German Lost Art Foundation approves 1.5 million euros for 15 provenance research projects

The Ger­man Lost Art Foun­da­tion has ac­cept­ed the rec­om­men­da­tion of the Fund­ing Com­mit­tee to fi­nance 15 ad­di­tion­al re­search pro­pos­als, sub­mit­ted by mu­se­ums, li­braries, re­search in­sti­tutes and archives. The Foun­da­tion’s de­ci­sion to al­lo­cate fund­ing to­talling some 1.5 mil­lion eu­ros will sup­port the de­cen­tralised search for cul­tur­al as­sets seized through Nazi per­se­cu­tion.

“The num­ber of pro­pos­als clear­ly shows that there is a con­tin­ued in­ter­est in in­ves­ti­gat­ing the prove­nance of cul­tur­al as­sets. I’m al­so pleased to see that more and more small­er-sized or­gan­i­sa­tions and in­sti­tu­tions out­side the art mu­se­um sec­tor are in­ves­ti­gat­ing their col­lec­tions in search of Nazi con­fis­cat­ed prop­er­ty, there­by ex­pand­ing the scope of our fund­ed projects,” stat­ed Uwe M. Schneede, mem­ber of the Ex­ec­u­tive Board of the Ger­man Lost Art Foun­da­tion. A list of all the cur­rent­ly fund­ed projects can be found at the end of this press re­lease.

Since Ger­man fed­er­al and state au­thor­i­ties be­gan fi­nanc­ing prove­nance re­search projects, a to­tal of 156 in­sti­tu­tions, in­clud­ing the new­ly ap­proved fund­ing re­cip­i­ents, have re­ceived a to­tal of around 17.5 mil­lion eu­ros. The fund­ing has en­abled the Foun­da­tion to sup­port and con­tin­ue fi­nanc­ing 234 projects (156 long-term and 78 short-term projects).

The Ger­man Lost Art Foun­da­tion sees it­self as the na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al con­tact part­ner for mat­ters re­lat­ed to the il­le­gal con­fis­ca­tion of cul­tur­al as­sets in Ger­many in the 20th cen­tu­ry. It sup­ports prove­nance re­search ef­forts through re­search grants and doc­u­ments the loss and dis­cov­ery of cul­tur­al as­sets in its pub­licly ac­ces­si­ble “Lost Art” database. The ap­pli­ca­tion dead­line for long-term re­search projects is 1 April and 1 Oc­to­ber of ev­ery year.

For more in­for­ma­tion on fund­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties, see here.

The Ger­man Lost Art Foun­da­tion is cur­rent­ly fund­ing the fol­low­ing in­sti­tu­tions:

• Kun­st­mu­se­um Stuttgart
• Uni­ver­sitäts­bib­lio­thek Mainz
• Mu­se­um der bilden­den Kün­ste Leipzig
• Ger­man­is­ches Na­tional­mu­se­um Nürn­berg
• Schloss­mu­se­um Jev­er
• Mu­se­um im Kul­tur­spe­ich­er Würzburg
• Uni­ver­sitäts­bib­lio­thek Ro­s­tock
• Mu­se­umsver­band in Meck­len­burg-Vor­pom­mern e.V. Ro­s­tock
• Vere­inigte Adel­sarchive im Rhein­land e.V. Pul­heim-Brauweil­er
• Kul­turhis­torisches Mu­se­um Gör­litz
• Musik­wis­senschaftlich­es In­sti­tut der Uni­ver­sität zu Köln
• Lan­desarchiv Baden-Würt­tem­berg, Staat­sarchiv Lud­wigs­burg
• Stadt­mu­se­um Old­en­burg
• In­sti­tut für die Geschichte der deutschen Ju­den Ham­burg
• Bay­erische Staats­bib­lio­thek München

Of these, the fol­low­ing five in­sti­tu­tions are re­ceiv­ing fund­ing for the first time:

• Mu­se­umsver­band in Meck­len­burg-Vor­pom­mern e.V. Ro­s­tock
• Vere­inigte Adel­sarchive im Rhein­land e.V. Pul­heim-Brauweil­er
• Kul­turhis­torisches Mu­se­um Gör­litz
• Musik­wis­senschaftlich­es In­sti­tut der Uni­ver­sität zu Köln
• Uni­ver­sitäts­bib­lio­thek Mainz

The fol­low­ing six in­sti­tu­tions are re­ceiv­ing con­tin­ued fund­ing:

• Mu­se­um der bilden­den Kün­ste Leipzig
• Ger­man­is­ches Na­tional­mu­se­um Nürn­berg
• Schloss­mu­se­um Jev­er
• Mu­se­um im Kul­tur­spe­ich­er Würzburg
• Uni­ver­sitäts­bib­lio­thek Ro­s­tock
• Kun­st­mu­se­um Stuttgart

The fol­low­ing four in­sti­tu­tions have re­ceived fund­ing in the past and are now launch­ing new projects:

• Lan­desarchiv Baden-Würt­tem­berg, Staat­sarchiv Lud­wigs­burg
• Stadt­mu­se­um Old­en­burg
• In­sti­tut für die Geschichte der deutschen Ju­den Ham­burg
• Bay­erische Staats­bib­lio­thek München