THE AARON M. AND CLARA WEITZENHOFFER ART COLLECTION: PROVENANCE OF SELECT WORKS

My thesis traces the provenance of select works from the Aaron M. and Clara Weitzenhoffer Collection, bequeathed to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at The University of Oklahoma. This collection, which was the largest donation of Impressionist paintings and works on paper to a public university, lacks provenance documentation in the field’s literature. The recent litigations of the looted painting Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep or La Bergère Rentrant des Moutons (1886) by Camille Pissarro with the Jewish heir Léone-Noëlle Meyer stressed the need for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art to renew and disclose the provenance of the rest of the collection. By closely examining four artworks’ origins, from original artists to the bequeathed objects within the Weitzenhoffer estate in 2000, my thesis will aim to solidify provenance documentation and further highlight the inherent requisite to change archival standards. I will trace the circulation of the following artworks: Mary Cassatt’s 1901 portrait, Sara in a Dark Bonnet Tied Under Her Chin, Edgar Degas’ 1885 pastel, Dancer at the Barre, Camille Pissarro’s 1894 landscape, Apple Trees in a Meadow at Éragny, and Claude Monet’s 1879 landscape painting, Riverbank at Lavacourt. My research will rely on Getty Research Institute catalogue materials narrating the selected artworks from the Weitzenhoffer Collection. In addition, I will compare the actual provenance materials from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art with personal archival research to uncover historical trajectories and improve provenance research techniques