plundered art
@plunderedart.bsky.social
researching and documenting the history of art objects and the people responsible for their misappropriation, and advocating for their restitution to rightful owners.
We deplore the cuts imposed across the board on American cultural institutions. One potentially big problem is how these cuts affect research on the collections? In other words, do they interfere with museums' due diligence responsibilities?
www.artforum.com/news/report-...
www.artforum.com/news/report-...
Report Shows US Museums Hit Hard by Trump Cuts
A survey published this week by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) reveals American museums to have been negatively affected by the Trump administration’s funding cuts aimed at the arts and cultur...
www.artforum.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:42 PM
We deplore the cuts imposed across the board on American cultural institutions. One potentially big problem is how these cuts affect research on the collections? In other words, do they interfere with museums' due diligence responsibilities?
www.artforum.com/news/report-...
www.artforum.com/news/report-...
"Every artist must take sides".
Agree?
Disagree?
Can artists remain neutral in the face of genocide? occupation? persecution? marginalization?
How should we assess the behavior of artists during the Nazi era, 1933-1945?
Should we view artists as "different"?
adk.de/programm/ver...
Agree?
Disagree?
Can artists remain neutral in the face of genocide? occupation? persecution? marginalization?
How should we assess the behavior of artists during the Nazi era, 1933-1945?
Should we view artists as "different"?
adk.de/programm/ver...
Every Artist Must Take Sides – Resonanzen von Eslanda und Paul Robeson
Die Ausstellung widmet sich dem Nachhall zweier Ausnahmepersönlichkeiten des 20. Jahrhunderts, deren politisches und künstlerisches Wirken Ausdruck eines…
adk.de
November 14, 2025 at 1:36 PM
"Every artist must take sides".
Agree?
Disagree?
Can artists remain neutral in the face of genocide? occupation? persecution? marginalization?
How should we assess the behavior of artists during the Nazi era, 1933-1945?
Should we view artists as "different"?
adk.de/programm/ver...
Agree?
Disagree?
Can artists remain neutral in the face of genocide? occupation? persecution? marginalization?
How should we assess the behavior of artists during the Nazi era, 1933-1945?
Should we view artists as "different"?
adk.de/programm/ver...
Obritsa Popa produced a study of egregious thefts of cultural treasures in Germany by US army personnel.
www.amazon.com/Bibliophiles...
www.amazon.com/Bibliophiles...
Bibliophiles and Bibliothieves: The Search for the Hildebrandslied and the Willehalm Codex (Schriften zum Kulturgüterschutz / Cultural Property Studies)
Amazon.com: Bibliophiles and Bibliothieves: The Search for the Hildebrandslied and the Willehalm Codex (Schriften zum Kulturgüterschutz / Cultural Property Studies): 9783110177305: Popa, Opritsa D., McConnell, Winder: Books
www.amazon.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Obritsa Popa produced a study of egregious thefts of cultural treasures in Germany by US army personnel.
www.amazon.com/Bibliophiles...
www.amazon.com/Bibliophiles...
French painting by Huet, purchased by Hildebrand Gurlitt for the Linz Museum, was stolen from the Führerbau in Munich (late April 1945) and ended up in Rodeo, California before being sent back to Munich (1949) and repatriated to France.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/gurl...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/gurl...
Gurlitt painting with a twist
Hildebrand Gurlitt "Landscape" by J. B. Huet by Marc Masurovsky During the German occupation of France, Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895-1956) was o...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:37 PM
French painting by Huet, purchased by Hildebrand Gurlitt for the Linz Museum, was stolen from the Führerbau in Munich (late April 1945) and ended up in Rodeo, California before being sent back to Munich (1949) and repatriated to France.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/gurl...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/gurl...
Back in 2017, we wrote this sobering piece about the new hand that we had been dealt. Is it still timely?
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-ne...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-ne...
A new era
by Marc Masurovsky As the transition in political and economic power unfolds in the United States, the world is apprehensive, wondering w...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Back in 2017, we wrote this sobering piece about the new hand that we had been dealt. Is it still timely?
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-ne...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-ne...
A Titian painting owned by a Czech citizen, removed from a safe in Paris during the German occupation, claimed by its pre-war owner, reverts back to France after the war.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/port...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/port...
"Portrait of Alfonso II d'Este and his secretary, Pistofilo," by Titian
Portrait of Alfonso II d'Este and his secretary, by Titian by Marc Masurovsky Josef Skvor was a Czech businessman born on 8 April 1888 in C...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:49 PM
A Titian painting owned by a Czech citizen, removed from a safe in Paris during the German occupation, claimed by its pre-war owner, reverts back to France after the war.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/port...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/port...
Typical example of US army thefts during the final onslaught against Germany in March-April 1945.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/thef...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/thef...
Theft at Dillingen an der Donau
by Marc Masurovsky Map of Dillingen an der Donau The final Allied military push against Nazi Germany unfolded in March 1945 when American tr...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Typical example of US army thefts during the final onslaught against Germany in March-April 1945.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/thef...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/thef...
"Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) recounts the postwar prosecution of judges who made their bed with Hitler. It chronicles the weaponization of the independent judicial branch by the State against dissent and "undesirables". A must-see. True then, true now.
www.britannica.com/topic/Judgme...
www.britannica.com/topic/Judgme...
Judgment at Nuremberg | Stanley Kramer’s 1961 Film | Britannica
Judgment at Nuremberg, American dramatic film, released in 1961, that was based on the post-World War II Nuremberg trials of former Nazi leaders. The film explores the complicity of the German people ...
www.britannica.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
"Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) recounts the postwar prosecution of judges who made their bed with Hitler. It chronicles the weaponization of the independent judicial branch by the State against dissent and "undesirables". A must-see. True then, true now.
www.britannica.com/topic/Judgme...
www.britannica.com/topic/Judgme...
Why does Rose Valland benefit from at least 14 books about her accomplishments while her hero, Ardelia Ripley Hall, has benefited from a single article by Victoria Reed of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts? Paltry treatment for the architect of US restitution.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2011/03/arde...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2011/03/arde...
Ardelia Hall
Ardelia Ripley Hall Ardelia Hall (1899-1979) is the quintessential personification of a one-woman campaign to track down looted art and r...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Why does Rose Valland benefit from at least 14 books about her accomplishments while her hero, Ardelia Ripley Hall, has benefited from a single article by Victoria Reed of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts? Paltry treatment for the architect of US restitution.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2011/03/arde...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2011/03/arde...
It would be nice if those who plundered Jewish victims between 1933 and 1945 would be ridden with the same scruples as this man who stole a skull from a church and returned it 60 years later. There's still time to atone and make someone else happy. It's free.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Austrian skull: 60 years after tourist stole it from a cathedral, he sent it back
"It's not something you expect," says Franz Zehetner, who opened the parcel addressed to Vienna's St Stephen's Cathedral.
www.bbc.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:31 PM
It would be nice if those who plundered Jewish victims between 1933 and 1945 would be ridden with the same scruples as this man who stole a skull from a church and returned it 60 years later. There's still time to atone and make someone else happy. It's free.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Rose Valland mania.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/rose...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/rose...
Rose Valland mania
by Marc Masurovsky Many books have been published about Rose Valland, the unsung French heroine of WWII in her quest to recover and protect ...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Rose Valland mania.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/rose...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/11/rose...
It takes a vision and lots of political will to break through historical barriers. Torie Reed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) achieved that singular feat through the restitution of pottery produced under enslavement. Pandora's box is open. No way to turn back.
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
MFA Boston Restitutes Two Ceramic Vessels to Descendants of Enslaved Artist David Drake
The MFA Boston has restituted two ceramic vessels to the descendants of enslaved artist David Drake, repurchasing one for its collection.
www.artnews.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:30 PM
It takes a vision and lots of political will to break through historical barriers. Torie Reed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) achieved that singular feat through the restitution of pottery produced under enslavement. Pandora's box is open. No way to turn back.
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
The Metropolitan Museum has a new problem in its hands--a van Gogh painting misappropriated in Nazi Germany during the 1930s. One name returns: Justin Thannhauser. His amoral approach to the art trade makes him an important actor in laundering Nazi looted art.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
The Met accused of selling van Gogh looted from Jewish family by Nazis
The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is being accused of selling a painting to a Greek foundation, knowing that the Nazis looted it from a Jewish family.
www.dailymail.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 4:20 PM
The Metropolitan Museum has a new problem in its hands--a van Gogh painting misappropriated in Nazi Germany during the 1930s. One name returns: Justin Thannhauser. His amoral approach to the art trade makes him an important actor in laundering Nazi looted art.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
New French film, "La Vente (Auction)", about the freak discovery of a missing Schiele painting in Eastern France and its restitution and sale at Christie's. Having been involved in the search for the painting, this film resonates for all the wrong reasons.
hyperallergic.com/1052954/pasc...
hyperallergic.com/1052954/pasc...
The True-ish Story of a Rediscovered Schiele Masterpiece
The new film Auction layers an awful lot of melodramatic meat on the skeleton of the facts to create its vision of the art world.
hyperallergic.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
New French film, "La Vente (Auction)", about the freak discovery of a missing Schiele painting in Eastern France and its restitution and sale at Christie's. Having been involved in the search for the painting, this film resonates for all the wrong reasons.
hyperallergic.com/1052954/pasc...
hyperallergic.com/1052954/pasc...
The German government returns to the heirs of Grete Klein a Waldmüller painting which Klein lost after the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938.
artdependence.com/articles/gem...
artdependence.com/articles/gem...
ArtDependence | Gemany returns Painting to Heirs of a Jewish Manufacturer
Gemany returns Painting to Heirs of a Jewish Manufacturer
artdependence.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The German government returns to the heirs of Grete Klein a Waldmüller painting which Klein lost after the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938.
artdependence.com/articles/gem...
artdependence.com/articles/gem...
In 1961, Rose Valland recounted her tribulations at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris during WWII and as a postwar French restitution officer. She defended French museums and France's cultural heritage. What about 2nd tier Jewish artists? www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/projects/the...
Monuments Men and Women Foundation I Support I The Art Front
"The Art Front" is the English translation of Rose Valland's memoirs "Le Front de l'Art." Monuments Woman Rose Valland worked under the watchful eyes of the Nazis during the four-year Occupation of Fr...
www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org
October 28, 2025 at 2:57 PM
In 1961, Rose Valland recounted her tribulations at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris during WWII and as a postwar French restitution officer. She defended French museums and France's cultural heritage. What about 2nd tier Jewish artists? www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/projects/the...
arranged marriage between SNCF and AAMD to defeat art restitution claims by pushing to repeal the HEAR Act.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/10/opin...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/10/opin...
Opinion: Arranged marriage between SNCF and AAMD against art restitution claims
by Marc Masurovsky In a news item published by “Tablet” on 21 October 2025 , the American museum association (AAMD) gained an unusual ally i...
plundered-art.blogspot.com
October 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM
arranged marriage between SNCF and AAMD to defeat art restitution claims by pushing to repeal the HEAR Act.
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/10/opin...
plundered-art.blogspot.com/2025/10/opin...
French railroads (SNCF) allied with American museums (AAMD) against claimants in the US seeking restitution of their lost art? Strange bedfellows who want to defeat the HEAR Act.
www.tabletmag.com/sections/new...
www.tabletmag.com/sections/new...
Still Covering Their Tracks - Tablet Magazine
France’s national railway carried Jews to death camps. Now it’s lobbying against Holocaust restitution.
www.tabletmag.com
October 26, 2025 at 2:37 AM
French railroads (SNCF) allied with American museums (AAMD) against claimants in the US seeking restitution of their lost art? Strange bedfellows who want to defeat the HEAR Act.
www.tabletmag.com/sections/new...
www.tabletmag.com/sections/new...
An interesting take on the Louvre heist.
hyperallergic.com/1051113/the-...
hyperallergic.com/1051113/the-...
The Louvre Heist Was a Colonial Wake-Up Call
The stunning theft reveals more than a failure of security: It lays bare how austerity, neglect, and unresolved colonial legacies continue to haunt the museum.
hyperallergic.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:52 PM
An interesting take on the Louvre heist.
hyperallergic.com/1051113/the-...
hyperallergic.com/1051113/the-...
The French government is proposing a more comprehensive approach to the restitution of forcibly displaced objects that have been incorporated into public collections. It's really about de-accession. The years are 1815-1972.
theconversation.com/restitutions...
theconversation.com/restitutions...
Restitutions du patrimoine culturel illicite : un nouveau projet de loi française pourrait changer la donne
Le projet de loi sur les restitutions du patrimoine culturel illicite devrait permettre à la France de se positionner à l’avant-garde du débat sur ce sujet.
theconversation.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
The French government is proposing a more comprehensive approach to the restitution of forcibly displaced objects that have been incorporated into public collections. It's really about de-accession. The years are 1815-1972.
theconversation.com/restitutions...
theconversation.com/restitutions...
"...the withdrawal by a nation from orderly trade relations with the rest of the world... leads to regimentation of all phases of national life, to the suppression of human rights, and all too frequently to preparations for war and provocative attitude toward other nations..." Cordell Hull, 11.01.38
October 17, 2025 at 8:46 PM
"...the withdrawal by a nation from orderly trade relations with the rest of the world... leads to regimentation of all phases of national life, to the suppression of human rights, and all too frequently to preparations for war and provocative attitude toward other nations..." Cordell Hull, 11.01.38
"I cannot prophesy the immediate economic effect of this new war on our Nation, but I do say that no American has the moral right to profiteer at the expense either of his fellow citizens or of the men, women, and children who are living and dying in the midst of war in Europe..." FDR, 3 Sep 1939
October 17, 2025 at 8:43 PM
"I cannot prophesy the immediate economic effect of this new war on our Nation, but I do say that no American has the moral right to profiteer at the expense either of his fellow citizens or of the men, women, and children who are living and dying in the midst of war in Europe..." FDR, 3 Sep 1939
Reposted by plundered art
After the defeat of Hitler, Allied officers entrusted Bavaria with about 10,600 works on belief that looted art would be returned to the heirs of those who were robbed by the Nazis.
Sadly, Bavaria gave many to Nazis.
Where are those artworks today?
www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/03/21/g...
#art #WWII
Sadly, Bavaria gave many to Nazis.
Where are those artworks today?
www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/03/21/g...
#art #WWII
German cathedral returns Nazi-looted Dutch Old Master to heirs
Dutch Square is one of many paintings Bavaria returned to the families of the looters instead of the original Jewish owners after the war
www.theartnewspaper.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:02 PM
After the defeat of Hitler, Allied officers entrusted Bavaria with about 10,600 works on belief that looted art would be returned to the heirs of those who were robbed by the Nazis.
Sadly, Bavaria gave many to Nazis.
Where are those artworks today?
www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/03/21/g...
#art #WWII
Sadly, Bavaria gave many to Nazis.
Where are those artworks today?
www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/03/21/g...
#art #WWII
How to get away with murder, or, how to dodge an indictment for crimes against humanity and die peacefully in bed? The case of Augusto Pinochet.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...
How to Get Away With Crimes Against Humanity
www.nytimes.com
October 11, 2025 at 1:42 AM
How to get away with murder, or, how to dodge an indictment for crimes against humanity and die peacefully in bed? The case of Augusto Pinochet.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/b...
Could this be a State-sanctioned Europe-wide theft (illicit repatriation) of rare books from the Russian literary canon for the benefit of Mother Russia? Anything is possible. All circumstantial signs point in that direction.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist
The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bi...
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Could this be a State-sanctioned Europe-wide theft (illicit repatriation) of rare books from the Russian literary canon for the benefit of Mother Russia? Anything is possible. All circumstantial signs point in that direction.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...