NEW YORK.- Museum organizations stated that most of the looted art has been identified, despite a survey on stolen Nazi-era art released Tuesday. Mimi Gaudieri, executive director of the American Association of Museum Directors, stated, “We don't think there are a lot more. Most of the museums have been working diligently on researching these works with a gap in provenance and, in most cases, have been able to fill the gaps."

Last Tuesday the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany reported that around 35 percent of the museums have not reported their progress determining whether their collections contain works that might have been stolen during the Holocaust. The report states, “Based on responses to the questionnaire, there are in excess of 140,000 ‘covered objects’ as defined by the AAM (all objects that were created before 1946 and acquired by the museum after 1932, that underwent a change of ownership between 1932 and 1946, and that were or might reasonably be thought to have been in continental Europe between those dates). This definition is, of course, far broader than items of looted art. It identifies a piece of art that needs provenance research. The Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal, which was established to provide a searchable registry of such objects, lists approximately 18,000 items, or slightly higher than 12 percent of the total number of reported ‘covered objects.’ Of the museums that do clearly state that they are conducting provenance research, 52 percent have completed research on less than half of the relevant items in their collection and a further 33 percent did not provide information on the extent to which they had completed that work. What provenance research is conducted is done overwhelmingly on paintings and sculptures, and rarely on other items such as prints and drawings. Only about one-third of the museums conducting provenance research maintain a separate budget for the purpose. Only about one-tenth of the museums conducting provenance research employ or have ever employed a full-time researcher. At least one-third of the museums responding indicated that they do not conduct provenance research on their loans."