Meet Rudi Ekkart, chair supervisory committee for provenance research
Rudi Ekkart is chair of the independent committee which oversees the provenance research. This committee monitors the quality of the research and assesses whether it meets the standard required in order to determine the provenance of objects from the NK collection as accurately as possible.
Renewed research
“I think it’s great that resources are now available to enable the intensification, updating and, where necessary, supplementation of the provenance research over the coming years and that there will also be a team of new researchers. The fact that the capacity of Origins Unknown was scaled back to a minimum in 2007, for years made it nearly impossible to stay on top of all the questions coming in from the field. There was little room left for updating the knowledge and adding to it in response to the new information that became available. An intensive operation can now be undertaken to clear the backlog. This may include the use of rich sources that have only been made accessible in the last ten years in Germany. By intensifying the research, we can ensure we are fulfilling our duty to do everything possible in order to collect the information required to enable possible restitution. That’s a nice prospect.”
Role of the RCE
“The fact that the tasks of Origins Unknown have now been placed with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) is a really good thing. It guarantees that we won’t have another backlog to clear in ten years’ time. The RCE views the research and the associated role in the provision of information as a task that is so closely connected to the management of the NK collection, that it will be necessary to keep updating the information, even after the four-year intensification project has ended. That continuity is extremely important."
Supervisory committee
“I view the task of the supervisory committee first and foremost as supportive in nature, whereby the committee members, from the perspective of their own knowledge and experience, observe the research activities and, where necessary, may provide advice on the research content. In that context, it’s also that much easier for the committee to carry out its formal supervisory task.
It has become clear that the implementation of tasks fits in well with current dynamics of the RCE and that doing so creates room for various forms of accompanying policy, such as the provision of information to the general public, research, advice and supporting museums in fulfilling their obligations.”
Biography
Rudi Ekkart studied Art History in Leiden, after which he worked at the Academic Historical Museum in Leiden and at Museum Meermanno – House of the Book in The Hague. From 1990 until the end of 2012, he served as director of RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague, and as a professor at Utrecht University’s Institute for Art History.
In 1997, he obtained his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam with the dissertation Portrettisten en portretten: studies over portretkunst in Holland, 1575-1650 (‘Portraitists and portraits: studies on portraiture in Holland, 1575-1650’). He is considered an international expert when it comes to Dutch portraiture and is also a renowned authority in the area of provenance research into works of art looted during the Second World War.
Origins Unknown Committee
From 1997 to 2004, Rudi Ekkart was chair of the Origins Unknown Committee, also known as the Ekkart Committee. Under this committee’s supervision, the provenance of the so-called NK collection was investigated, which collection consisted at the time of some 4000 objects, including paintings, artworks on paper and applied art such as furniture and ceramics. The working methods of the Netherlands Art Property Foundation (SNK), which was charged with the recuperation and restitution of cultural heritage objects during the post-war years, were also researched. The Ekkart Committee was also instructed to provide the government with recommendations about the restitution policy to be pursued with regard to works of art from the NK collection on the basis of the insight it acquired from its research. One of the recommendations it made concerned the establishment of the Restitutions Committee, which would be responsible for handling individual restitution requests. The committee was instituted in late 2001.
Supervisory committee for provenance research
There is an independent committee which oversees the provenance research. This committee monitors the quality of past and future research and assesses whether it meets the standard required in order to determine the provenance of objects from the NK collection as accurately as possible. The committee checks whether the right steps are being taken and the right archives are consulted during the research.
The committee consists of Prof. Dr Rudi Ekkart (chair), Henrike Hövelmann MA, Dr Christiaan Ruppert and Dr Gerdien Verschoor.