SKD: Art owned. Art lost. Objects and their origins.

Art owned. Art lost. Objects and their origins.

Presentation at the Old Masters Picture Gallery extended until June 16th 2019: The value of artworks lies not in their aesthetics alone; works of art also serve as historical testimony. Provenance research is concerned with the origin of artworks, with questions of possession and ownership. Artworks can change hands in the most varied ways: through sales, donations, confiscations, looting - or through restitution. Today, questions regarding the ownership and origin of artworks continue to have political, legal, moral and emotional dimensions.

Exhibition Site Zwinger

DATES 16/11/2018—16/06/2019

At the Studiolo in Dresden's Residenzschloss (Royal Palace), a presentation about the Sonderauftrag Linz (Linz Special Commission) will explain how Nazi art looting was organized with Dresden as its base. Further sections of the exhibition - at the Porzellansammlung, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and Albertinum - will deal with the various contexts of removal. These include confiscation or looting of artworks during the Nazi era, the expropriation of property from nobility after 1945 (the so-called Schlossbergung), the return of war losses, and the seizure of works by the state in East Germany.

Hölzerne Rückseite eines Gemäldes — **Bernardo Daddi, Enthauptung der heiligen Reparata, um 1345** Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister © SKD

Ein Mann raucht eine Pfeife — **Wilhelm Leibl, Pfeifenraucher, um 1863/64** Wilhelm Leibl, Pfeifenraucher, um 1863/64, Bleistift, Kupferstich-Kabinett © SKD

Eine junge Dame sitzt auf einem Stuhl vor einem Fenster. In der Hand hält sie ein Zeichengerät. — **Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein, Junge Dame mit Zeichengerät, 1816** Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein, Junge Dame mit Zeichengerät – Gräfin Thekla, geb. Weyssenhoff 1816, Öl auf Leinwand Albertinum © SKD

Ein Mann wird enthauptet, viele Menschen stehen um ihn herum — **Bernardo Daddi, Enthauptung der heiligen Reparata, um 1345** Bernardo Daddi (1295–1348) Enthauptung der heiligen Reparata um 1345, Tempera auf Holz Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister © SKD

Central to this exhibition project is the public program: Talks delivered by notable researchers will provide insight into the scope of tasks within provenance research. Public guided tours through several collections as well as opportunities for pupils of different age groups will contribute to an increased social awareness and will allow for the use of museum objects as a starting point for the exploration of regional and national political events. This special exhibition is occasioned by several anniversaries: sixty years since the repatriation of artworks from the Soviet Union; twenty years since the Washington Principles, which laid the legal foundation for the restitution of Nazi looted art; and ten years of systematic provenance research in the Daphne project at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.