Provenance: Can You Bank on It?
24.09.2019 from 17:00 to 19:00
Tuesday, September 24, 2019, 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Conference Hall, Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art
Castello di Rivoli is pleased to announce the forthcoming talk Provenance: Can You Bank on It? presented at Castello di Rivoli Conference Hall by Dr. Lynn Rother, Senior Provenance Specialist at The Museum of Modern Art, New York followed by a Q&A. The evening program is part of the Workshop for Provenance Research, a two-week study session including lectures, hands-on exercises and discussion rounds with international experts in Provenance Research and Art Law jointly run by CRRI, Centre for Research Castello di Rivoli, and the Education Department, led by Dr. Lynn Rother.
The biggest art deal of the Nazi era occurred in August 1935 when the Prussian Finance Minister paid the enormous amount of 7.5 million German marks to the Dresdner Bank to acquire 4,401 works of art for the Berlin museums. This momentous historical event is hardly known; Lynn Rother is one of the few scholars to research this extraordinary transaction and analyze its consequences in her book. “Kunst durch Kredit” (Art as Collateral) was published in 2017 to great critical acclaim in Germany and won the translation prize “Geisteswissenschaften International.” Using the sale of the Flemish old master paintings from the former collection of the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as a case study, Provenance: Can You Bank on It? will examine the methodology, sources, and challenges of Nazi-era provenance research as it relates to art as collateral and the hidden aspects of the art market.
The talk is followed by a Q&A featuring Dr. Lynn Rother, Dr. Mara Wantuch-Thole, a Berlin-based attorney specialized in advising private clients as well as German and international public institutions in the art sector and Paul Cossu, a member of New York’s Pryor Cashman’s Art Law Group, where he handles a range of litigation and transactional matters on behalf of auction houses, artists, museums, and collectors
The talk and Q&A are in English.
The evening program is organized in collaboration with Family office Tosetti Value, a benchmark in the enhancement and maintenance of family wealth.
Lynn Rother joined The Museum of Modern Art as Senior Provenance Specialist in 2015. She oversees provenance research, procedures, documentation and funding in conjunction with all curatorial departments regarding works in the Collection, loans, acquisitions, and deaccessions. Before coming to MoMA, she held various research positions at the Berlin State Museums working on all facets of World War II-era provenance as well as on digital initiatives co-financed by the European Commission. A former Fellow of The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and of the German Historical Institute in Moscow, she has a Master’s degree in art history, economics and law from the University of Leipzig and a Ph.D. in art history from the Technical University of Berlin. Beyond her World War II provenance research, her academic interests are the history of 20th-century collecting, art market practices, and the digital humanities.
Mara Wantuch-Thole is an attorney admitted to the Bar in Germany. She is specialized in advising private clients as well as German and international public institutions in the art sector. Prior to founding her law firm, Mara worked in several international corporate law firms, for public cultural institutions, as an advisor for the Spoliation Advisory Panel in the United Kingdom, and for a Berlin-based law firm specialised in art and foundation law.
Paul Cossu is a member of Pryor Cashman’s Art Law Group, where he handles a range of litigation and transactional matters on behalf of auction houses, galleries, artists, museums, collectors and other members of the arts community. Paul has litigated several high-profile stolen art and art forgery cases, including cases concerning artwork alleged to have been looted by the Nazis. On the transactional side, Paul handles a variety of purchase, sale, co-ownership, consignment, commission, and loan agreements for a broad array of gallery, advisory, and art dealer clients.