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

Art and the Third Reich: A Provenance Discussion
National Museum of Asian Art
Webinar, Thursday, March 31, 9:30–11:30am EDT

During the tumultuous years of 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. Countless art objects were forcibly taken from their owners. This webinar explores a little studied subject in the field of art history—art market studies—and World War II history, asking how the Nazi occupation impacted the market for Asian art. In so doing, it also explores 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. Panelists will speak to the different experiences of dealers and collectors across occupied Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States, offering insight into how the Third Reich influenced regional art markets and the international trade of Asian art. 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.

This program is part of the series Hidden Networks: Trade in Asian Art, which is co-organized by the National Museum of Asian Art and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

Read more and register, click here