New provenance researcher for the Leopold Museum from January 2021

17.11.2020

Culture Ministry and Leopold Museum unanimously decided on Konstantin Ferihumer

Vienna (OTS) – The position of provenance researcher, which has become vacant upon the expiration of contract of the previous holders of this post, was advertized by the Leopold Museum Private Foundation (Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung – LMPS) in August 2020. Analogous to the employment contracts of provenance researchers of the Commission for Provenance Research at Austrian federal museums, the posting of a full-time position at the Leopold Museum was carried out under the technical supervision of department IV/B/4 in charge of monument protection, building culture and art restitution of the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport – BMKÖS). The BMKÖS and the LMPS, which is responsible for service law, have now filled the post of provenance researcher created in 2008.

A total of 41 persons – 12 of them female and 29 male – from several European countries applied for the position. The selection panel, comprised of the scientific coordinator of the Commission for Provenance Research, Birgit Kirchmayr, the administrative head of the Commission, Pia Schölnberger, and the Leopold Museum's Director Hans-Peter Wipplinger, unanimously chose Konstantin Ferihumer as the new provenance researcher from the five candidates invited to the hearing. He will take up his position at the Leopold Museum in January 2021. 

"In Konstantin Ferihumer we have secured a young and at the same time already highly experienced scholar to conduct provenance research into the collection of the Leopold Museum. The researches, who has been active for several years on behalf of the Commision for Prevance Research at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, convinced the panel during the hearing. The decision in favor of Konstantin Ferihumer was based pn his profound mehtodological competence, comprehensive expertise and highly developed scholarly abilities. His research approach, which is founded on the greatest possible transparency, his precise investigative and networking activities, his ability to work in a team and to strike innovative research paths will provide the cornerstones for targeted and future-oriented provenance research work at the Leopold Museum."
Hans-Peter Wipplinger 

Konstanting Ferihumer, MA (born in 1985 in Linz) worked for several years at the Institute Collection and Archive of the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2013-2016) and conducted research as part of the University's project on collection qualification and deacessioning (2014-2015). Since 2016 he has been active on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research at the Paintings Gallery and Graphic Collection of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. He worked on the special project dedicated to the graphic artist Paul Kirnig "Zwischen Kampfkunst für die Gaupropaganda und Niemals Vergessen!. Paul Kirnig und die Fachklasse für Gebrauchs-, Illustrations- und Modegraphik (1935-1953) an den Vorgängerinstitutionen der Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien. Ferihumer studied political sciences at Vienna University and wrote his master thesis Der Stein-Komplex. Zur Aufarbeitung von Kriegsendphasenverbrechen des Zweiten Weltkrieges im Raum Stein a. d. Donau on war crimes committed during the last stages of World War II in the Lower Austrian region of Stein. Since 2018 he has been writing his doctoral thesis on the power of remembrance in Vienna's post-war watchmaker and jewelry industry with the working title with the working title Erinnerungsmacht. Die Arisierung der Wiener Uhren- und Juwelenbranche und ihre vergangenheitspolitische Ahndung nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Konstantin Ferihumer is a member of the provenance research task force Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. Alongside his extensive lecturing and publishing activities, he and Susanne Hehenberger are jointly responsible for editing the encyclopedia of Austrian provenance research Lexikon der österreichischen Provenienzforschung, for which he was written numerous contributions. 

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