Archival Records:

Title
Le Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes

Subject
The Restitution Series contains records on:

• Claims for Restitution;
• Restitution of Objects;
• Reports from Rose Valland; and
• Correspondence between the Commission de Récupération Artistique and the Office des Biens et Intérêts Privés (OBIP).

Description
The Commission de Récupération Artistique was created in November 1944 to:

• Study the restitution of art and cultural property;
• Research confiscations in France; and
• Identify objects recovered from and returned to Germany.

All restitution of property to individuals was administered by the Office des Biens et Intérêts Privés (OBIP), also established in 1944. In December 1949, the Commission de Récupération Artistique was dissolved and all its functions and records were transferred to OBIP.

Two Commissions de Choix were established in 1950 in order to research unclaimed art objects and books including items confiscated from private collections and objects sold by French citizens to Germans during the occupation.Two thousand of the most important unclaimed art objects were provisionally accessioned into the Musées Nationaux, with special designations regarding their status. The objects are catalogued online at <http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/mnr/pres.htm>. An exhibition of unclaimed objects was held at the Chateau de Compiegne between 1950-1954. Approximately 13,000 unclaimed or unidentified works were transferred to the Administration des Domains and sold at auction between 1949-1954.

Contact Information
Le Centre des Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes
17, rue de Casterneau
44000 Nantes, France
Tel.: +33 2 51 77 24 59

Source
N. H. Yeide, K. Akinsha, A. L. Walsh (eds), AAM Guide to Provenance Research, Washington 2001, pp. 118.