We Have Been Here Before!

Censorship in Art

There is a paraphrase of a saying that history may not exactly repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. The United States is rhyming with the past now, and, if we don’t stay vigilant, history WILL repeat itself. This blog is an updated version of one I wrote in May 2023. Three other sources that I want to acknowledge for this blog are two books supported by the Monuments Men & Women Foundation. The first book is The Art Front: the Defense of French Collections 1939-1945. The second book is Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: the Hermann Goering Collection. The third source is the documentary The Rape of Europa. These three sources drill down into what the Nazis considered art, Nazi art theft, art being destroyed, art returned to the original owners or their descendants, and the continuing search for missing art. It’s important to know what happened before to see the frightening parallels to what the United States government is trying to do now to insert itself into what art is and what we can do about it.

If you’ve seen the movie The Monuments Men (a decent movie that stays fairly faithful to the true story featuring a cameo at the end by George Clooney’s Dad, Nick), the character portrayed by Cate Blanchett is based on Rose Valland, author of The Art Front. With only a bit of dramatic license concerning a possible romantic interest between her and one of the American Monuments Men, her incredible story is well represented in the movie, and her book gives incredible details of her time as an employee in the Jeu de Plaume, a small art museum in Paris near the Louvre that was commandeered to house confiscated art from conquered territories, collectors, and especially wealthy Jewish collectors during the time the Nazis were in control of France. It was common knowledge at the time that the way to get closer to Adolf Hitler was to be interested (or at least pretend to be interested) in art, and there was a pecking order to what Nazi hierarchy had access to what art after Hitler picked out pieces that he dreamed of being a part of a mega-museum in Linz, Austria after Nazi victory in WWII. Second in line only to Hitler was Hermann Goering. Immediately before and soon after the Nazis took over France, Goering began to show up to the Jeu de Plaume and other museums with other Nazi officials to choose art for him and his wife to keep for their own personal collection. Goering made around 20 trips to Paris to grab artworks, and Rose Valland was a witness to nearly all of those trips. At its height, the art stolen by Goering numbered around 1700 pieces - larger than the European collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC! He even had in his possession for a time, but sold for pennies to get another “more appropriate” piece, Vincent VanGogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet. That painting eventually sold at Christie’s Auction House in May 1990 for $82.5 million dollars…the most expensive painting ever at that time.

"Degenerate" Art: Alexej von Jawlensky's Seated Woman

What the Nazis didn’t know is that Rose Valland understood German, she had a near-photographic memory, and wrote down every night what pieces belonged to whom and where the pieces went. Her efforts, the efforts of her colleagues, and the efforts of her boss, Jacques Jaujard, to decrease the damage the Nazis were doing was dangerous work. At least two times, he had to intervene with the Nazis on Valland’s behalf to save her life when they wanted to execute her on suspicions of nefarious activities. He convinced the Nazis that their efforts would take longer and not be nearly as efficient without Rose Valland. She saw works of art by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, and others burned in the courtyard if the works were deemed to not even be worthy enough to try to trade for other more desirable pieces. She also saw Nazis execute friends and colleagues from other museums in that courtyard on a regular basis.

Hermann Goering committed suicide in his cell hours before he was scheduled to be hung at Nuremberg, but Rose Valland survived and helped Monuments Men get stolen art back to the rightful owners or museums for a few years after the war. She was honored for her efforts by both our government and the French government and lived until September 18, 1980. While an admirable amount of art was recovered, a lot is also missing, and I’m afraid is gone forever.

The United States government is using the Nazi playbook in a lot of areas - including art. Recent statements have accused the Smithsonian of being too focused on slavery and anti-American. Many museums are cancelling planned exhibits in fear of losing funding. Many artists such as Amy Sherald are cancelling shows because they are either unwilling to not display certain pieces in shows or don’t want to be hassled. The famous picture of the slave with a whip-scarred back has been deemed unAmerican by this government. Continued government pressure will have a chilling effect on remembering history and these current times. We’re not quite to the burning books or art stage yet, but many people are ready and raring to begin, and citizens need to be vocal with their museums and with their representatives about the importance of art for the free expression and representation of history and culture.