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Art Loss Essay

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There is an ongoing art-ownership debate over paintings and other art stolen from European Jews during the Holocaust of World War II (1939-45). As Jews were sent to concentration camps, Nazi German soldiers looted valuable art from their homes. During the ensuing decades, some of that art landed in major museums on display, prompting Holocaust survivors and the families of Holocaust victims to ask that those works be returned to them. Artwork is a unique commodity. It is easily identifiable, and thus, subsequent purchasers may initially succeed in concealing stolen artwork for some time. Eventually, the artwork is likely to resurface. This resurfacing often gives rise to claims to the work and disputes over its ownership. Sentiment is often the driving force behind Jewish survivors and families of …show more content…

Provenance also provides important information about a piece and insight into a work of art's history. Previously, artists, dealers, collectors, and museums had an incentive to conceal an artwork's provenance. Participants in the illicit antiquities market had an incentive to strip as much information as possible from an artifact before it enters the safe anonymity of the legitimate art market. Recently, it has been possible to uncover if artwork is illicit due to the internet and different organizations, like the Art Loss Register and the Getty Information Institute. The Art Loss Register maintains a database consisting of over 60,000 items and has been helpful in the recovery of many stolen cultural objects via its general circulation of art information. The Getty Information Institute in Los Angeles maintains the Getty Provenance Index. The Index contains information on the provenance of approximately a half-million works of art, including such information as the artwork's various owners, its history of auction transfers, and the current location of the work of

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