Art Collections on the Eve of World War II May 3, 2011 The 1937 World’s Fair in Paris German pavilion on the left, Soviet on the right

Rivalries in the Cultural Administration Goering/Rosenberg/Rust Rosenberg headed main looting agency in Western Europe, with Goering’s protection Rust: Minister for Science, Education and Public Instructions (ministry that traditionally oversaw arts policy) Versus… Goebbels/Ziegler, President of the Chamber for the Visual Arts “…these venomous individuals were engrossed with art.” Jonathan Petropoulos, Art as Politics in the Third Reich, p. 16

Four Years Defining Aryan Style March 1933: Goebbels created the Reich Chamber of Culture (RKK). Membership required for all artists; banned Jews, Communists, modernists who displeased Nazi leadership. 1936: Goebbels banned art criticism July 1937: Exhibition of “degenerate” art

Program cover for “degenerate art” exhibition

Linking degenerate people and art From Paul Schultze-Naumberg’s Art and Race, 1928. Paintings by Otto Dix, Modigliani

Degenerate Art: Picasso Picasso, Absinthe Drinker, 1903

Degenerate Art: Kirchner Two Women in the Street, 1914 Street, Berlin, 1913

Degenerate Art: Kokoschka Nature with a death mask, n.d. Self-Portrait, 1917

Degenerate Art: Chagall I and the Village, 1911 Paris Through the Window, 1913

Four Years Defining Aryan Style June 1939: major art auction in Lucerne, Switz., with works by Picasso, van Gogh, Braque, Klee from German public museums 16,000 works removed from German museums March 20, 1939: bonfire in courtyard of Berlin fire department. More than 1000 paintings, nearly 4000 drawings, watercolors, graphic designs

Knirr, Adolf Hitler, The Creator of the Third Reich and Leader who Revived German Art, 1937

Breker, Bust of Hitler Thorak, Bust of Hitler 1936

Breker, Readiness Thorak, Comradeship

Spitzweg, The Alchemist, n.d.

Eduard von Grützner, Mealtime, 1891

Reserved for Hitler Johannes Vermeer, The Astronomer, 1668 Looted from Edouard de Rothschild in France; bequeathed to French state, 1983 Rothschilds recovered some 2600 paintings.

Types of paintings given to Hitler by Goering Types of paintings given to Hitler by Goering. Created by Giovanni Pannini, mid 18th century.

Jacques Jaujard, Director of French National Museums

Chambord chateau

Paintings being prepared for evacuation Evacuation of Winged Victory

Protecting Greek sculptures Transporting The Raft of the Medusa

David’s Sabines at the Sourches chateau Transporting Courbet’s Atelier

A warning to pilots... …and to passers-by

Work sold in September 2006, allegedly created by Hitler during WWI Work sold in September 2006, allegedly created by Hitler during WWI. Highest price for watercolors, nearly $20,000. Created by Hitler?