Lost Art and Lost Lives: Nazi Art Looting and Art Restitution

During the Nazi Regime, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seized an estimated one fifth of all art in Europe and more than 5 million cultural objects before 1945. The Nazis established control over the regime and furthered their racist ambitions through stealing art of any cultural or monetary value to them. They stole “degenerate” art in an attempt to annihilate “racially inferior” races, and “racially pure” art for the glorification of the “Aryan” race. Since the end of WWII, the return of Nazi-looted art to its original owners or their heirs has been an important avenue for remembrance of and belated justice for Holocaust victims and their families. Some have suggested a parallel between lost art and lost lives, where art restitution provides a form of justice. However, the path to justice is not an easy one. Many heirs do not know they have a claim to their family’s stolen art or do not know it still exists, and the claims that go to trial often do not go soundly in favor of the victim or his or her heir. Many museums, galleries, art dealers, and collectors have failed to do proper provenance research, or know the jaded history of their artworks and argue that they received the looted artwork in good faith. In order to highlight the importance of Nazi-looted art restitution and justice for Holocaust victims and their families, this paper focuses on the way art was used by the Nazis as a means of control, the structure of the looting system, and the systems of art restitution. Three artworks seized from Jewish art collectors are used to exemplify “degenerate” and “pure” art, discuss the impact of the legal system on restitution, and emphasize provenance as a means of honoring Holocaust victims. Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Camille Pissarro’s Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep, and the pair of paintings, Adam and Eve, by Lucas Cranach the Elder illustrate why art collectors, museums, and galleries must confront the vicious Nazi history of such beautiful works of art. Though it will never be possible to return all that was stolen from Nazi victims, the art world can provide justice by doing more thorough provenance research and displaying the provenance information for viewers

From the Yellow Springs to the Land of Immortality

The Yellow Springs is a vivid metaphorical reference to the final destination of a mortal being and the dwelling place of a departed one in ancient China. In the writings of philosophers, historians, and poets during the long period of Chinese history, the Yellow Springs is not only considered as an underground physical locus where a grave is situated, but also an emotionally charged space invoke grieving, longing, and memory for the departed loved ones. The subterranean dwelling at the Yellow Springs is both a destination for a departed mortal being and an intermediary place to an ideal and imaginative realm, the land of immortality where the soul would enjoy eternity. From the Yellow Springs to the Land of Immortality is an exhibition that highlights sixteen carefully selected artworks from Gettysburg College’s Special Collections; each object embodies the perceptions and ritual practices of the rich funerary culture in the historical period in China, ranging from the late second millennium BCE to the beginning of the early twentieth century. These artifacts represent various artistic traditions and fabrication techniques — including jade carving, bronze casting, glazed pottery making — and most importantly, offer a glimpse of how art and artifacts are employed as a means to connect the living with the soul of the departed one in the Yellow Springs. Archaeo- logical discoveries in the past four decades in China have provided rich information that helps contextualize the sixteen artworks, as well as intimate knowledge about how the objects might “perform” in the life and afterlife of the individuals in the past. The practice of burying goods alongside departed loved ones has had a long tradition in China. The artworks included in this exhibition catalogue, encompassing the major dynasties in Chinese history, epitomize such a practice from a historical point of view. The bronze jue of the Shang dynasty (mid-16th c.-1046 BCE), and the miniature bell, a replica of yong bronze bell of the Zhou dynasty (1045-256 BCE), are not only ceremonial paraphernalia used by elites in ancestral sacrifices during the Bronze Age, but also material manifestations of ritual and music, the very foundations of ancient Chinese civilization. Comparable examples found in Bronze Age tombs illustrate the idea to connect the deceased, often the owner of these ritual objects, to the ancestors in the netherworld as they themselves were transitioned into the role of ancestors through a series of funerary ceremonies. [excerpt]https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/artcatalogs/1034/thumbnail.jp

Martin Luther: the Face of the Reformation

Gettysburg College owns a portrait of Martin Luther, dated 1547 and signed with the insignia of the Cranach workshop. Having only arrived to the College in 1981, this artwork has not received the attention it deserves. I show for the first time how this work compares favorably to others like it in Germany and Poland, dubbed here as the “Fur Coat Series.” This website seeks to teach about and analyze the portrait to highlight its importance and excellent quality, and reconsider the portrait’s attribution to the Workshop of Lucas Cranach the Younger. You will also learn about Martin Luther, his portraits, and the Cranach workshop, and the roles they played in the Reformation