ANN: Asian Art and the Third Reich: A Provenance Discussion (Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art / online; 31 March 2022, 9:30-11:30 AM EDT, 15:30-17:30 CET)

Storage room filled with crates at Wiesbaden Collecting Point, 1946, James J. Rorimer papers, 1921–1982, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

During World War II, the Nazi regime and its collaborators orchestrated on an unprecedented scale a system of confiscation, coercive transfer, looting, and destruction of cultural objects in Europe. This webinar explores World War II history and the market for Asian art, a little-studied subject in the field of art history, and asks how the Nazi occupation impacted the circulation of Asian art. In so doing, it also considers the unique complexities of researching and documenting Asian objects that circulated during the period.

Bringing together a panel of provenance experts for a moderated conversation, this webinar highlights the experiences of dealers and collectors of Asian art who lived through or fled the Nazi regime. The conversation will also consider how the atrocities committed by the Nazi party influenced the formation of postwar museum collections and the academic study of Asian art in the West.

Joanna M. Gohmann, National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC
Christine Howald, Zentralarchiv/Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

PROGRAMME:

Thursday, March 31, 2022

9:30–9:45 a.m. (EDT) • Welcome & Opening Remarks

Joanna M. Gohmann, National Museum of Asian Art
Christine Howald, Zentralarchiv/Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

9:45–10:25 a.m. (EDT) • Experiential Spotlights

GERMANY & FRANCE
Nathalie Neumann, Senior Provenance Researcher, IKM University of Mainz

AUSTRIA
Leonhard Weidinger, Commission for Provenance Research, Vienna, Austria

UNITED STATES
Laurie A. Stein, L. Stein Art Research LLC

HERBERT GINSBERG COLLECTION, BERLIN
Dodi Reifenberg, Artist and Researcher, Ginsberg Family Art Research Project

10:25–11:10 a.m. (EDT) • Moderated Discussion

11:10–11:25 a.m. (EDT) • Questions and Answers

11:25–11:30 a.m. (EDT) • Closing Remarks

Register here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yeZpAIFJR1KzXGU5aiww2A.

For more information: https://asia.si.edu/research/scholarly-programs/hidden-networks/asian-art-and-the-third-reich-a-provenance-discussion/#program.