Systematic investigation of the graphic art collection at the Kunsthalle Mannheim

Since late 2011, the Kunsthalle has been systematically researching the origins of all the paintings, sculptures and graphic works in its holdings. The individual research projects have received substantial support from the German Lost Art Foundation and, prior to 2015, from its predecessor, the Bureau for Provenance Research. The projects aim to clarify the changes in ownership of all artworks created before 1946 as comprehensively as possible. The hope is that as a result, artworks that were seized illegally during the National Socialist era will be identified and returned to their former owners or their descendants.

Following the systematic investigation of the collections of paintings and sculptures, research activities began focusing on the graphic collection in August 2015. At the beginning of this research project, a general origin check was made of 2,253 inventory numbers in total. On the basis of the information available at the time, it was established that 531 items had been acquired from art dealers, and 1,722 had entered the collection in other ways (questionable acquisitions from artists, donations, unknown acquisitions, etc.).

In the course of the project Systematic Investigation of the Graphic Art Collection at the Kunsthalle Mannheim, I, it was possible to rule out the suspicion that works were Nazi-looted art for a total of 1,540 inventory numbers. In August 2017, the project Systematic Investigation of the Graphic Art Collection at the Kunsthalle Mannheim, II was launched in order to clarify the 713 provenances that had not yet been explicitly categorized as far as possible. At the end of the overall project, the following figures can now be reported: The suspicion that works are Nazi-looted art has been explicitly ruled out for a total of 1,709 inventory numbers. The whereabouts of 518 graphic works between the years 1933 and 1945 has not been definitively clarified, but that is not to say that they are suspected of having been confiscated through Nazi persecution. Twenty-five pieces must be classified as potential Nazi-confiscated art; one graphic print has definitively been assessed as Nazi-confiscated property.

(c) Kunsthalle Mannheim