Events

Learn from expert researchers and practitioners in on-campus lectures, panel discussions and symposia, free and open to the public.

Sunday, May 19

Ethical Museum Stewardship? Nazi Art Plunder and the Art Institute of Chicago

A talk by Dr. Elizabeth Campbell, professor of history and founding director of the Center for Art Collection Ethics.

The Art Institute of Chicago is currently in the news for defending its right to hold a drawing by Egon Schiele that is widely considered Nazi art plunder. Other museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, have restituted similar items to descendants of the same collector, Fritz Grünbaum, a victim of the Holocaust. Why is the Art Institute of Chicago engaged in this legal battle? What are the ethical dimensions of the case? Come away with a better understanding of legal and ethical factors in Nazi-era art restitution cases.

Your ticket to this event includes admission to the museum starting at 10 a.m., the talk and a private reception afterward.

Following the talk will be a reception hosted by DU and the Chicagoland Network. As a bonus, attendees will have the chance to meet with the brilliant minds of tomorrow, current DU students from the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management, who will be in town for a conference. You have a direct opportunity to help these students expand their professional networks and showcase what the DU Chicagoland Network is all about.

Photograph by Thomas Struth. Art Institute of Chicago II, 1990. (Open access, Creative Commons Zero)

4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

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Past Events

Restitution of Nazi Art Plunder: Recent Successes and Ongoing Challenges

We held a panel discussion on recent successes and challenges in the restitution of Nazi-looted art, examining a case study of the Gutmann collection plundered in the Netherlands and France. Panelists included Simon Goodman, author of The Orpheus Clock: The Search for My Family's Art Treasures, and Isabella Zuralski-Yeager, art historian and retired senior archivist at the Getty Research Institute.

View Recording

Legal and Ethical Challenges in Art Collections Ethics

In March 2021, ACE co-sponsored a panel with the Holocaust Awareness Institute (HAI) and the Holocaust Museum Houston. Panelists included Renée Albiston, Nicholas O'Donnell, Gus Kopriva, and was moderated by ACE Director Elizabeth Campbell.

Learn More and View Recording

Why the Nazis Looted Art and Why it Still Matters

ACE Director Elizabeth Campbell, PhD investigated the connections between Nazi art plunder and the Holocaust, and why this history of expropriation still matters in March 2021. The webinar was co-sponsored with DU's Center for Judaic Studies, the Holocaust Museum Houston and the Program in Jewish Studies at Rice University.

Learn More and View Recording

Ethical Stewardship of Contemporary Native Art

This February 12, 2020 panel brought together Native artists, curators and professors.

Learn More and View Gallery

"Under the Hammer of the Nazis" Movie Screening

In April 2019 ACE screened the documentary followed by a Q&A with the current auction house owner, the provenance researcher she hired and the American family members who recovered objects.

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Center for Art Collection Ethics Launch

Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Campbell and Dan Jacobs, curator of University Collections, launched the Center for Art Collection Ethics at an event in April 2017.

Learn More and View Photos

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Our Event on Contemporary Native Art

Discussion Moderator and Professor in the DU History Department Angela Parker (Mandan, Hidatsa, Cree) (left) listens to Panelist and Ribbonworker Jan Jacobs (Osage) at the Ethical Stewardship of Contemporary Native Art panel. Alyson McClaran Photography.
Panelist Jan Jacobs (Osage), ribbonworker who has served in several positions at the Denver Art Museum as an artist-in-residence, assistant dean of education and adjunct associate curator of Native arts, speaks at the Ethical Stewardship of Contemporary Native Art event. Alyson McClaran Photography.
Guests and panelists at the pre-event reception. Melanie Yazzie (Diné, arms raised) is an artist and a professor of printmaking at University of Colorado-Boulder. Alyson McClaran Photography.
From left: Discussion Moderator and Professor in the DU History Department Angela Parker (Mandan, Hidatsa, Cree); Center for Art Collection Ethics Director and Professor in the DU History Department Elizabeth Campbell; Panelist, Artist and Professor of Printmaking at CU-Boulder Melanie Yazzie (Diné); and Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Daniel McIntosh. Alyson McClaran Photography.
DU Student John Cummins (left) speaks with Chancellor Jeremy Haefner at the event reception. Alyson McClaran Photography.