Tea at Trianon: Nazi Sculptures

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Nazi Sculptures

From DW:

The Spandau Citadel in Berlin has added two Nazi-era sculptures to its permanent collection of vintage monuments. Nazi artist Josef Thorak created the two "Striding Horses" (known in German as "Schreitende Pferde") for Adolf Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Both sculptures are in need of restoration. One of them has already been placed in the permanent exhibition, where visitors can view the statue and witness the restoration process firsthand.

Commissioned by Hitler at the height of his power, the colossal twin "Striding Horses" had stood in the garden of Hitler's seat of government from 1939 to 1943. They were part of the thousands of bronze works crafted for the Nazi regime in its quest to transform Berlin into the imperial global capital of "Germania."

Josef Thorak was born in Vienna on February 7, 1889 and attended the Vienna Art Academy, eventually moving on to the Berlin Art Academy in 1915. After his studies he established himself as a sculptor of monumental works such as the 4-meter-high (13-foot) gable figure for the Reichsbank building in the western German city of Buer. His style secured him numerous government commissions, and he became known internationally when he worked on, among others, the Security Monument in Ankara, Turkey, in 1934. (Read more.)

A lost Munch painting, hidden by Nazis in the barn. From Artnet:

A 13-foot-long painting by Edvard Munch that survived World War 2 is set to hit the auction block on March 1 at Sotheby’s modern and contemporary art evening sale in London, with a presale estimate of between £12 million to £20 million ($15 million to $25 million). Dance on the Beach was hidden in a barn from the Nazis alongside a version of The Scream, and it has been 89 years since the work last appeared in the market.

The sale of the storied painting was made possible thanks to a restitution settlement agreement between heirs of the artist’s friend, Thomas Olsen, a Norwegian shipping businessman, and heirs of a patron, Curt Glaser, an art historian who was the owner of the painting from 1912 until 1933. When he had to flee the Nazis, Glaser was forced to sell the work, which was then acquired by Olsen in 1934; it has been in the family’s collection since then. It is understood that sale proceeds will be divided by the two families. Both Glaser and Olsen had personal relations with Munch at the time, and the artist painted their wives, Elsa Glaser and Henrietta Olsen.

The journey of Dance on the Beach follows a similar trajectory of Summer Day or Embrace on the Beach (The Linde Frieze), which also changed hands from Glaser to Olsen over the course of history. It sold for more than $22 million (including fees) in a 2021 Sotheby’s sale in London. Currently, Munch’s auction record stands at $119.9 million, which was achieved in 2012 at a Sotheby’s New York auction for the sale of The Scream, a pastel on board from 1895, to American financier Leon Black. It was sold by Petter Olsen, Thomas Olsen’s son. (Read more.)