The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) was a non-profit organization established to channel and coordinate scholarly and technical information about works of art. IFAR provided an administrative and legal framework within which experts can express their objective opinions. This data was made available to individuals, associations and government agencies. In September 2024, it announced that it would be winding down operations in 2025. History Its first president was Houston industrialist John de Ménil.Glueck, Grace. "Art Group Is Set Up To Judge Attribution," New York Times. May 8, 1970.
Founding members of the privately funded foundation were: Harry Bober, New York University, Institute of Fine Arts Jose Lopez-Rey, NYU Institute of Fine Arts Lewis Goldenberg, Wildenstein & Co, New York Peregrine Pollen, Park-Bernet Galleries, New York John Rewald, University of Chicago Joseph Rothman, New York Attorney General, art frauds
The first Advisory council members were: Diego Angulo Íñiguez, Prado Museum, Madrid Francois Daulte, Bibliotheque des Arts, Lausanne Charles Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Galleries, Paris Lloyd Goodrich, Whitney Museum, New York City Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris Lawrence Majiewski, Conservation Center, NYU Institute of Fine Arts
In 1989, IFAR had become "a very grand-sounding name for what is really just three smart, dedicated, underpaid women who are among the nation's leading experts on stolen and forged art," wrote Michael Winerip. Constance Lowenthal, Margaret I. O'Brien and Virgilia H. Pancoast worked in an Upper East Side office containing 30,000 files documenting stolen art cases. The three rooms were on the fourth floor of the Explorers Club, on East 70th Street.Winerip, Michael. "The Ultimate Marketplace—Hot on the Trail of Missing Masterpieces," New York Times Magazine. November 12, 1989: page 56.
Development In response to the growth and development of IFAR, museum officials have revised some policies based on an assumption that discussing theft would scare away potential donors. The change from policies of secrecy to ones which emphasize openness was gradual, mirroring an expectation that publicizing theft is likely to promote recovery.Yarrow, Andrew L. "A Lucrative Crime Grows Into a Costly Epidemic," New York Times. March 20, 1990.
Selected timeline
1998: The World Jewish Congress established the Commission for Art Recovery (CAR) to recover art taken from Jewish collectors before and during World War II. Constance Lowenthal, then executive director of the IFAR, was selected as its initial executive director.Dobrzynski, Judith H. "For What Nazis Stole, A Longtime Art Hound," New York Times. November 29, 1997. 1997: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington started the Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP) in order to document and publish Jewish artwork which still remains missing. HARP developed and maintains an archive and database for families who have lost works and want to find them. HARP will not seek recover art. 1990: Artworks stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston include Vermeer's Concert, three Rembrandts and five works by Degas. 1989: IFAR received reports of about 5,000 thefts.
See also Art theft Art Loss Register
Notes
References Feliciano, Hector. (1997). The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art. New York: Basic Books. ; Houpt, Simon and Julian Radcliffe. (2006). Museum of the Missing: a History of Art Theft. New York: Sterling Publishing. ; Nicholas, Lynn H. (1994). The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War. New York City: Vintage Books. ;
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