Yesterday I went to see the Woman in Gold. The film about Maria Altmann’s battle with the Austrian government for the return of her family’s painting: Gustav Klimt’s, The Lady in Gold. I loved the movie because I am so deeply entrenched in the issue of Holocaust era art looting and restitution issues!
One moment that particularly stood out for me in the film is when Altmann (played by Helen Mirren) enters the room at the Belvedere museum to see the Lady in Gold hanging on the wall. It’s a moment of reunion, but also of sweet sorrow because of course she doesn’t leave with the painting. I had my own moment like that when I visited the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and saw 52 of my great-grandfather’s paintings in their possession.
I love these three photos. The first is from the Woman in Gold film. The other two are of me! In the first one I am standing in front of a Rynecki painting in the exhibit at the museum. The other is standing in front of the painting and giving an impromptu presentation to visiting Americans about my great-grandfather’s painting and my documentary film project, Chasing Portraits.
If you haven’t already had a chance to view my new trailer and Kickstarter campaign, please check it out, and help fund it if you can.
