“A little-known discipline in art history”

To mark International Provenance Research Day, Restauro spoke to provenance researchers Cosima Dollansky and Anna-Lena Schneider about the significance of this day, their current project and the planned changes to the legal basis for the restitution of Nazi-looted property. Dollansky and Schneider conduct research at the Munich Central Institute for Art History and have been leading a project on the Julius Boehler art dealership since May 2023.

Restauro: Dear Ms. Dollansky, dear Ms. Schneider, I am very pleased that you have agreed to conduct this interview. Provenance research is currently on everyone’s lips since it was decided that the procedure and legal basis for the restitution of Nazi-looted art should be changed. What do you think about this?

Cosima Dollansky: This is an important change which – if it is implemented as planned – would give victims and their heirs in particular significantly more opportunities to actively reclaim unlawful spoliations. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that this is, so to speak, a side issue: Dispute resolution presupposes, after all, that the facts are in principle on the table and only their assessment is still in dispute. However, this constellation only applies to a fraction of the historical transactions in National Socialism. For us as researchers, it is much more about the many changes of ownership that we are reconstructing from the sources for the first time – we are creating the conditions for restitution.

Anna-Lena Schneider: The creation of a legal basis for the restitution of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution was enshrined in the German government’s coalition agreement. It is therefore gratifying that the topic is now “on everyone’s lips”. The publicly initiated debate also highlights the topicality of the issue – 25 years after the Washington Conference. To this day, some complex cases remain unresolved, so the creation of an appropriate legal basis would be a very important step on the way to just and fair solutions.

Restauro: In 2015, the Central Institute for Art History in Munich was able to acquire the photo archive and associated object files of the Julius Böhler art dealership. What makes the photo archive so important for provenance research?

Dollansky: First of all, I would like to emphasize that not every object that was traded by the Böhler art dealership has a photograph. And some photo folders are more informative than others… however, the almost 8,000 photo folders that are available at the ZI are in any case unique source material for provenance research, because in addition to the mere visualization of an object, the photo folder often contains further information about the object. Very often, original appraisals and/or a copy are found, which, in addition to authenticating a work, also provide information on previous owners or auctions at which the work was offered. Other documents include newspaper clippings. Very rarely, the photo folders were used to store labels that were once on the back of an object.

Schneider: The index cards provide an insight into the transactions of the Julius Böhler art dealership in the years 1903 to 1993 – although only a few index cards are available up to around 1917/18. They show from whom the objects were acquired and to whom they were resold by Böhler, which is of course of essential value for provenance research. In some cases, previous provenances are even noted on the index cards. In addition to the sheer size of this card index (more than 30,000 cards!), it is above all the combination with the photo folders that makes the archive so valuable. Even if a photograph does not exist for every index card, a large number of works are given clear visual evidence. This identification is of particular importance for provenance research, as the descriptions of the objects are often very brief, ambiguous or sometimes even contradictory. In some cases, the photo folders also contain further documents such as appraisals, additional photographs, letters or even references to the previous or subsequent owner. All this makes this collection of sources truly unique.

Restauro: You have been in charge of the boehler re:search project at the Central Institute for Art History since May 2023, can you tell me more about it? What is the project supposed to achieve and what is its objective?

Dollansky: The aim of the project is to transcribe and standardize the index cards of the Böhler art dealership from 1903-1993 and make them accessible in a database. For current provenance research, transactions and actors between 1933 and 1945 are essential, but it was taken into account that index cards before 1933 and after 1945 can also provide evidence of unlawful seizure during the National Socialist regime. By standardizing the actors involved in a transaction, it is possible to see how many and which objects an actor acquired or sold at Böhler, whether an actor had prepared appraisals or how many objects of a certain type or region were traded at Böhler.

Schneider: As part of the project “Dealers, collectors and museums: The Julius Böhler art dealership in Munich, Lucerne, Berlin and New York. Indexing and documentation of traded artworks 1903-1994”, the art trade source in question is being recorded in the Boehler re:search database and made accessible to the public. Particular attention was paid to the transparent processing of the source material, which is why the information on the index cards was not only transcribed, but works, actors and auctions were also standardized. In this way, the data records become searchable and can be linked within Boehler re:search or with other databases and enriched with further information. This makes connections visible and provenance chains traceable – for everyone.

Restauro: How exactly can people use the database that was created as part of the boehler re: search project?

Dollansky: By going to https://boehler.zikg.eu/ and then using the full-text search to look up people or objects. Some filter options make it possible, for example, to filter objects of a certain genre or time. The fact that not only the transcriptions and standardizations of the index cards are available, but also a digital copy of the index cards, means that enquirers can independently check the information relevant to them.
For data protection reasons, only the years 1903 to 1948 are currently publicly accessible. Limited access is planned for the years 1949-1993. Until then, it is possible to ask us directly for information after 1948, we will be happy to provide information!

Schneider: In principle, all the source material from the archive of the Julius Böhler art dealership at the Central Institute for Art History (ZI) has been entered into Boehler re:search – even if external users have so far only been able to view transactions that took place before 1949 due to privacy and data protection guidelines. This means that anyone interested can research the art trade source independently and is not dependent on information provided by third parties. By creating standard data records, the search can start at different points. If I want to find out the provenance of a work, I can search for the title or the artist. Various filter options also allow sorting by genre, so that I can search for a sculpture, a painting, a gold or silver work, etc. If, on the other hand, I want to see which works were sold to or acquired by Böhler from a particular art dealer or collector, this is also possible. At the same time, for example, I can also find out which and how many objects were bought by Böhler at a particular auction or which works were consigned by him. Thanks to the data records, this kind of information is made available in a bundled form. This makes research much easier!

Restauro: You are also planning a conference on the Julius Böhler art dealership, which will take place from April 10-12 at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich and also online. What is planned?

Dollansky: The title of the conference is “Quelle und Kontext II: Die Kunsthandlung Julius Böhler in Relation to Museums and Collections”. During these three days, numerous national and international colleagues, who work primarily in museums and other collections, will report on their current research findings on the Julius Böhler art dealership.
We are also offering a workshop on Thursday afternoon to discuss the limits and capabilities of our digital edition with the research community.

Schneider: The conference will focus on the archives of the Kunsthandlung Julius Böhler at the ZI and the business documents and correspondence of the Kunsthandlung at the Bayerisches Wirtschaftsarchiv (BWA) as well as the (counter) records in collection and museum archives. The various sources often complement each other, but sometimes also contradict each other. It is precisely these divergences that will be presented, discussed and scrutinized. What conclusions can be drawn from this for provenance research?
At the same time, the conference will also serve as a review of the Julius Böhler art dealership project, which ends on May 31. What have we achieved with the provision of this research data infrastructure, what still needs to be worked on? How effectively and efficiently can it be used to identify cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution? What conclusions can be drawn for future data infrastructure projects? All of this will be explored at the conference together with the research community.

Restauro: How important do you think a day like “Provenance Research Day“, which takes place this year on April 10, is?

Dollansky: Very important! It allows people to gain an insight into a discipline of art history that is otherwise less visible and less well-known.

Schneider: The “Provenance Research Day” also offers an insight into our work to interested parties who are not normally active in this field of research. The guided tours and lectures that take place in museums or research institutions on this day can be attended by anyone. It is therefore practically comparable to an “open day”. At the Central Institute for Art History, we will also be providing an insight into our work in the run-up to the conference. As part of three different “preliminary programs”, there will be an English-language, more general guided tour in which the sources of the ZI relevant to provenance and art market research will be presented. This will be followed by two parallel tours presenting various art trade sources in detail: The auction catalogs of the Munich art auction house Adolf Weinmüller and the gallery Hugo Helbing and the archive of the art dealer Julius Böhler.

I think it is extremely important to create this proximity to our work, to educate, to enable accessibility, to exchange ideas. Even after all these years, many people are still not familiar with provenance research and it is time to get this relatively young branch of research out of its infancy. The “Provenance Research Day” therefore offers us the opportunity to provide an insight into this field and at the same time develop an awareness of the problems we deal with on a daily basis.

Photos: Susanne Spieler