LETHBRIDGE- During World War II people fled leaving behind their prized valuables, some of which was seized and then often sold illegally, and some of those possessions included artwork.
“It’s referred to Nazi looted art,” said U of L curator Dr. Josephine Mills.
Now six Canadian art museums will be taking part in a two year pilot project known as the Holocaust Era Provenance Research Project.
The goal is to return the art to it’s rightful owners that was stolen during Hitler’s regime. “It’s called provenance gap,” explained Mills.“It means where the work was, is who owned the records are missing. So European paintings were the history of who owned it.”
The project is expected to determine if the university has any Nazi looted paintings in their collections. Mills said the U of L art gallery has at least four paintings that have gaps in their history – or provenance – during the 1930’s.
“There is no guarantee they’ll be able to answer questions,” warned Mills.
Experts at the school will examine every detail of a painting looking for clues.
The researchers coming to Lethbridge will have to break out the magnifying glass, take the back off painting and look for small clues and stickers from art sales, different kind of wood and that would tell a story. The other method is painstaking archive research.
To date the National Gallery of Canada has identified one painting from its collection as looted and it was returned to its rightful owners in the summer of 2006.
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