The lessons of a search for a pilot provenance

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Five museums, three researchers from provenance, and six months: a first magnitude mission on the search for the origin of works of art, commanded by the State, ended last October in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (AUR). If local communities have already taken the subject with the Bras-Le-Corps (like Rouen, whose collections of the Museum of Fine Arts were audited by researcher Marie Duflot

), the Rhône-Alpine mission on the initiative of the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) was to identify problematic acquisitions in five different institutions.

For the three researchers of the call for tenders (Caroline Bakra, Deborah Fest Kindler and Nathalie Neumann), the mission was initially analyzed the needs of the five museums in terms of provenance for the works that entered the collections between 1933 and 1945, in order to identify at risk. But among the teams of the Museum of Fabrics in Lyon, the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, the Royal Monastery of Brou, the Grenoble Museum and the Museum of Art and Archeology of Valencia, the expectations are strong. “” The idea was to make a first clearing, since the museum seizes the problems, explains Deborah Fest Kindler, But it is not that easy because the teams are not equipped to go further. We found the frustration of the teams, their expectations of specific answers that it was impossible to conduct as it is. To overcome this frustration, we have defined corpus with in -depth analyzes, not to mention our working hours. »»

The mission thus extended to acquisitions made until 2007 for certain museums.

The simple starting “clearing” has thus led to complete analyzes for certain burning files, which are today on the office of the mission of research and restitution of cultural goods (M2RS) at the Ministry of Culture. Data collection, critical examination of sources in museum archives, analysis of inventories to distinguish the files without problems from suspicious works, and physical examination of the works have enabled researchers to establish a certain number of precise relationships.“Some museums had hot files under the longtime elbow on which we have tried to answer” retraces Nathalie Neumann, who evokes a“Beautiful work, a little idealistic” . For this researcher of provenance combining twenty years of experience in Germany, the issue of this pilot initiative exceeded the detailed missions in the call for tenders:

“There is a threshold of fear in museums that must be lowered, we fear the bad press, the effects on the reputation of a search for provenance in the collections. Our goal was also to transform this bad image by showing that search for provenance is a real scientific challenge. »»

The transversal approach of the mission, relating to five different museums in the same region, has spread this culture of research from provenance on the territory, while allowing researchers to update local logics in acquisitions and the Rhône-Alpin art market during the war. The three professionals also note the benefit of collective labor, associating researchers from origin with various skills (expertise on sources, on the art market, on the functioning of institutions). Collective work, transversal approach to a territory: these two points are not found in tenders broadcast since the end of their mission for other museums. “We can see today that our specifications are duplicated for individual museums, which prevents this regional dynamic, and for a single researcher, without this group principle that allows you to cross skills, regrets Caroline Barka.

We will inevitably lose in richness of the rendering, while precariously promoting the economic model of researchers who are put into competition. »» This principle of research on call for tenders does not allow remuneration to the height of expertise and committed work, according to the researchers who explain that they have not released a monthly minimum wage over the six months of research, and suffer from comparison with other countries: In Germany, 90 % of research missions are funded by a foundation with 6 million euros, which is used to create positions. Upstream, there are territorial missions that allow you to analyze the needs in each region ”,

explains Nathalie Neumann. Currently on fixed-term contracts within the Fulda museum for a research mission, the Franco-German researcher also notes that the institutional weight in France does not facilitate this work: “When I do a research in Germany, I prepare the file from A to Z, I dialogue with the lawyer of the beneficiaries, we are looking for a solution together, then we publish, we inform the press, the public. The presentation of the result is part of the process, and allows you to get in touch with museums that can be affected by the same issues, to share experiences between researchers. In France, there is a monopoly from the Ministry of Culture, which returns our files and controls communication ” she deplores. The results of this mission completed for seven months are still not communicated by the ministry, to the great frustration of researchers.“And the more we wait, the more it becomes problematic”