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Spoliation reports

This institution also provides a list of works with incomplete provenance during the period 1933-1945.

NATIONAL MUSEUMS LIVERPOOL

National Museums Liverpool
Liverpool Museum
William Brown Street
LIVERPOOL L3 8FN

Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation:
Julian Treuherz, Keeper of Art Galleries.
Tel 0151-478-4101
Fax 0151-478-4190

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION

Comprises the Walker Art Gallery, The Liverpool Museum, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Museum of Liverpool Life, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Sudley House, the Conservation Centre and the HM Customs & Excise National Museum

1. OVERALL PLANS

A Areas which could contain looted items

Foreign Schools' works in the Walker Art gallery.

B Areas excluded and why

Scientific, archaeological, maritime and social history objects not relevant. Lady Lever Art Gallery collections acquired prior to 1933. Sudley House collections acquired prior to 1896. British and foreign prints and decorative Bronzes at the Walker have been excluded as their provenances are difficult to validate owing to their production in multiples. The Decorative Arts collections (originally part of Liverpool Museum but in 1986 transferred to the Walker) consist of predominantly British material with British provenances. Most of the outstanding non-British items came with the Mayer collection in 1851.

C Target areas and timetable for research

• Ninety five items (29 paintings, 36 drawings and water colours, and 30 sculptures) where provenance may be uncertain between 1933-1945.
• The museum plans to check the provenance of British paintings due course.
• Provenance research has been completed for outstanding items of Continental Decorative Arts acquired since 1945.

D Areas considered a lower priority and why

British Paintings in the Walker Art Gallery:

• Victorian and Edwardian paintings have been catalogued and published: provenances are fully researched
• Earlier British paintings and 20th century British paintings; here the cataloguing programme is in progress with the next volume planned for 2006, however, research to date reveals almost exclusively British provenances
• British watercolours; initial research suggests almost exclusively British provenances

These will be researched in connection with a catalogue research programme.

2. RESEARCH CARRIED OUT OR BEING CARRIED OUT IN TARGET AREAS.

A Process and sources for initial checks from information readily to hand

The Gallery's own documentation files, archives and published catalogues have been checked

B Description of checks being carried out beyond desk research

Répertoire des biens; Schenken lists; dealers' catalogues where available (including American and Continental dealers); information held in archives of appropriate public galleries on the continent; Archives of American Art and Dealers' Database (held by the Smithsonian Institute). The Art Loss Register's database has also been checked.

3. INFORMATION REGARDING PROGRESS IN TARGET AREA

A No. of items in target area

95

B No. of items where provenance has been tested satisfactorily.

Virtually all of the drawings and sculptures have been eliminated from research because they have British provenances. Remainder of items of Contintental Decorative Arts.

C No. of items where initial checks on provenance are still being made from internal sources and information readily to hand.

None

D No. of items for which initial research can be taken no further and additional information is being sought from external sources

10 paintings, one sculpture and 5 items of continental decorative arts have been identified as requiring further detailed research. (See Appendix 1)

4. INFORMATION ON MAKING GENERAL ENQUIRIES OR ABOUT COLLECTIONS

A Contact for all enquiries about Holocaust or WWII Spoliation

Julian Treuherz, Keeper of Art Galleries. Tel 0151-478-4101 Fax 0151-478-4190

B Details of information sources held by the institution and how to get access to them

I. Published catalogues

All Foreign Schools' works apart from very recent acquisitions are in the published collection catalogues of the Walker Art Gallery: Foreign Catalogue (2 vols.), 1977; Supplementary Foreign Catalogue, 1984.

II. Institutional records

Acquisition registers and curatorial departmental files can be viewed by appointment. Appointments can be made by contacting Xanthe Brooke (details below).

C How to make enquiries about collections

Contact curatorial staff: Xanthe Brooke, Curator of European Art
Tel: 0151-478-4161, fax 0151-478-4190
email: xanthe.brooke@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

D Press office contact

Steven Guy. Tel 0151-478-4612

E Address of the Institution

National Museums, Liverpool
Liverpool Museum
William Brown Street
LIVERPOOL L3 8FN

F Website

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/research/spoliation/index.asp