by Lynne | Apr 30, 2013 | Uncategorized
It’s Not Over ‘til It’s Over
Last week I sent out the following link about a battle between a museum in Norway and a family demanding the museum return a Henri Matisse painting, said to have been seized by the Nazis under the direction of Hermann Goering during WWII. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/matisse-norwegian-museum-was-once-nazi-loot
This article appeared in the New York Times on April 6, 2013. Almost seventy years after the war, why are art pieces still being recovered and restored to the original owners or descendants thereof? How is it they haven’t been found and returned long ago?
Consider this situation. The painting winds up in museum, which believes they bought the piece legitimately from a collector or dealer. Paperwork seems in order. And then suddenly a family or individual fights to reclaim it. What’s going on?
Let’s back up. The Nazis looted about twenty percent of all Western art during the Second World War. Today, more than tens of thousands of items remain displaced, destroyed, or missing. At the end of the War, many of these confiscated pieces were found and returned to nations Germany had occupied, with stipulations that they be returned to individual pre-war owners. However, after the first few years, instead of continuing to track down the owners (many of whom died in the war) or their families, (also many of whom died in the war,) some governments and museums chose to keep the works in storage or on display, effectively appropriating them as their own. Here is a link to a survey done on museums where you can see how some were very cooperative, while others not. As a former museum director, it dismays me to read this. http://www.claimscon.org/index.asp?url=looted_art/museum_survey
Despite a number of world and national “conferences” on this issue, there is a wide array of outcomes from restitution claims ranging from decade-long legal battles to resolution through mediation or arbitration. Why all this confusion?
Probably the easiest answer is “provenance.” Defined, provenance is a list of the previous owners of a work of art, tracing it from its present location and owner back to the hand of the artist. Think about this. How often and for how long do you keep receipts for items you purchase? Even important, high-priced items. Now consider — your country is at war. You and your family are arrested, taken from your home. Your home is then ransacked and used for enemy purposes. What would have happened to those receipts?
In many ways, it’s fortunate that the Germans (in this case, the Einsatzstab Reichsletter Rosenberg, or ERR, the agency in charge of confiscating the art and cultural objects from undesirables) kept such immaculate records. Lists exist of the items they hoarded, from whom they were stolen, when and where they were stored ie: the Jeu de Paume in Paris, etc. Without these documents and lists from heroines like Rose Valland, a French curator who kept track of the plundered works of art, this work would have been lost forever. Now, at least, there is still hope of recovery.
The painting in my book Deadly Provenance is a Van Gogh, missing since 1944. Wouldn’t it be grand if it was discovered in someone’s attic or cellar? Garage sales, here I come.
by Lynne | Apr 23, 2013 | Uncategorized
The Displacement of Art During WWII
“The transfer of works of art from vanquished to victor is as old as warfare itself.”
. . . Lynn Nicolas, author of Rape of Europa
I open with this quote because it so aptly describes the events that began in the art world long before the outbreak of the second World War. Hitler’s dream of a pure Germanic Empire included works of art and he determinedly set about purging those pieces he considered unsuitable.
What was unsuitable? Works that were “unfinished” or abstract, that did not depict reality. Vasily Kandinsky. Works by Jews. Camille Pisarro. Works by leftists. George Grosz. Degenerate art they were called and exhibitions of them were set up to show the German people what not to like and admire. Shows like “Entartete Kunst” in Munich in 1937 drew thousands. This clip shows actual footage of visitors to the exhibition. Can you tell from people’s expressions what they really thought? Did they hide their feelings out of fear? http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/highlights/bryan/video/detail.php?content=germany_art
Hermann Goering was one of the first in Hitler’s regime to recognize the commercial value of some of these works of art and amassed thousands of works for his own personal collection. His “agent” took Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet,” purged from a museum in Frankfurt, to sell in Holland. The painting eventually found its way to New York and was sold for $82.5 million.
Alfred Rosenberg, a Nazi ideologue, set up the ERR, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, to systematically collect – confiscate or steal, to be more precise – works of art and artifacts from state museums, citizens and Jews, in particular. Millions of pieces.
As the war came to an end, the Allies closed in. With them were a handful of art-specialists called “monument men.” Their job was to locate and salvage these precious works of art from Germany, Italy and France. Every day these officers would find thousands of pieces on the verge of destruction. They saved what they could; still many disappeared through looting.
The fate of thousands of objects is still unknown, even today. One of those precious pieces is the subject of my new book, Deadly Provenance. It is Van Gogh’s painting, “Still Life: Vase with Oleanders,” which vanished in 1944. Was it destroyed or is it hidden in someone’s secret art collection? In someone’s garage waiting for a sale, perhaps? Will it ever surface to please the world once more?
Can science and technology assist in authenticating the painting if ever it is found? And if so, will it be restored to its rightful owner? Provenance will tell.
by Lynne | Apr 15, 2013 | Uncategorized
A Glimpse into the Art World
My latest book is about to come out in e-book form in the next few months (to be followed by paperback version.) Originally titled, Provenance (until a friend thought readers might confuse it with a city in Rhode Island,) Deadly Provenance is about the confiscation of art during WWII and a missing Van Gogh painting. “Still Life: Vase with Oleanders” is an actual painting by Vincent, which disappeared around 1944, and is, in fact, still missing. See link for painting: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Still_Life_Vase_with_Oleanders_1888_van_Gogh.jpg
The research on this book provided so many possible avenues to explore, it’s hard to know where to begin; thus, my plan is to write several blogs. First, there’s the Nazi confiscation of art, how it happened, who was involved, and why? Next, what happened to all that displaced art? How much was recovered and how? How much is still missing? Then there’s my world — the museum world. How have museums been involved? Have they helped or hindered the search for missing pieces of art?
An important character in the historic part of the book is Rose Valland, a woman whose heroic efforts during the war truly saved a great deal of artwork. She is portrayed as the heroine she truly was. Like Rose, another real character in history is Hans van Meegeren, art forger extraordinaire. Van Meegeren, a Dutch painter, bamboozled the art world in the 40s with a series of false Vermeers. Did he ever forge a van Gogh? In my book he did.
On another front, the book brings up a hypothetical situation where the protagonist, Maggie Thornhill, a digital photographer, must try to identify and authenticate the painting from a photograph. Can it be done? Has it ever been done? What is the science of art authentication today? How are x-rays, infrared and multi-spectral imaging used in scientific analysis? Don’t freak. I won’t get into this too deeply, I promise.
As mentioned in my last blog, I often visit the places I write about. During WWII, a great deal of art was stolen and stored in the Room of Martyrs at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris. The museum is located on the west side of the Tuileries Gardens and is now a museum of Contemporary Art. Visiting was a treat, although the “Room” is no longer there. Most of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works originally housed there are now on display at the Musée d’Orsay, on the banks of the Seine, in an old converted railway station.
And last, is Vincent van Gogh, the mad genius whose painting is lost, perhaps forever. “Vase with Oleanders” is not typical of his vibrant colors, his wheat fields or his starry nights. But there’s no doubt this is Vincent’s work, even if his signature wasn’t in the lower left corner of the painting. Which it is.
I very much enjoyed the research and weaving it into a fictional mystery. I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
by Lynne | Apr 8, 2013 | Uncategorized
Know What You Write
I’m a native New Yorker, transplanted to the West Coast. In my early writing classes I was told, “write what you know.” What the heck did that mean? I couldn’t write about Alabama or Vancouver because I wasn’t from there?
When I was sixteen, I was strolling through Manhattan, minding my own business. I came across a group of tourists looking up and pointing, shooting pictures at something in the sky. What was it? I looked up and realized they were photographing a tall building. Big deal. So I walked to the building in question and saw a plaque that read Empire State Building. Aha. This was the famous Empire State Building.
I lived in NYC but didn’t even appreciate what was around me. On the other hand, when I moved to San Diego, I scouted out every attraction, neighborhood, restaurant, park and beach within the first two months. I knew San Diego better than San Diegans and often surprised them with my knowledge. My point is that growing up in or living in a place is not necessarily “knowing” a place.
In earlier blogs I talked about the importance of research. Here is a perfect place for it. You don’t need to set a story in the place you grew up in (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) You can set a story anywhere you like, but, and I repeat, but, you must visit that place to make it authentic.
An example from my upcoming book, Deadly Provenance: “They drove on the Avenue de la Grande Armée, right up to and around the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elyseés to the Place de la Concorde with the tall obelisk at its center. Henri then turned left into a steady stream of traffic on the Rue de Rivoli, made a dizzying series of rights and lefts and wound up on a narrow alley way called Rue des Pretres-Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, which Maggie did not even attempt to pronounce. He pulled the Peugeot onto the sidewalk in front of a tiny building with glass front: Le Relais du Louvre, their hotel.”
I’ve never lived in Paris, but I have visited a number of times. Can you tell?
If you’re writing about a fictional town, you can have fictional streets and neighborhoods, fictional bars and fictional buildings. But if you’re writing about a real city, you need to make it authentic, by visiting. Maps on the Internet can help, but places change, restaurants close, old houses are torn down and replaced by condos. You must see it first-hand. This is especially important if you want to appeal to readers who actually live there. They will call you on your mistakes.
A dilemma I encountered when writing about Washington, D.C., during the Civil War, was how did it look back then? First of all it was called Washington City, an important note that would have bollixed up everything, had I gotten it wrong. Since I couldn’t transport myself back to Washington City in 1860 (darn), I lucked out when I chanced upon a book called “A Guide to Civil War Washington.” Thank you author, Stephen M. Forman! In this little gem were maps of the different areas in the District, including street names and famous attractions like Ford’s Theatre. Without this book, I would have had to research maps of the time and spent lots of hours at the Library of Congress, if I could get special permission. Whew.
One caveat about the benefit of actually living in the place you’re writing about is that you will know the “locals” better. Their habits, peculiarities, popular night spots, and idiosyncrasies of speech. But this is a post for another time.
For now, “write what you know” is not bad advice. “Know what you write” might be better.
by Lynne | Apr 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
How Animals Inspire Writing
I love dogs. Most of my dogs have been Labs. Right now my two loves are Bruno and Rosie, chocolate and vanilla. They are twelve and ten respectively.
Every morning we go for a walk on the sidewalks of San Diego. We used to romp in the park, but now, unfortunately, they wind up lame. So a gentle walk it is . . . until three months ago, when Rosie would balk about half way up the second block. She’d start hop-skipping, panting, pulling back.
Off to the Vet we went, returning after $600 of x-rays and meds, with a “probable” diagnosis of arthritis in the back knee. Rosie started her meds the next day and the Vet told us to expect significant changes because her pain would be relieved. Two weeks later, not much difference. So we tried another pain med. Two weeks later, no difference. Hmmm.
During the last week of medication, we were off to Yosemite and left the kids with a good friend-dogsitter, Val. Val told us that when she walked Rosie and Bruno, Rosie had no problems. Rosie didn’t hop-skip or balk. She walked side by side with her pal on a double lead and was completely off pain meds at this time.
Val suggested she was conning me just to get back home to have her breakfast. Yikes. Was that possible? Was my sweet old girl pulling my leg?
To test this theory, we went for a walk the first day of our return from the National Park and, with a bit of coaxing, Rosie managed to walk about four blocks. Now I was stymied. Could my dog be manipulating me? Was she crying wolf just to get an early breakfast?
The question for writers: Are dogs con-artists, scammers, bamboozlers? Depending upon your answer and your experience with dogs (and other critters) you can create a great scene in your story. Your animal will shed a lot of light on your character(s). Think about what this little post says about me. I’m clearly a sucker for Rosie and will let her get away with anything. How will your characters react in this situation? Read my December 4th blog to see more on using animals for character development.
The moral of this little story is that Rosie was not, I repeat not, conning me this time. When we got back home this morning she was limping and leaving bloodstains on the driveway. It seems she’d torn the nail on her back paw and it was a bloody mess. Could this have been the underlying cause of her problems over the last few months? Or was this just a coincidental injury?
In any case, mea culpa, my sweet Rosie. Mea culpa.
Rosie as puppy.
In many ways, it’s fortunate that the Germans (in this case, the Einsatzstab Reichsletter Rosenberg, or ERR, the agency in charge of confiscating the art and cultural objects from undesirables) kept such immaculate records. Lists exist of the items they hoarded, from whom they were stolen, when and where they were stored ie: the Jeu de Paume in Paris, etc. Without these documents and lists from heroines like Rose Valland, a French curator who kept track of the plundered works of art, this work would have been lost forever. Now, at least, there is still hope of recovery.
