Some thoughts on Landscape with Smokestacks: The Case of the Allegedly Plundered Degas

When I first began thinking about how I might share my great-grandfather’s works with others, I focused on the paintings themselves. I hoped the subjects and scenes he painted would excite viewers. I longed for others to be inspired by the idea that his paintings captured a world and way of life destroyed in the Holocaust. People were almost always interested and generous with comments about his talent, but it never went much deeper and I was always left wondering how to better engage or enable emotional investment in the art. What I discovered is that people like a good tale, so they are particularly drawn to the behind-the-scenes stories regarding my relationships with museums and individuals who possess my great-grandfather’s paintings. The added context and layering of narrative draws people in much more than would just seeing works of art.

Although I am not an attorney, I am fascinated by the issues of Holocaust era art litigation. While I have spoken with attorneys and legal scholars about my own case, I have no personal experience in this area, because my [Read more…]

My journey, as well as my relationship to the work of my great grandfather, has followed a complicated and winding path.  Perhaps it is best described as a journey of many steps.  I first became interested in the story after the death of my grandfather in 1992.  While the memoir he left in the trunk of his car kindled a strong interest in my father’s and grandparents’ stories of survival, I was put off by my father and grandmother’s reticence to talk about the War years and my fear that questions would inflict too much pain on their psyche.  In part because I was frustrated in my desire for more details, I developed a broader interest in understanding the impact of the Holocaust on the “Second Generation,” the children of survivors.  The book, Children of the Holocaust: Conversations with Sons and Daughters of Survivors by Helen Epstein had a large impact on me.  Epstein, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, whose “secret quest,” was to “find a group of people who, like me, were possessed by a history they had never lived.  I wanted to ask them questions, so that I could reach the most elusive part of myself” made a lot of sense to me and had a powerful impact on me.  I had never met other children of survivors and the idea that we might share a similar background and understanding of the Holocaust was compelling.[Read more…]