Here are just a few of the many articles detailing the recent disclosure of a treasure trove of art found in an apartment in Munich.
Another from the NYT, 11/5/13
Mail Online (London), 11/5/13
Professor M. Och
ARTH 114 and ARTH 115: Introduction to Western Art, University of Mary Washington
What an interesting article! I guess I hadn’t ever thought about seized or stolen artwork ever surfacing again. It makes you wonder how many pieces of art, books, artifacts are still hidden, and add to that the fact that maybe no one even knows where it is. I do agree that the list needs to be provided so that the people who this art belongs to are at least notified. I feel that possibly some of them will just donate them to museums, but at least let them know its theirs first!
What I can’t believe is that the government has kept this hidden for almost two years. I think the government should try to figure something out so that the law is uplifted, but in a manner that is organized and museums don’t start fighting over which art piece is whose. I feel like Cornelius Gurlitt should give some art pieces back to the museum. Besides keeping them in his apartment or selling them, I think they should go back to the museum so that the museum can build up it’s collection again and so that all people are able to view the pieces.
The article was very interesting! It is quite a sad thought that art work stolen from the public museums may be lost forever due to the effects of war and simply being lost to time. The ones being privately owned, although it may seem unfair to the world, are legally owned. If people really do want these art works for public display, they donate to the museums so they can buy them from the private owners.
What surprises me the most about this article is that the laws about the confiscation of art put in place during Nazi rule still live on (as of 2013). I understand the complications that would follow the nullification of the laws but I think the German government should have done something by now to lessen the damage done by said laws. Before I read this article, I knew a little bit about the confiscation of art during the war, but I never really thought about the pieces being purchased and sold. I figured most were hidden or destroyed. I never thought about how the pieces could be in personal art collections. That being said, I understand that it would be difficult to return the purchased pieces to their original owners but I think the government can come up with a way to nullify the laws while maintaining the peace.
I enjoyed the modern mystery of this article! It makes you wonder how many pieces of “missing art” are hidden or lost among people’s many possessions. Even the most expensive painting could be overlooked by someone who is not informed about art. It is sad that this man had so many pieces of art that were taken from people during the Holocaust and I am disappointed to hear that he did not attempt to return the pieces of artwork to their original owners, instead he sold pieces whenever he was low on money.