Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
  • Brooks100
  • Vive Le Brooks
  • About
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
  • Home
    • Copyright
    • eBrooks
  • Exhibitions
    • Current
      • Power and Absence
      • Memphis Artists in Real Time
      • Divas Ascending
      • Drawing Memory
      • Carroll Cloar Gallery
      • Arts of Global Africa
    • Upcoming
      • Art Builds Creativity Student Exhibition
    • Past
      • Play Station
      • Photography in Memphis
      • A Journey Towards Self-Definition
      • Albrecht Dürer
      • Ernest C. Withers: Baseball Photographs
      • Renditions II
      • Natural Curiosity: Beth Van Hoesen
      • Claire Van Vliet: Illustrating Babel
      • Painted Words: Poets and Painters in Print, 1869 – 1967
      • Rotunda Projects: Federico Uribe
      • Bouguereau & America
      • Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i
      • 2019 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards
      • Jaume Plensa: Talking Continents
      • Brooks Outside: Outings Project
      • African-Print Fashion Now!
      • Black Resistance
      • Rotunda Projects: Lisa Hoke
      • Coming to America
      • Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
      • Making Our Mark
      • 2018 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards
      • About Face
      • Barrier Free
      • By the Book
      • Selections from William Eggleston’s Portfolios
      • Brooks Outside: Tape Art
      • Rotunda Projects: Nnenna Okore
      • 100 Gifts for 100 Years
      • A Feast for the Eyes
      • Art Builds Creativity 2017
      • Creating Connections Through Art Therapy
      • 2017 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards
      • Red Grooms: Traveling Correspondent
      • Rotunda Projects: Yinka Shonibare MBE
      • Veda Reed: Day into Night
      • Hassan Hajjaj: My Rock Stars
      • Create. Imagine. Explore.
      • Early Learners Explore the Environment
      • RedBall Memphis
      • Families in Art
      • Clare Leighton and Thomas W. Nason: Common Threads
      • Wonder, Whimsy, Wild: Folk Art in America
      • 2016 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards
      • Decorative Arts Trust: A 35th Anniversary Exhibition
      • 60s Cool
      • Ofrendas: Student-made Altars
      • Buggin & Shruggin: A Glitched History of Gaming Culture
      • Surreal Kingdoms
      • The Art of Video Games
      • This Light of Ours
      • Marisol: Sculptures and Works on Paper
      • Exhibitions since 2006
  • Collections
    • The Collection Online
    • Conservation & Appraisal
    • Image Services
    • Provenance
    • Outdoor Sculptures
    • Give to the collection
  • Visit
    • Visit Your Museum
    • Events
    • Directions + Parking
    • School Tours
    • Visit with Families
    • FAQs
    • Accessibility
  • Learn
    • Summer Art Camps
    • Homeschool
    • Virtual Visits
    • Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards
      • 2019 Mid-South Scholastic Art Awards Winners
    • Inside Art
  • Join + Give
    • Donate Now
    • Gift Memberships
    • Membership
      • Cloar Circle
      • Become a Member
      • Brooks Membership Travel Program
      • Member Events
    • Ways to Give
      • Annual Fund
      • Tennessee Arts Commission
      • Honor + Memorials
      • Planned Giving
      • Gifts of Art
      • Endowment
      • Education
    • Volunteer
  • Venue Rental
    • Weddings
    • Corporate Events
    • Spaces
    • Contact Us
  • #BrooksMuseum
    • Blog
    • Interactive Timeline
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Provenance

Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
  • The Collection Online
  • Conservation & Appraisal
  • Image Services
  • Provenance
  • Outdoor Sculptures
  • Give to the collection

Nazi-Era Provenance Research Project

Like many museums across the country, 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 Brooks 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.

This ongoing project, which began in 2002, focuses on all European paintings in the permanent collection that transferred ownership or have gaps in their provenance, or history of ownership, during 1933 to 1945. During the past two years, a number of the museum’s paintings have been researched and their provenance has been established, while others continue to be investigated.

However, 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 and is included in our survey. The provenance gap only highlights the need for further documentary evidence to clarify the history of ownership. Many times these gaps are simply the result of lost or destroyed gallery records or requested anonymity of a past owner. The provenance of many of these paintings may never be fully resolved, but with the recent declassification of documents and the broad range of databases, catalogues, and images available on the Internet from libraries, museums, and research centers worldwide, the chance for success is much greater than ever before.

Click here to see a list of paintings from the Brooks Museum’s permanent collection that are currently undergoing research due to lapses in provenance. In allowing public access to this information, 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 [email protected].

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.


Click here to see the paintings. 

  • Home
  • Collections
  • Provenance

Memphis Brooks
Museum of Art

1934 Poplar Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
901.544.6200


Subscribe to our Newsletter

Additional links

  • Terms of use
  • Press room
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Email login
Memphis Web Design by Speak
and Studio Blue

Our Supporters

  Hyde Foundation Tennessee Arts Commission The Jeniam Foundation Autozone-2