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Provenance Research

Provenance Research Project

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is participating in the nationwide effort to identify works of art that may have been illegally confiscated from their rightful owners by the Nazi regime during World War II. Committed to the responsible stewardship of its collection, the museum is conducting in-depth provenance research on a number of paintings in the permanent collection, in compliance with the guidelines issued by the American Association of Museums in 1999 and 2001.

Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South

The Summer Art Garden: A Flash of Sun

Navigating Knowledge

Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet

In the Moment: Art from the 1950s to Now

Memphis on the Mississippi (Ode to Tom Lee)

Art of the African Diaspora

Power & Absence: Women in Europe, 1500 – 1680

2025 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

Art Builds Creativity 2023 - 2024

2024 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

Inspired Aging: Wellness and Creative Courage

Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020: An Enduring Legacy

David Uzochukwu: Bodies of Water

Who You See and Who We Are: A reflection on teenage identity, culture, and change

Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides

Thomas Jackson: Chaotic Equilibrium

Starry, Starry, Winter Garden

Beyond the Surface: The Art of Handmade Paper

List of paintings

'Balthazar, from an altarpiece depicting the Adoration of the Magi,' Unknown Artist (Netherlandish (probably Antwerp), ca. 1515

Provenance Research

Provenance Research Project

Of Salt and Spirit: Black Quilters in the American South

The Summer Art Garden: A Flash of Sun

Navigating Knowledge

Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet

In the Moment: Art from the 1950s to Now

Memphis on the Mississippi (Ode to Tom Lee)

Art of the African Diaspora

Power & Absence: Women in Europe, 1500 – 1680

David Uzochukwu: Bodies of Water

Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020: An Enduring Legacy

Who You See and Who We Are: A reflection on teenage identity, culture, and change

Thomas Jackson: Chaotic Equilibrium

Starry, Starry, Winter Garden

Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides

Beyond the Surface: The Art of Handmade Paper

Summer Art Garden: Creatures of Paradise

China Blues: The World in Blue and White

Andrea Morales: Roll Down Like Water

Christian Siriano: People Are People

Thomas Jackson: Chaotic Equilibrium

Sense-ational!: The Art of the Five Senses

Art Builds Creativity 2022 - 2023

Black American Portraits

Tommy Kha: Eye is Another

2023 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

The Human Zoo by Kent Monkman

Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak's Designs for Opera and Ballet

Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative

Persevere and Resist: The Strong Black Women of Elizabeth Catlett

Ofrendas: Día de los Muertos Altars

Brooks Outside: Evanescent

Another Dimension: Digital Art in Memphis

Henry Ossawa Tanner: The Thankful Poor

Decorative Arts Trust: A 35th Anniversary Exhibition

Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars

Brooks Outside: RedBall Memphis

Wonder, Whimsy, Wild: Folk Art in America

Rotunda Projects: Yinka Shonibare MBE

Veda Reed: Day into Night

Red Grooms: Traveling Correspondent

2017 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

Brooks Outside: Tape Art

A Feast for the Eyes: 200 Years of American Still-Life Painting from the Hevrdejs Collection

100 Gifts for 100 Years

Coming to America: Lachaise, Laurent, Nadelman, and Zorach, 1914 - 1945

Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of Hawai'i

2019 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

American Haiku: The Woodcuts of Ted Faiers

Bouguereau & America

Rotunda Projects: Federico Uribe

Painted Words: Poets and Painters in Print, 1869 – 1967

Natural Curiosity: Beth Van Hoesen

Renditions with Terry Adkins: Native Son (Circus)

Play Station

Ernest C. Withers: Baseball Photographs

Albrecht Dürer's "Small Passion" Series

Photography in Memphis

Claire Van Vliet: Illustrating Babel

2020 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards

Native Voices, 1950s to Now: Art for a New Understanding

A Journey Towards Self-Definition: African American Artists in the Permanent Collection

Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition 2021

Brooks Outside: Pour Me Another

Faig Ahmed: Secret Garden

Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards and Exhibition

Rotunda Projects: Monika Grzymala

Paradise Lost: Albrecht Dürer's Stolen Eden

Ke Francis and Hoopsnake Press

Andy Warhol's Little Red Book

Memphis Artists in Real Time

Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds

Dia de los Muertos: Student Altar Exhibition

Mona Hatoum: Misbah

On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger

List of paintings

'Balthazar, from an altarpiece depicting the Adoration of the Magi,' Unknown Artist (Netherlandish (probably Antwerp), ca. 1515

No exhibitions were found

February 4 - May 15

Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds

Created in 1966, Warhol’s Silver Clouds consists of a room full of floating metallic balloons. The balloons are inflated with a proprietary mixture of air and pure helium, enabling them to float mesmerizingly in the space between the floor and the ceiling.

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Silver Clouds, 1966. Andy Warhol, Mixed Media Installation.

January 22 - February 20, 2022

Mid-South Scholastic

Since 1989, the Brooks has been proud to partner with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the national non-profit organization which organizes the nation’s oldest and largest student art competition, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, to host the regional competition and exhibition for Memphis and Mid-South area.

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Adele Ferguson, 'Pax'

October 9 – November 7, 2021

Dia de los Muertos: Student Altar Exhibition

This month-long exhibition in the education gallery features ofrendas (altars) designed by Mid-South students, a Monarch butterfly collaborative art-making activity, and stories behind some of the iconic symbols that represent this celebration of life.

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September 18, 2021 – January 9, 2022

On Christopher Street

Mark Seliger, a well-known photographer, has captured striking portraits of some of the transgender residents of New York City’s famed Christopher Street. This will be the first time this body of work will be shown in a museum, and it is the first transgender-focused art exhibition the Brooks has ever organized.

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Portrait by Mark Seliger

On view through January 9, 2022

Mona Hatoum: Misbah

Mona Hatoum (b. 1952, Beirut, Lebanon to Palestinian parents) is considered one of the most significant artists of her generation. Hatoum's sculptures and installations often re-imagine everyday objects to engage with issues of gender, race, and conflict.

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June 5 - August 29, 2021

Persevere and Resist

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Elizabeth Catlett, 'I am the Black Woman', 1947

April 16 - May 2 2021

Brooks Outside: Pour Me Another

Operating in a territory between architecture, art and industrial design, LA-based Ball-Nogues Studio brings you 'Brooks Outside: Pour Me Another.'

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Ball-Nogues Studio

January 27 through June 27, 2021

Memphis Artists in Real Time

These pictorial accounts reveal both the acute distress on our community and moments of deep humanity that offer hope for the future. What Martin and Morales capture, how they capture it, and what they are thinking as they capture it, is examined here and in their own words.

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Photograph by Johnathan “Malik” Martin

Febuary 25 - September 2026

Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020: An Enduring Legacy

For eighty-four years, the Memphis College of Art offered a rigorous arts education to students from across the country and around the world. Through this exhibition of ninety faculty, administrators, and graduates, 'Memphis College of Art, 1936-2020: An Enduring Legacy' reflects on the school’s historical impact and celebrates its continued legacy regionally and beyond.

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June 10, 2026 - Sept. 2026

David Uzochukwu: Bodies of Water

David Uzochukwu: Bodies of Water is a poetic meditation on identity, migration, and belonging. In his first solo museum exhibition, Uzochukwu presents hybrid beings—part human, part animal—who inhabit surreal, dreamlike landscapes. His use of nonhuman features amplifies, rather than diminishes, the strength and dignity of his subjects.‍

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Nazi-Era Research

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi Party systemically persecuted and stripped Jewish people from Nazi-occupied Europe of their possessions. These objects were looted, sold, dispersed, or destroyed. The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art began Nazi-Era provenance research in 2002, focusing on all European paintings in the permanent collection that transferred ownership or have gaps in their provenance from 1933 to 1945.

Although we cannot conclude that a work of art was looted or appropriated by the Nazis simply because it has incomplete or unverified information in its provenance, gaps do indicate that more robust research must be conducted. Many times, these gaps in provenance are the result of lost or destroyed gallery records, or the requested anonymity of a past owner. Several of the museum’s paintings have been researched and their provenance has been established, while others continue to be investigated.

The American Association of Museums has developed a Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal which provides a searchable registry of objects in United States museum collections that fit the criteria discussed above.

In allowing public access, we join with the international art museum community in the diligent search for items seized or looted during the Nazi era. If you have any inquiries or information about these items, please contact the museum at provresearch@brooksmuseum.org.

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Colonial-Era Research

Throughout history, many works of art from around the world were stolen, forcibly sold, or taken without consent as the direct result of Colonialism. The communities whose objects were taken experienced trauma, violence, and loss. Looting is not just an issue of the past. These problems persist globally due to war, riot, shifts in government, organized crime, terrorism, and natural disasters and, unfortunately, looted objects emerge on the art market to this day.

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is committed to not only investigating the history of objects in our collection with possible links to Colonialism, but also to ensuring that all incoming acquisitions and gifts have a verified past that align with our ethical obligations.

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