HEIRS - Observations on Provenance

PRIVATE ART DEALERS

A hearing on efforts toward restitution of art stolen from Jews during the Holocaust was held by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services, Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee on July 27, 2006.

The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) was represented by Gilbert S. Edelson, Administrative Vice President and Counsel.
But what is so strange is the teeming numbers of dealers in the trade who appear in Art in America’s database (see  my earlier US ART DEALERS post ) while Edelson states his membership hovers around 165.

Even subtracting those dealers that trade in antique furniture, decorative arts, rare books, porcelain, rugs, Asian and Tribal Art, there are still many more than 165 names left on the list I posted.

Seems to me that this is a largely unregulated business and, other than 165, U.S. dealers do not  have to conform to the ADAA Guidelines Regarding Art Looted During the Nazi Era.( P. 7 of Edelson's Testimony).

There are only very few years left for existing claimants victimized during the Holocaust to rediscover their lost artworks. During the war and especially in those years following, knowingly or not, private art dealers in North America were often directly responsible for the dispersal of looted possessions.

They know to be prepared for years and years of difficult claims that will continue to unravel their art market  as HEIRS, rightfully pursue what was once their families’ legacy.

THE ROLE OF THE US GOVERNMENT IN ART RESTITUTION Press Release: US State Department

Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 8:53 am

J. Christian Kennedy, Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues

Potsdam, Germany
April 23, 2007

As Prepared

Thank you, Professor Schoeps, for the opportunity to speak at this conference  and to meet with people who have been and remain deeply engaged in the field of art restitution. This is a subject that has drawn increasing public attention  in the last few years as prominent cases have been resolved or have reached the stage where they have become newsworthy. The vibrant and active art market of today has added a new dimension to the subject of looted art.

The displacement of cultural items has been a feature of warfare for centuries, but it reached a new high in the massive art looting that occurred during World War II. The Allies were well aware during the war of this looting and in  January 1943 issued the London Declaration in which eighteen countries reserved the right to declare invalid any transfers of property both in Germany and in the countries the Nazi forces occupied during the war.