International Foundation for Art Research

The International Foundation for Art Research 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.

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History

Its first president was Houston industrialist John de Ménil.
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.

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.
;Selected timeline1998: The World Jewish Congress established the Commission for Art Recovery 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.1997: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington started the Holocaust Art Restitution Project 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.