Notes from the Lampert Library
It’s always exciting when something “lost” is rediscovered. We talk about lost memories and have “aha!” moments when one resurfaces or when we come upon an object that we thought was lost.
For the last decades art has been one of those rediscovered treasures. Though originally not really lost, many of the great European art collections were confiscated by the Germans as a result of anti-Jewish laws and World War II. In addition many museums hid their collections to keep them safe from Nazi greed.
Lost art, a euphemism for stolen, has become a hot topic. It is romantic, mysterious, thrilling and when a piece is found, ultimately, redeeming.
So what is lost art? In the fluid art world, pieces can change hands many times. However, in the legitimate art world, each creation is supposed to have a provenance, a history of creation and ownership to ensure that the piece is authentic and honestly acquired.
In the case of many of Europe’s finest collections, the confusion of the war period and the confiscation of private collections have muddied the historic trail. Paintings and other works of art acquired both for private collections and for public institutions after the war are having their legitimacy questioned.
A current movie Woman in Gold starring award winning actress Helen Mirren, brings the question of lost art down to the personal level. Mirren plays Maria Altman, niece of Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. Adele Bloch-Bauer is the subject of Gustav Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer I, a painting which was commissioned by Adele’s husband and hung in their home.
The collection was seized and sold off. Some years later, Maria Altmann attempted to regain possession of the Klimt painting of her aunt which by now was called the Mona Lisa of Austria. She was successful in her case against the Austrian government. The painting now hangs in the Neue Galerie in New York.
The story of the painting is told in Anne-Marie O’Connor’s The Lady in Gold: the extraordinary tale of Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Melissa Muller and Monika Tatzkow shed light on the histories of several famous collections confiscated by the Nazis in Lost Lives, Lost Art: Jewish collectors, Nazi art theft, and the quest for justice. The reproductions of lost treasures (many never found) and the often poignant stories that accompany them make the search for these pieces come alive.
Additional books related to the topic of confiscated art available in the Lampert Library include:
Good Living Street: Portrait of a Patron Family, Vienna 1900 by Tim Bonyhady
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel
Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling (Fiction)
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