COLLECTIBLES: Plundering Art

▪ 1996

      While the strategy and tactics of warfare changed significantly throughout the centuries in response to technological and cultural developments, one rule had remained constant—"To the victor belong the spoils." Though the acquisition of loot was no longer the primary motivation for engaging in warfare, the seizure of the cultural treasures of a conquered nation—whether by individual soldiers looking for trophies or as part of an officially sanctioned plan—remained a common occurrence during conflicts taking place in the 20th century. As events in 1995 demonstrated, the question of whether such plunder should remain with the captors or be returned to its original owners had yet to be satisfactorily resolved.

      During World War II both the Soviet and German armies employed special "trophy brigades," whose main purpose was to seize paintings, sculpture, and other cultural artifacts taken from conquered nations. The Germans, in keeping with the Nazi disdain for non-German culture, destroyed much of the art seized in the countries they overran. The Soviets, however, kept many of the cultural treasures that they had confiscated. An estimated 24,000 works of art from private collections were looted by German forces during World War II, and the defeat of Germany and its subsequent partition led to situations of Byzantine complexity. The Soviets seized art that the Nazis had stolen from occupied countries, for example, and then returned it to the East German government.

      In March 1995 an exhibition at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg captivated the attention of the art world. Entitled "Hidden Treasures Revealed," the exhibition featured 74 masterworks by such artists as Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, and Henri Matisse. These paintings had not been viewed publicly for more than 50 years and had been stored undisturbed since the end of World War II, when the Soviet army seized them from German museums and private collectors. Amazingly, the Hermitage's director, Mikhail Pyotrovsky—whose father had served as museum director for 26 years—had no knowledge of the paintings until 1991.

      The existence of some of the paintings was first revealed in 1993, when the Hermitage reached an agreement with the heirs of German collector Otto Gerstenberg, whose collection included the Degas masterpiece Place de la Concorde, one of the standouts of the Hermitage exhibit. The Hermitage agreed to return half of Gerstenberg's collection, including Place de la Concorde, to his heirs. The return of the art, however, was still contingent upon the approval of the Russian government, and many Russians felt that the collection should remain in Russia as reparation for the damage and suffering inflicted upon the Russian people in World War II and as a replacement for Russian art destroyed by the Germans during the war. At the end of 1995 the collection remained in Russian hands, and the controversy over the rightful ownership of plundered art was left unresolved. (JOHN H. MATHEWS)

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