The first comprehensive guide written in English on how to research the Nazi-era provenance of museum collections since the publication of the AAM Guide to Provenance Research.

When we look at the artworks on display in museums, there is always a real possibility that some of these objects once belonged to victims of the Nazis—a possibility that has remained unacknowledged for far too long. Countless artworks were seized or forcibly sold by the Nazi regime, with many ending up in museum collections around the world, even in countries that actively fought to defeat Nazi Germany.

Nazi-Era Provenance of Museum Collections equips readers with the knowledge and strategies essential for confronting the shadow of the Nazi past in museum collections. Jacques Schuhmacher provides the vital historical orientation required to understand the Nazis’ complex campaign of systematic dispossession and extermination and highlights the current environment in which museum-based Nazi-era provenance research takes place. This book introduces readers to the research methods and resources that can be used to reveal the moving stories behind the objects. Provenance research not only seeks to recover erased names and experiences and to reinsert them into a historical record but also to ensure that the Nazis’ actions and worldview do not remain unchallenged in the galleries and storerooms of our museums today. It is a crucial resource for scholars, museum professionals, and anyone interested in understanding the ethical and historical implications of Nazi-looted art.
 

Little is known about Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen whose name means “a beautiful woman has come.” She was the wife of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who ushered in the dramatic Amarna Age, and she bore him at least six children. She played a prominent role in political and religious affairs, but after Akhenaten’s death she apparently vanished and was soon forgotten.

Yet Nefertiti remains one of the most famous and enigmatic women who ever lived. Her instantly recognizable face adorns a variety of modern artifacts, from expensive jewelry to cheap postcards, t-shirts, and bags, all over the world. She has appeared on page, stage, screen, and opera. In Britain, one woman has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on plastic surgery in hope of resembling the long-dead royal. This enduring obsession is the result of just one object: the lovely and mysterious Nefertiti bust, created by the sculptor Thutmose and housed in Berlin’s Neues Museum since before World War II.

In Nefertiti’s Face, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley tells the story of the bust, from its origins in a busy workshop of the late Bronze Age to its rediscovery and controversial removal to Europe in 1912 and its present status as one of the world’s most treasured artifacts. This wide-ranging history takes us from the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt to wartime Berlin and engages the latest in Pharaonic scholarship. Tyldesley sheds light on both Nefertiti’s life and her improbable afterlife, in which she became famous simply for being famous.