Abbreviation | IFAR |
---|---|
Formation | 1969 |
Type | Nonprofit organization |
Headquarters | New York, NY, United States |
Chairman | Jennifer Schipf |
Executive Director | Lindsey Schneider |
Warren Adelson | Lisa Dennison | Pierre DuPont | Christiane Fischer | Kate Ganz | David J. Nash | Samuel Sachs II | Steven P. Schwartz | Dorit D. Straus | Peter C. Sutton | Anthony Williams | |
Revenue | $837,964 [1] (2015) |
Expenses | $815,220 [1] (2015) |
Website | www.ifar.org |
The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) 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. [2] [3]
Its first president was Houston industrialist John de Ménil. [4]
Founding members of the privately funded foundation were: [4]
The first Advisory council members were: [4]
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. [5]
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. [6]