D Magazine March 2011
There are those who believe that two of the world’s most high-profile missing artifacts are hidden somewhere in the Dallas area. It’s an intersting coincidence, given that the man leading the search for them and other cultural treasures lost since World War II happens to live right here.
D-Magazine – Robert Edsel is the Nazi Treasure Hunter – March 2011
Mr. Robert M. Edsel and Ms. Maria Altmann
On February 7th, 2011, Ms. Maria Altmann passed away at the age of 94. She escaped Nazi-occupied Vienna and returned to Austria in 1998 to wage a triumphant fight to recover Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer, an iconic portrait of her remarkable aunt.
To watch a short video to learn more about her remarkable story, please click the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsSnR0IygJ8
To learn more about her remarkable story, please click the link: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-maria-altmann-20110208,0,493390,full.story
We will write more about this woman’s remarkable life in the coming days.
Ms. Maria Altmann in front of her aunt's portrait "Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer" by Gustav Klimt
Dear Supporters,
To continue celebrating the release of The Monuments Men paperback edition, we are having a book giveaway contest. Here is how you enter to win your free copy of The Monuments Men:
1. Go to our blog www.monumentsmen.com/blog
2. Under the comment section leave your favorite Monuments Men story or your favorite WWII story. One story will win every day for the next two weeks!
It is that simple. Please share your stories with us for a chance to win.
Thanks,
Robert Edsel
Lt. James Rorimer (kneeling, at left) and Louvre curator Germain Bazin pose in front of Goya’s painting Time, which had been successfully protected during the war at the Château de Sourches in France. Photo Courtesy of NARA.
While tens of thousands of Allied troops were flooding the beaches of Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944), the Monuments Men were impatiently waiting to cross the English Channel for their chance to contribute. For Monuments Man James Rorimer, and future director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the gravity of the situation gripped him that day:
“We are told that the invasion of Western Europe by overwhelming forces is underway…Now I am thinking of the combat troops and the task which is theirs. We older men are anxious on the one hand to help deal the death blow to tyranny, and on the other we think of our families at home and the obligations which we have as husbands, fathers, sons, and members of the peace-time community.”
-James Rorimer Letter to his Family, June 6, 1944
While conducting research for my books (The Monuments Men and Rescuing Da Vinci) and reading the hundreds of letters the Monuments Men wrote to their families, one of the first things that struck me was the extent to which the thoughts and feelings conveyed in these letters reflected their age and maturity. The Monuments Men had an average age of 40; a few had even fought in World War I. For the most part, these heroes were not the fearless young men who went to war before their adult lives had really begun. In contrast, these men had accomplished careers, they had wives and children, they had learned lessons from life’s experiences, and they had everything to lose. Rereading their letters always reminds me about their commitment to saving the cultural world and its great artistic treasures we all cherish, and the courage of their convictions in volunteering to serve.
View of the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz. Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.
Seven months ago I promised an aging Army veteran I would see to it that his service to our nation was honored while helping put to its proper use a seemingly insignificant object he had taken during the war as a souvenir. Yesterday, with the return ceremony at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, that promise was kept, and mission accomplished. Museum officials, alongside representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States, expressed their deepest gratitude for the return of the Gemäldegalerie Linz XIII Album after believing it was destroyed 65 years ago. They assured me, repeatedly, that the discovery of this Album would allow them to return to the rightful owners still missing works of art stolen during the war.
Mr. John Pistone and Robert M. Edsel, Founder and President, Monuments Men Foundation. Photo Courtesy of Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art.
WASHINGTON - JANUARY 22: (L-R) Deputy Secretary of State for Resources Jacob Lew, Baden-Wuerttemberg Minister of the Interior Heribert Rech, Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art founder Robert Edsel, German Ambassador to the United States Klaus Scharioth and American World War II veteran John Pistone. Photo Courtesy of Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
This is a heartwarming story for the American, Mr. John Pistone, who entrusted the Monuments Men Foundation – and me – with an object of emotional significance no words can convey. In the time we possessed it, the Gemäldegalerie Linz XIII Album was seen at the United States State Department by Germany’s Ambassador to the United States, the Honorable Klaus Scharioth, and Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew and other invited guests; more than 90,000 people at the special exhibit we organized with the assistance of our friends at the National World War II Museum in their magnificent museum; and most recently at a special two day exhibit at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of “V-E Day”.
Robert M. Edsel standing in front a statue of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.
And now, after the many peregrinations of its travels, it is home where it belongs at the Deutsches Historisches Museum, where people of good will can continue their dedicated work to make something good happen out of the horrible events of the past. In the process, we honor the work of the Monuments Men 65 years ago in not only returning millions of stolen items to their rightful owners, but establishing a legacy concerning the protection of cultural items of all nations that will serve us well in the future.
Since its founding almost 3 years ago the Monuments Men Foundation has been working to encourage museums and collectors alike to comply with best practices guidelines. Simply stated, that means “know your collection” and where the objects were during the reign of the Nazis: 1933-1946. Many museums, and some collectors, have embraced these guidelines. Some have been slow to catch up. A few continue to ignore the matter.
Belo’s Dallas station, WFAA, an ABC affiliate, broadcast a piece last evening highlighting a recent case we discovered several years ago at SMU’s Meadows Museum in conjunction with research on my first book, Rescuing Da Vinci. Officials at the Meadows are now aggressively engaged conducting key provenance research on their collection as a whole and the two paintings covered by the story in particular, to their credit.
This case highlights one aspect of the work of the Foundation and the tangible results we continue to obtain while trying to work with important institutions like the Meadows Museum.
You can view the story by clicking on the following link:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Art-Stolen-by-Hitler-Found-at-SMU-Meadows-Museum.html
James A Leach (Photo Courtesy of NEH)
One sure sign of demonstrable progress is the ongoing public recognition by key government officials of our efforts to recognize and preserve the legacy of the Monuments Men. Last week the recently appointed Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a great friend and supporter of the Monuments Men Foundation, Jim Leach, spoke at a conference on cultural heritage at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. One key aspect of his speech concerned the work of the Monuments Men and the role of the Foundation in making their story broadly visible. Below is an excerpt of that portion of his remarks. Those wishing to read the full text of his speech may do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/speeches/04102010.html
As preservationists know, one of the most respectful cultural moments in our history came at a signal moment at the end of World War II when a small cadre of American military officers came to be cultural heroes. Subsequently dubbed the “Monuments Men,” they led in cataloguing and returning works of looted art from Nazi hands to countries of origin. It is only in the last dozen years or so that historians and filmmakers—one supported by the NEH—have begun to bring perspective to the unprecedented displacement of cultural artifacts that the Second World War precipitated. Unlike other nations that have too frequently absconded with art treasures as booty of war, the American military wisely recognized that cultural objects belonged to original owners rather than conquering armies. It would have been a public insult of unpardonable dimension to have taken a culturally punitive tack.
As chairman of a House Committee with jurisdiction over banking matters, I held four years of hearings in the mid-1990s on the greatest mass theft in history, a subject which for decades had been historically slighted because Nazi avarice was so overwhelmed by its accompaniment with the greatest mass murder in history. What we unearthed in stories of victims and from perspectives applied by historians and philosophers to the shadowy corners of the Holocaust where greed reined was an axiom about the nature of evil: The genesis of evil may begin with perpetrators of violence and injustice, but complicity too frequently lies beyond the perpetrator with those who cloak themselves in the legitimacy of private business and genteel society. Indifferent to the most unpardonable ramifications of human prejudice, many of the seemingly best and brightest in civilization’s most advanced cultures manipulated with little compunction manifestly oppressive circumstances in furtherance of self-interest.
Our Congressional hearings helped galvanize many European parliaments to hold comparable reviews and led to an international conference which I chaired at the State Department on Holocaust era displacement of art. These hearings and the art conference, as well as the work of an extraordinary Under Secretary of State, Stuart Eizenstat, sparked increased attention not only to the war-time role of international banks and insurance companies where symbolic additional victim compensation packages were developed, but led to the drawing up of new national and international art provenance standards for museums.
Left to Right: Generals Bradley, Patton, and Eisenhower (Photo Courtesy of National Archives)
Having heard about the extraordinary discovery of most all of Nazi Germany’s gold reserves and paper currency, along with its vast cultural wealth from Berlin’s greatest museums and libraries, in a salt mine in Merkers, Germany, Generals Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley left SHAEF headquarters in Rheims, France and made a several day visit to see it firsthand. As the Monuments Men, led by George Stout, were urgently crating the works of art for removal from the mine, the generals descended in a rickety elevator manned by a lone German operator.
Their sense of disconnection was palpable: billions of dollars (in today’s currency) of gold bars and bagged coins sat stacked in one chamber adjacent to some of the world’s greatest works of art. Chests filled with gold fillings pulled from the mouths of murdered victims of the Nazi genocide sat idle, not yet smelted into bars to sit atop the Reichsbank horde. Suitcases of silverware, another reminder of property stolen along with the lives of the owners, lined several walls.
General Eisenhower at Ohrdruf Concentration Camp (Photo Courtesy of National Archives)
Later that afternoon, the generals visited Ohrdruf, the first Nazi work camp liberated by American forces. Strewn before them were the corpses of the dead and emancipated figures of those near death. General Patton, old “Blood and Guts”, had to lean against the side of one of the bunkhouse sheds as he was sick to his stomach from the horrors and stench of what he was witnessing.
President Franklin Roosevelt attending Yalta Conference in February 1945, less than 2 months before he died. (Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)
After dinner, as the generals returned to their respective tents, General Patton overheard on the BBC the announcement of President Roosevelt’s death earlier that day. At age 63, 12 years into his presidency, having led the nation through its most perilous fiscal crisis and a world war, Roosevelt was gone. He did not live to see the fruits of his leadership – victory – which would follow 26 days later in Europe, and 125 days later in Japan.
April 12: a day that had momentous implications for our nation, the world, and the Monuments Men. (For a more detailed account of this story, please read The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History).
Rembrandt, "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee", 1633, Oil on canvas, inscribed on the rudder, 161.7 x 129.8 cm (Image Courtesy of Isabella Stewart Museum)
Today it has been 20 years since 13 invaluable works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, in what has been called the largest property theft in recorded history.
Vermeer, "The Concert", 1658–1660 Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 64.7 cm. (Image Courtesy of Isabella Stewart Museum)
On the night of March 18, 1990, two thieves dressed as Boston police officers gained entry to the museum, handcuffed both night guards, and proceeded to spend about 40 minutes stealing art from 3 different galleries. Among the missing works of art are Vermeer’s The Concert and Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee. A $5 reward is still being offered for information leading to the recovery of the works of art.
For more information on the theft, please visit the museum’s website:
http://www.gardnermuseum.org/information/theft.asp
Monuments Man George Stout (Image Courtesy of National Archives)
The Gardner Museum is one of the premiere museums in the United States, established at the turn of the 20th century. It houses more than 2,500 works of art in an intimately designed space. Monuments Man George Stout [link to his bio] served as Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum from 1955 to 1970.
National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (Image Courtesy of Wikipedia Images)
When visiting the National Gallery of Art in Washington, it’s hard to believe it is only 69 years old. Its majestic appearance and rich collections suggest a museum many centuries in age. How could all these artistic treasures be assembled so late in history? Who had the vision to suggest that the United States finally have a national collection for the people such as those in nearly all European countries?
National Gallery of Art West Side in the 1940s (Image Courtesy of Wikipedia Images)
In fact, hard as it is to believe, much of the success of the National Gallery of Art is due to the generosity of one man: Andrew W. Mellon. Mellon was a successful financier before serving as the Secretary of the Treasury from 1921-1932 and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1932-1933. He began collecting art, mostly old master painters and sculpture, during World War l. By the late 1920s he had developed a vision that would become the National Gallery of Art, a collection of the world’s greatest works of art for the benefit of its citizens. However, while he continued to add to his extraordinary collection, his plans for the museum and the donations he would make that would assure its construction were kept secret.
Andrew Mellon (Image Courtesy of National Gallery of Art)
In 1930, with the world firmly in the grip of the Depression, Mellon seized on one of the greatest buying opportunities in the history of collecting: a series of purchases from Russia’s greatest museum, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, a once in a lifetime event driven by orders from Soviet Premier Stalin to museum officials to raise cash by selling art. This despicable decision by Stalin was received with shock by museum officials, but fear of the repercussions outweighed any alternative. In the course of a year Mellon purchased 21 paintings, the likes of which would never have been available but for these extraordinary circumstances, including Raphael’s Alba Madonna and Jan van Eyck’s The Annunciation. It was the coup of Mellon’s collecting career.
The Opening Ceremony at the National Gallery of Art presided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Image Courtesy of National Gallery of Art)
In 1936 Mellon wrote President Roosevelt and formally offered to build the National Gallery of Art building and donate his collection to the nation. Ultimately 121 paintings and 21 pieces of sculpture from Mellon’s collection were gifted. Not only did he provide $15 million to build the building, but he also stipulated that it would not bear his name. This was not only an extraordinary act of selflessness but also a strategically wise decision because Mellon knew he had to enlist the support of his peers to also promise their respective collections to the National Gallery of Art. Putting his name on the building was something he understood would make that task difficult if not impossible. By excluding his name from the building Mellon was empowered to persuade others, including Samuel H. Kress, Chester Dale, and Joseph P. Widener, to donate or commit their collections to the nation. In the coming years these great collectors and many others made gifts of collections and funds, a tradition that continues to this day.
Leonardo da Vinci, "Ginevra de Benci", 1476, Oil on Wood, 38.8 cm × 36.7 cm (15.3 in × 14.4 in) (Image Courtesy of Wikipedia Images)
Mellon also established a trust, donating $10 million, to fund the Gallery during those early years. This was just the beginning of almost a century of philanthropy by the Mellon family as Mellon’s son, Paul, and daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, continued their father’s support with generous financial donations as well as works of art. In fact, the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in an American collection, Ginevra de’ Benci, is at the National Gallery of Art, made possible by the Ailsa Mellon Bruce fund.
Robert M. Edsel speaking at The National Gallery of Art in January 2010. (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection)
The National Gallery of Art is one of our nation’s greatest cultural centers and is full of visitors every day of the year but for the two it is closed. The facilities are state of the art and beautiful to admire. Anyone wanting to see one of the world’s great collections of art need not travel further than Washington, D.C. For those seeking a great example of selfless giving, study Andrew Mellon and his role in making this once lofty vision a reality.
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