Enfilade

Press release (16 January 2019) from The Nelson-Atkins:

Discriminating Thieves: Nazi-Looted Art and Restitution
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 26 January 2019 — 26 January 2020

Nicolas de Largillière, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, ca. 1715, oil on canvas (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 54-35).

Discriminating Thieves: Nazi-Looted Art and Restitution follows the journey of four works of art that were once in the hands of the Nazis. The exhibition explores the circumstances surrounding their thefts, their return to their rightful owners, and their subsequent legal acquisition by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

During World War II, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis looted art on an unprecedented scale. They stole thousands of objects across Europe between 1933 and 1945, keeping art for their own collections or stashing art for use in the museum Hitler planned to build. Other works, considered by the Nazis to be immoral, or ‘degenerate’, were destroyed, sold, or used as Nazi propaganda.

“This exhibition was extensively researched by MacKenzie Mallon, the Nelson-Atkins provenance specialist who is gaining a national reputation for her work in this important field,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell CEO and Director of the Nelson-Atkins. “This is very specific and painstaking research into ownership that is of utmost importance in the museum world and uncovers fascinating stories of the journey this art has traveled.”

Most of the looted objects were recovered by the Allies after the war, many by a group of art curators and scholars known as the Monuments Men. Paul Gardner, the first director of the Nelson-Atkins and himself a Monuments Man, described his journey to an Italian castle that had once housed an important art collection, and his dismay at finding that the Germans had reached it before him. Gardner wrote: “The custodian told us that experienced German officer-experts had systematically broken open all the bales and boxes, and had taken the cream of the collection. The Germans have proven all along to be discriminating thieves.”

Augustin Pajou, Jean-François Ducis, 1779, terracotta on marble socle, bust 23 inches high (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, acquired through the McGreevy Family through the Westport Fund in honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Nelson-Atkins, F83-22).

The focus exhibition is comprised of four works of art: Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland by Nicolas de Largillière; Still Life with Guelder Roses by Pierre Bonnard; Jean-François Ducis, a sculpture by Augustin Pajou; and Masks by the German artist Emil Nolde.

De Largilliere’s Augustus the Strong was among the works of art stolen by the Nazis and intended for Hitler’s museum of the future, the ‘Führermuseum’, which he imagined would be the greatest art museum in the world.

Emile Nolde’s Masks, however, was declared ‘degenerate’ because of its modern, expressionistic style, even though Nolde was a member of the Nazi party. It was removed from the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany in 1937 and given to a German art dealer, Karl Buchholz, to sell. The painting remained in his possession throughout the rest of the war, and he transferred it to a New York art gallery following an agreement among German museums not to pursue the restitution of ‘degenerate’ art that had been sold abroad.

“Masks remained in that gallery until the Nelson-Atkins purchased it in 1954,” said Mallon, Specialist, Provenance. “There is a human story behind each of these objects, and uncovering that ownership history is the purpose of provenance research. I think it’s important to remember the very personal cost of Nazi art looting during World War II and the subsequent return to the owners or their descendants and the museum’s legal acquisition of the works.”

Emil Nolde, Masks, 1911, oil on canvas, unframed: 73 × 77cm (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of the Friends of Art, 54-90).

Through a special guide, visitors to the exhibition will be encouraged to find other works of art in Nelson-Atkins galleries that have similar, interesting histories from World War II.

Special programming related to this exhibition includes a talk by Mallon on January 31, “What Once was Lost: Nazi Art Looting and Allied Restitution.” Mallon will discuss Nazi art looting during World War II, the recovery of much of the stolen art by the Allies, and how these stories intertwine with the history of the Nelson-Atkins collection. Mallon will also give a talk on October 3, “Safe Haven: the Nelson-Atkins and the Protection of Art during World War II.” On March 7, art historian and director of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative Corine Wegener will give a talk, “The Monuments Men and Beyond: Saving Cultural Heritage in Today’s Conflicts,” sharing her insights into the role of museums in the development of the Monuments Men, the importance of provenance research in museums today, and how international law can help protect heritage in today’s conflicts. Three films will also be shown in conjunction with this exhibition: Hitler Versus Picasso and Others March 15 and 16, The Rape of Europa March 22 and 23, and Woman in Gold March 29 and 30.

Left: John Smart, Portrait of a Woman, 1807, watercolor on ivory, 1 ¾ × 1 ½ inches (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of the Starr Foundation, Inc., F65-41/48). Right: Henry Bone, Portrait of King George IV of England, 1821, enamel on copper, 1 ¼ × 1 inches (Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr and the Starr Foundation, Inc., F58-60/134).

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Now on view at The Nelson-Atkins:

Regency Fashion in Miniature
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 21 March 2018 — 17 March 2019

High-waisted dresses, open-necked shirts, and un-powdered curls abound in the extravagant age of the Regency era (about 1795–1837). A period in Britain associated with the rise of a handsome young prince who became King (George IV) and the work of novelist Jane Austen, this time left its mark on fashion, too. Many men followed the lead of the romantic poet Lord Byron, whose ‘Byronic’ curls cluster at the front of his head. Women, too, wore their hair in natural curls and followed a style of dress inspired by the classical fashions of Greece and Rome. The Regency era ended in 1837 with the ascension of Queen Victoria, who ushered in a new style that would bring fashion into the twentieth century.

This rotation of portrait miniatures features some of the leading miniaturists of the period including John Smart, Henry Bone, William Essex, and Jean Baptiste Isabey, among others.

Presented to the Nelson-Atkins by Mr. and Mrs. John W. Starr in two major gifts from 1958 and 1965, and numerous additional gifts through the years, the Starr Collection of Miniatures illustrates the history of European portrait miniatures through more than 250 objects. These delicate objects, many of which are painted in watercolor on ivory, include works by Britain’s greatest miniaturists, ranging from the late 1500s to the early 1800s, as well as some very fine examples by European and American artists made during the same time frame.

The exhibition of portrait miniatures in Gallery P24 changes every twelve months to showcase the variety of the collection and also to limit exposure of the light-sensitive pigments.

Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. John Brown and Their Daughter, Anna Maria, ca. 1754–55, oil on canvas
(Private Collection, Norfolk)

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Now on view at Gainsborough’s House:

Early Gainsborough: ‘From the Obscurity of a Country Town’
Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk, 20 October 2018 — 17 February 2019

This exhibition focusses on the early life and art of Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788). It explores how Gainsborough made his first steps in the art world from the inspiration of the landscape surrounding his hometown of Sudbury, through his training in London in the 1740s, to his return to Suffolk around 1748. This is a particularly important exhibition for Gainsborough’s House because it deals with Gainsborough’s time in Sudbury, his family, and reveals for the first time new research on this significant period of the burgeoning artist. The exhibition shows paintings from Gainsborough’s House collection, new acquisitions, and loans that give new insight into Gainsborough’s early life and development as an artist. It will draw on a significant collection of the paintings, prints, and ephemera on Gainsborough from the 1740s.