. Samuels’ “sensational and calculated manner” in which he announced his suspicions.

It is her opinion, although the Hunts happen to be very close friends and business associates with notorious art dealer collaborators like Alexander Von Frey, it doesn’t necessarily prove they dealt in looted art (it was through the von Freys that Mrs. Hunt communicated with her mother, who remained in Germany during the war).  Nicholas examined three letters that exposed the connection of Hunt to the Freys and while they themselves lack proof to identify specific stolen works, their existence absolutely demands the need  for further research . Dr. Samuels said of the most recent report, "I do not feel the research has been exhaustive or complete." 

Nicholas  writes the letters  do not refer to sales of works from the war, only "pre-war" transactions. But even "pre-war" may mean problematic sales/dealings if the period stems from 1933-1939; a time now acknowledged to identify the Holocaust-era as a basis for claims.

It is Nicholas' opinion that since the private and professional lives of freelance dealers such as the Hunts cannot really be separated, any information that exists on the their wartime pursuits in Irish Military Files should have been voluntarily shared.

Nicholas harshly criticizes Samuels’ for keeping back this documentation and holding it close as “challenging the authorities .. a sort of blackmail game”. The Hunt Museum Evaluation Group, on the other hand, is excused for suppressing the identical file for reasons attributable to “intra-Irish politics”. But Irish web author Sean Murphy wrote about the group,"...it seemed to the present writer that the (Evaluation Group) group was being rather optimistic in its conclusion, and had not dug deeply enough." They were certainly aware of the existence of the Military Archive file. Nicholas admitted that. But she lightly pronounced as "misguided" the Group's suppression of the contents of the Military File in its own formal report.

That report was delivered in June 2006, at The Royal Irish Academy symposium on looted art closed to Dr. Samuels and the Centre Wiesenthal. Disaster struck in the form of Irish Military file G2/4371- Mr and Mrs Hunt being publicly exposed by a museum official in the audience. It was Eamonn Kelly, Keeper of Antiquities National Museum of Ireland. Kelly also happens to be married to Erin Gibbons, the Hunt Museum art researcher, who shared her concerns about the complete lack of provenances in the Hunt Museum collection with the Wiesenthal Centre  in 2003. These concerns, coupled with Hunt Museum's unpublished scholarship which raises questions about the "dodgy" milieu of art dealings in war and post-war Europe (when the Hunt's were dealers), gave The Wiesenthal Institute the impetus to demand an inquiry.

With respect to  answers, the Nicholas' Report is most interesting in that it raises even more red flags on the Collection than ever before.

But the press doesn't report  Nicholas' calls and recommendations for further research. So, although the Press has cleared the Hunt Museum, research and investigation will continue... and the truth will emerge.