{"id":4131,"date":"2013-12-02T08:24:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T12:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=4131"},"modified":"2013-11-19T16:27:13","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T20:27:13","slug":"it-belongs-in-a-museum-1500-paintings-hidden-from-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2013\/12\/02\/it-belongs-in-a-museum-1500-paintings-hidden-from-public\/","title":{"rendered":"“It Belongs in a Museum!” 1500 Paintings Hidden from Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t been following international art news lately, then you may be in for a surprise. \u00c2\u00a0An on-going investigation of looted art (presumably stolen and stored by Nazis) has revealed almost 1500 pieces of art that belong to one man. \u00c2\u00a0Cornelius Gurlitt was the son of an art dealer commissioned to sell most of the works looted by Nazis.<\/p>\n

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Reproduction of a Franz Marc painting believed to be part of Gurlitt’s collection (Washington Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Authorities recently seized his collection, but according to a German statute of limitations, his years of ownership make the art un-seizable. \u00c2\u00a0In other words, Gurlitt has a right to keep every last piece if he wants to.<\/p>\n

Is this a case of ‘finders keepers’ gone wrong?<\/p>\n

In terms of precious cultural pieces, I have always been of the Indiana Jones mindset that ‘it belongs in a museum<\/a>‘, whatever “it” may be. \u00c2\u00a0In this case, there is a lot of it. \u00c2\u00a01500 paintings by artists like\u00c2\u00a0Marc Chagall, Max Beckmann and Otto Dix are purported to be in Gurlitt’s collection.<\/p>\n

A big question on most people’s mind is “Where did all of the paintings come from?” \u00c2\u00a0Police believe they were looted or bought off of Jewish families during WWII, but their provenance remains a mystery and isn’t likely to be something that Gurlitt will reveal any time soon.<\/p>\n

Gurlitt I don’t know how this case will end. \u00c2\u00a0In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, the reclusive and obstinate art collector said “I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t voluntarily give back anything, no, no,” and that “When I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m dead, they can do with them what they want.” \u00c2\u00a0This does not bode well for the art community, the German people, and especially the Jewish families who lost such precious pieces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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‘Riders at the Beach’ by Max Lieberman, another painting in Gurlitt’s nefarious collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even if the provenance was traceable, that is a lot of art to trace. \u00c2\u00a0My suggestion and my hope is that someday a special art collection at a German museum will be established as a memorial to the families who lost these pieces. \u00c2\u00a0The displays of art can be a reminder not only of the lost beauty from these personal collectors, but also the lost humanity in times of war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources:\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/style-blog\/wp\/2013\/11\/17\/german-collector-wont-give-art-to-anyone-report-says\/<\/h6>\n
http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/world\/2013\/11\/18\/german-collector-says-hid-art-trove-out-love-wants-collection-back\/<\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you haven’t been following international art news lately, then you may be in for a surprise. \u00c2\u00a0An on-going investigation of looted art (presumably stolen and stored by Nazis) has revealed almost 1500 pieces of art that belong to one man. \u00c2\u00a0Cornelius Gurlitt was the son of an art dealer commissioned to sell most of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[462,463,464,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4131"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4135,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131\/revisions\/4135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}