The Center for Art Collection Ethics (ACE) at the University of Denver (DU) is pleased to announce a fully virtual training program on the fundamentals of Nazi-era art provenance research, August 2–6, 2021. Our program is geared toward graduate students in any field and emerging museum professionals, with sessions available to the broader public. We will offer a postgraduate certificate of completion to twenty students through an application process, with full scholarships provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. In addition, non-certificate students and other attendees may register for a modest daily fee.
Our planning team includes Renée Albiston, Associate Museum Director of Kirkland Museum Fine & Decorative Art; Elizabeth Campbell, Associate Professor of History and Director of ACE; Angelica Daneo, Chief Curator and Curator of European Art before 1900 at the Denver Art Museum; and MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
For seamless and secure program delivery, we are using the OpenWater virtual conferencing platform.
The program includes:
Interactive lectures and discussions with top historians, provenance researchers and museum staff, with break-out groups to allow smaller group discussions.
Virtual visits to the University of Denver and the Denver Art Museum collections, followed by live Q&A sessions with the curators and provenance researchers.
Object case studies illustrating ownership evidence on the back of painting frames.
Information on archival resources in the United States and abroad.
Presentations of digital resources including the ERR Jeu de Paume database and the Jewish Digital Cultural Recovery Project, by Marc Masurovsky.
A roundtable on legal and ethical dimensions of Nazi-era art stewardship, including Nicholas O’Donnell, attorney at Sullivan and Worcester in Boston.
Interactive workshops on writing provenance narratives, essential information, and making findings public.
For certificate students: small group work on provenance research case studies using digital resources, and presentation of findings through a symposium the final day of the program.
Keynote address by Jane Milosch, Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of Glasgow and former Founding Director of the Smithsonian Provenance Research Initiative, and the PREP exchange program of German and American curators: “A Decade of International Provenance Research and Exchange at the Smithsonian (2009-2019): Looking Back, Looking Forward.”
Timeline for Certificate Applications:
Applications accepted on a rolling basis through 11:59pm on June 30, 2021.
Notifications of acceptance in early July 2021. Twenty students will be accepted.
Program dates: August 2–6, 2021. Synchronous sessions in the morning and afternoon of Thursday, August 5, and Friday, August 6.
Enrollment fees fully supported by scholarships provided by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
Qualifications for Certificate Program:
A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience is required. Applicants are welcome to explain equivalent experience in the application essay.
We welcome applications from graduate students and emerging professionals with various backgrounds, including art history, museum studies, anthropology, cultural studies, history, religious studies, and library and information science.
We encourage participation from minoritized communities and staff at academic museums and galleries, who are poised to help train the rising generation of curators.
Certificate students must be able to participate synchronously in sessions all day Thursday, August 5, and Friday, August 6. During this time, they will work on provenance research case studies in small groups, with guidance in break-out rooms from provenance researchers. On Friday, the groups will present their work in a student symposium in the morning and afternoon. The program will finish with the keynote address by Jane Milosch.
Application Submission
Please submit in a single pdf to ahss.ace@du.edu:
Application form, with essay
A short curriculum vitae (1–2 pages)
College and University transcripts
One recommendation form and letter from a professor or supervisor able to comment on your potential for outstanding work in museums or other cultural and educational institutions. The letter should be sent from the author directly to us, at ahss.ace@du.edu
Non-Certificate Registration
Non-certificate students and other attendees may register on a daily basis, for a modest fee, gaining access to recorded sessions for up to one year. All registrants may view asynchronous sessions on their own schedule.
Registration will be available closer to the program date. Follow us here and on Instagram and Twitter @UofDenver_ACE for regular updates.