Dr Jacques Schuhmacher

About me

I am the Senior Provenance Research Curator (supported by the Polonsky Foundation) at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

From 2018-2022, I was the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Provenance and Spoliation Curator at the V&A. My research focused on the provenance of the Gilbert Collection, one of the world’s most important collections of works of decorative art. I co-curated ‘Concealed Histories: Uncovering the Story of Nazi Looting’, the first special provenance display of its kind by a UK museum.

I serve as a member of the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) Spoliation Working Group, which co-ordinates provenance research efforts at UK museums with respect to the Nazi period.

I am also a member of the Arts Council England (ACE) restitution working group, which advises on the development on new guidance for the UK museum sector with respect to Colonial-era artefacts.

Before joining the V&A in 2018, I was a researcher at the Commission for Looted Art in Europe, a not-for-profit organisation which recovers property looted under the Nazis.

I hold a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford, where I was co-director of the War Crimes Research Network at The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH). I studied Modern History at the Humboldt University Berlin and Somerville College, Oxford.