Gurlitt Case :

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The Gurlitt trove, discovered in 2012 includes about 1,200 artworks found in Cornelius Gurlitt’s apartment in Munich and around 240 additional works unearthed in two additional Gurlitt family residences in Salzburg, Austria. After completion of the Taskforce Schwabinger Kunstfund, on which the Claims Conference was represented by two art experts, the German Lost Art Foundation launched a new project entitled Gurlitt Provenance Research.

The Claims Conference/WJRO has compiled a statistical review of the research results by the Taskforce Schwabinger Kunstfund as well as by the Gurlitt Provenance Research project. The graphs clearly exemplify that an organized and online accessible overview of all artworks that are part of the Gurlitt trove is still missing, including for artworks that are classified as “degenerate art” as well as for artworks with provenance gaps between 1933 and 1945.

For the statistical review, please see:
https://art.claimscon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Review-of-Gurlitt-Trove-3-Nov-2021.pdf

The Gurlitt Provenance Research project focused on 682 so-called green, yellow, and red cases. As of November 2021, 682 case reports are viewable on the German Lost Art Foundation website. Among the completed reviews were 4 artworks that fell into the red category, 615 that were part of the yellow category, and 29 artworks that were categorized as green. The Gurlitt Provenance Research project classified red cases as works that are proven or highly likely to be Nazi-looted art, yellow cases as works with provenance gaps for the time period between 1933 and 1945, and green cases as works that are proven or highly likely not to be Nazi-looted art.

The information concerning the results of the Gurlitt Provenance Research has appeared in different places. The Claims Conference/WJRO has therefore brought together all the online available information so as to allow searches for specific paintings with references in various websites:

For the listing of green cases, please see:
https://art.claimscon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Gurlitt-trove-green-online-resources-Oct.-2021.pdf;

For the listing of yellow cases, please see:
https://art.claimscon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Gurlitt-trove-yellow-online-resources-Oct.-2021.pdf;

For the listing of red cases, please see:
https://art.claimscon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Gurlitt-trove-red-online-resources-Oct.-2021.pdf; 

The Claims Conference reviewed these results and found that 385 artworks were appropriately categorized as “yellow.” However, 155 artworks that were categorized as “yellow” should be reviewed again as most of these cases have one or more red flags referring to mentions of Nazi agents or art dealers who collaborated with the National Socialist regime.

The review also found that an additional 77 cases should be more appropriately categorized as “orange,” meaning that in these specific cases there are numerous red flags and prominent provenance gaps that suggest that they are between yellow and red. In particular, among the 77 cases are 54 in which a claim was filed. In other words, the Claims Conference believes that artworks with one or more red flags should be reviewed again.

For more information regarding the Gurlitt trove and the Claims Conference/WJRO involvement, please see: https://art.claimscon.org/work-provenance-research-archives/gurlitt-collection/ 

Contact Information:

Wesley Fisher, Director of Research                                      
Ruth Jolanda Weinberger, Historian

Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany                                                     
PO Box 1215, New York, NY 10113, USA
Tel: +1-646-536-9100
Email: info@claimscon.org
https://art.claimscon.org/

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