Open Forum

Dear Colleagues,

Please consider applying and sharing this with anyone who would qualify and benefit from the PREP program.

2019 PREP -- CALL for APPLICATIONS
Application deadline extended until October 14, 2018

The German/American Provenance Research Exchange Program (PREP) for Museum Professionals, 2017-2019
5th Exchange: Dresden State Art Collections (March 17-22, 2019)
6th Exchange: Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (October 20-26, 2019)
Travel, lodging, and meals will be covered for the 21 participants. Selection announcements will go out mid-November 2018.
For questions about the PREP program or application process, please contact provenance@si.edu or PREP@hv.spk-berlin.de

PREP brings together, for the first time, museum professionals from both sides of the Atlantic who specialize in World War II-era provenance projects for a three-year, systematic exchange that expands and elaborates on the methods and practices through which both countries have approached the issues pertaining to Holocaust-era art looting. PREP is also widening the scope of WWII-era provenance research, which to date has prioritized painting, sculpture, and Judaica, by including Asian art, decorative arts, and works on paper.

2019 is the final year of PREP, which brings together researchers, curators, collections managers, archivists, lawyers, and IT specialists to establish a transatlantic network to accelerate research on WWII-era art loss. PREP introduces participants to resources and experts at institutions in both countries; provides a forum for professional growth and networking; facilitates collaborative research projects; and increases public awareness of the work of museum communities in both countries to widen access to provenance resources and results through the development of new technologies.

PREP launched in 2017 with the 1st Exchange, hosted by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, followed by the 2nd Exchange, hosted by the Berlin State Museums. In 2018, PREP began with the 3rd Exchange in Los Angeles, hosted by the Getty Research Institute, and the 4th Exchange will be in Munich, hosted by the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, October 8-12, 2018.

PREP is co-organized by the Smithsonian Institution and the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation—Berlin State Museums). Its five partner institutions are the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Getty Research Institute in LA, the Dresden State Art Collections, the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, and the German Center for Lost Art in Magdeburg. The PREP Steering Committee, comprised of nine experts from the seven PREP partner institutions, will select 21 museum professionals in Germany and the U.S. who specialize in WWII-era art loss, to form the 2019 PREP Cohort.

For information about the background and goals of PREP: provenance.si.edu/jsp/prep.aspx

Read about PREP participant’s experiences:
http://blog.smb.museum/?s=PREP

http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/the-german-american-provenance-research-exchange-program-an-international-autobahn-for-provenance-research/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-us-and-german-art-experts-are-teaming-solve-nazi-era-mysteries-180964955/

PREP Public Programs:

New York City:  https://www.facebook.com/metmuseum/videos/10154456105202635/

Berlin:  https://voicerepublic.com/talks/warum-dauert-das-so-lange-einblicke-in-die-praxis-der-provenienzforschung-zur-ns-raubkunst

Los Angeles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ8be7me44c

Munich: https://www.zikg.eu/veranstaltungen/2018/german-american-provenance-research-exchange-prep

Jane Milosch
Director, Provenance Research Exchange Program (PREP)
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
provenance@si.edu