Nazi Looting and World War II

The Art of the Steal: Nazi looting during World War II

The Nazis looted over 20% of Western Art during World War II, confiscating art from Jewish families and emptying museums throughout Europe. This lecture will provide an overview of Nazi looting by setting the scene in Nazi Germany, discussing Hitler’s obsession with art and how the Monuments Men recovered art after the war. Several landmark cases will be discussed in detail, including Gustav Klimt’s celebrated Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer and the stash of over 1200 artworks found in possession of the son of a notorious Nazi dealer.

The Inside Stories: the real stories behind the most intriguing cases of Nazi looted art

Each artwork tells its own story. This lecture will look at several famous works of art that were looted by the Nazis and discuss their incredible journeys from their pre-wartime owners to their current locations. Examples of artworks that we will examine include Lucas Cranach’s Cupid Complaining to Venus and Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, which was once owned by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. We will discuss what makes these works so intriguing and why the thefts still resonate today.

Making Britain Modern: Émigré art dealers who transformed the Post War British art world

Émigré dealers who fled Nazi Europe transformed the British art world by introducing innovative new art to Great Britain. Modern European artists such as Picasso, Klimt and Kandinsky shook up the British art establishment with their exciting new concepts. These dealers were also at the forefront of discovering revolutionary 20th century British artists including Francis Bacon and Henry Moore.

Making a killing: Nazi Looted Art and the Art Market 

The art market is big business. There is an intense interest in Nazi Looted Art from the art market for two reasons: reputable dealers and auction houses don't want to sell objects with bad titles and many museum quality objects that weren't available are now surfacing on the market thanks to their return to their prewar owners. This lecture will examine how the art market deals with art that was looted by the Nazis and look at some of the famous looted artworks that have been sold recently.

The Nazi War on Modern Art

The Nazis used propaganda to show that particular artists contributed to the decline of German culture and staged an exhibition of what they dubbed ‘Degenerate Art’. Some of the artists featured at this exhibit included modern masters such as Emil Nolde, Oskar Kokoshka and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. This lecture will examine the art world in Nazi Germany and the motivations behind the National Socialist movement to rid Germany of Modern Art.

Past Imperfect:  Why World War II art looting is still an issue today

This lecture will examine the effects on Nazi looting during World War II. We will look at this from the perspective of museums, art exhibits, the art market and the families who had their treasures taken from them. This will include in-depth examination of landmark restitution cases.

Art in Europe between the Wars

The era from 1918– 1939 was a time of contradictions in art. This age birth to the modern thinkers in the Weimar period in Germany, but in France, many contemporary artists shunned modernism and called for a ‘Return to Oder’. This lecture will examine how the time between the First and Second World Wars affected artists in different parts of Europe and what this meant moving forward.

Art Theft and Forgeries

How to Steal a Million

We have all heard about audacious art heists that are more like blockbuster movies than run-of-the-mill burglaries. This lecture will be a rollicking adventure, where we look at famous art thefts, discuss what motivates art thieves and examine what aspects the thefts have in common. We will also look at where the burglars made mistakes, which enabled investigators to swoop in and recover stolen masterpieces. In many cases, the police sting operations were just as daring as the thefts.

Museum of the Missing

A museum made up of all the stolen artworks that remain missing would house the most valuable collection ever known. This lecture looks at missing masterpieces such as Raphael’s Portrait of a Young Man, Vermeer’s The Concert, and the missing panel from the Ghent Altarpiece. The lecture will examine how these works were taken and the impact that the thefts have on society.

Stolen Masterpieces

Stolen Masterpieces looks at famous works of art that have been stolen, such as Johannes Vermeer’s The Guitar Player and the masterpieces that were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston – a case which still remains unsolved today. This lecture examines the motives behind the thefts and what happens to the aura of the masterpieces after they’ve been stolen and returned.

The Inside Stories: the real stories behind the most intriguing cases of stolen art

This lecture will examine the most famous works of art that were stolen, what makes the thefts so intriguing, and discuss whether the notoriety of being a stolen work of art increases or decreases the value of the work. Some examples of stolen art that we will discuss include Edvard Munch’s The Scream and the most famous artwork of all time – Leonardo’s da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Fake it till you make it: Forgeries and the Art Market

This lecture examines some of the most notorious art forgeries in recent years. We will look at what museums, auction houses and dealers do to counter forgeries and the impact it has on the art market. We will also examine what law enforcement has been doing to recognise fakes and focus on how advances in technology are being used to determine the authenticity of an artwork.

Artists and Dealers

Klimt and Schiele: The bad boys of Austrian art

Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele had profound influences on the Viennese culture and they are considered Austrian national treasures. This lecture will delve into the backgrounds of both artists, how they influenced each other, and examine how their paintings scandalised Viennese society. We will look at what made their art so radical and why they remain celebrated artists today.

The Forgotten Influence: Female Dealers and Modern Art

Although a rare breed, female art dealers in the early 20th century were a fierce lot. Many of these dealers were responsible for discovering and nurturing modern arts such as Francis Bacon and Richard Dibenkorn. However, it was their male counterparts that received the accolades. This lecture will look at female dealers in Europe and America and the significant, but overlooked role that they played in ushering in Modern Art.

Britain Modern: Émigré art dealers who transformed the Post War British art world

Émigré dealers who fled Nazi Europe transformed the British art world by introducing innovative new art to Great Britain. Modern European artists such as Picasso, Klimt and Kokoschka shook up the British art establishment with their exciting new concepts. These dealers were also at the forefront of discovering revolutionary 20th century British artists including Francis Bacon and Henry Moore. (swirling Kokoschka image).

The Artist and Dealer in the 20th Century: A necessary relationship

This lecture will examine both the celebrated and antagonistic relationships between artists and their dealers. It will look at some of the most famous partnerships in the 20th century, including Daniel-Henry Khanweiler and Picasso, Alfred Steiglitz and Georgia O’Keefe and Berthe Weill and Amedeo Modigliani. We will also examine the role of female dealers and why so few of them have received proper recognition.