Friday, April 26, 2013

Family Art Being Tracked Through Multiple Decades

Although this article does not pertain directly to economic systems, it does draw parallels to our discussions on Germany's economy and the changes it has undergone since World War I. A family that was rushed out of Germany due to the Nazi regime had to relocate an art collection that included some of the pioneers of Modern art. Because of the Nazi onslaught, the Rosenberg family lost many highly collectable, noteworthy, and priceless (but very expensive in the art world) pieces of art.The family has been searching museums, art catalogs for works that belonged to their family's collection, and they have gone to great lengths to redeem their art property.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/arts/design/rosenberg-familys-quest-to-regain-art-stolen-by-nazis.html?hp&_r=0

2 comments:

Linh said...

the question is whether they are going to be able to reclaim the art works that once belonged to them once they are found. There is always a record of owners attached to each piece of art work but due to the war, and their leaving the country, it may be lost and if that's the case. How are they ever going to get the art works back?

Anonymous said...

I too find this situation very curious. Despite the seemingly impossible odds, the article mentioned that they still have been able to recover 340 of the roughly 400 pieces that were missing. It mentions that normally this would be contrary to the level of success that many in this situation would have, but for the celebrity around Paul Rosenberg as an art dealer, governments have been of assistance to the family. The fine line must be drawn though where governments resources to quickly resolve the problem versus allowing it to drag on and waste resources.