Conference hosted by the German Lost Art Foundation on the subject of art theft in France
November 30 to December 1, 2017 in Bonn
A report on the conference which took place in Bonn on 30 November/1 December 2017 and which explored issues such as the identity of the stakeholders and the despoiled, the way in which Nazi policies, art history expertise and market interests meshed, and the modus operandi of art market collaboration has been published by the German Lost Art Foundation and is available here.
Also included are the speakers' contributions, as pdf files or audio files in French and/or German. Speakers included Bénédicte Savoy, Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Tessa F. Rosebrock, Isabelle Rouge-Ducos on the Hôtel Drouot, Emmanuelle Polack on French gallery owners and Benjamin Fellmann on stolen pianos.
All audio files listed below can be found at this link
Day 1
Welcoming address (PDF, 140 KB) - Rein Wolfs (German version)
Welcoming address (PDF, 44 KB) - Vincent Lefèvre (French version)
Welcoming address and introduction (PDF, 70 KB) - Gilbert Lupfer (German version)
Audio file - scientific introduction - Bénédicte Savoy (German version):
Audio file: Die Enteignung von Kunstwerken im allgemeinen wirtschaftichen Arisierungsprozess in Frankreich - Jean-Marc Dreyfus (French version):
Audio file: Die Deutsche Botschaft in Paris - Jörg Ebeling (German version):
Audio file: Das Hôtel Drouot während der Besatzung - Isabelle Rouge-Ducos (French version):
Audio file: « garde meuble aux biens juifs saisis »: Die Lagerung der geraubten Klaviere im Musée National d’Art Moderne - Benjamin Fellmann (German version):
Audio file: Die Akte „Sonderkonto Frankreich“ aus dem Sonderarchiv/RGVA in Moskau - Ines Rotermund-Reynard (German version):
Welcoming address (PDF, 62 KB) - Günter Winands (German version)
Audio file: Die Situation der französischen Galeristen während der deutschen Besatzung: das Beispiel des Kunsthändlers René Gimpel - Emmanuelle Polack (German version):
Text for the Conference - and Flyer
Each fall, the German Lost Art Foundation hosts a specialist conference. This year, noted French and German experts will give lectures on the subject of systematic art theft in France, reviewing the results of research performed on this topic in both countries under the heading "Theft & Trade. The French Art Market Under German Occupation (1940-1944)".
The German Lost Art Foundation is pleased to invite interested parties to attend the public conference
between November 30, 2017 and December 1, 2017 at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany), Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4, 53113 Bonn.
Conference languages: French and German
Who were the stakeholders, and who the despoiled? How did Nazi policies, art historical expertise and market interests mesh? How did the collaboration work? The conference will explore all these questions, additionally creating a thematic focus via the presentation of new research outcomes on acquisitions by Hildebrand Gurlitt in France. Works of art from the so-called "Schwabing Art Trove" will be introduced in the exhibition "Dossier Gurlitt. Nazi Art Theft and its Consequences", which will run at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle Bonn at the same time.
The detailed conference program will be published in early October 2017 on the website www.germanlostartfoundation.org.
The conference will be taking place in collaboration with the Deutsche Forum für Kunstgeschichte Paris (German Art History Forum Paris) and the Forum Kunst und Markt at the Technische Universität Berlin (Center for Art Market Studies at Berlin's Technical University).