Paris art market has rarely functioned as well as during German occupation.

The INHA has just put online a directory of actors in the art market under the occupation. Inès Rotermund-Reynard, historian and Germanist, explains its usefulness to us. Auction of the Jacques Cannone collection, Hôtel Drouot, June 5, 1942, under the hammer of the auctioneer Maître Alphonse Bellier • Credits: Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet For a few days now, the INHA (National Institute of Art History) has been hosting a tool that enables the journeys of men and works under occupation to be reconstructed. How to understand the workings of an art market where everything was done to legitimize spoliations? Who are the actors of the art market under the occupation? Ines Rotermund-Reynard, art historian and Germanist, in charge of the directory of actors in the art market under the occupation, explains that the creation of this directory is a Franco-German collaboration between the Technical University of Berlin and the INHA in Paris. Its objective is to bring together the knowledge of researchers working on this project on an international scale and to show portraits of men and women active in the art market during the occupation. According to Ines Rotermund-Reynard, there are several types of actors in the art market between 1940 and 1945. They are art dealers, auctioneers but also museum curators. "We want to show both Franco-German and international networks since everyone gathers at that time, in Paris to do business. The Nazis were very interested in buying works of art, and during those dark years everything was mixed up: there was both a very flourishing market with sales of estates and at the same time, of course, there were also cultural goods from confiscation of Jewish collections arriving on the market. " Many researchers are now interested in the provenance of objects. According to Ines Rotermund-Reynard, for twenty years, public and private collections and auction museums invested in the field of provenance research to know where the objects come from, to know their origins and their origins and their owners. "What was lacking in this whole landscape was the knowledge of the players, the knowledge of who was involved in these transactions. The project , therefore, focuses first of all on the portrait of men and women active during those years. " A tool for researchers and despoiled families who can trace their property This directory is a free accessible tool where all sources are made available to the general public. According to Ines Rotermund Reynard, it is initially addressed to the world of research, in particular to art historians who are investigating a looted work. "If you have a family history where it is about spoliation, it can provide information about people involved in sales of property stolen during those years. We managed to write a chapter of the history of the occupation from an art history point of view because historians have been interested in many years in the period of the occupation but in art history this has not been exploited. There are a lot of gray areas that we tried to clear up to understand who was involved in this market and in these transactions. " This directory intends to bring together knowledge beyond borders with 70 international authors and provide access to sources for families seeking looted work or for established researchers. This digital tool also offers a Drouot sales catalog digitized at the INHA using a method called "diploning" in order to have access to specific information so that everyone can use it from home. Seen in France Culture- Marie Sorbier PS: The directory of actors in the art market under the occupation is available online at the following address: https://agorha.inha.fr