Coloado Yale Association Invites Harvardians to Talk on Recovery of Nazi-Looted Art

DU Professor Elizabeth Campbell Karlsgodt will talk about Nazi art looting and recovery following a cocktail reception on Thursday, January 30 at the University Club.

The Monuments Men | How Allied Soldiers Rescued Nazi-Looted Art
 
Thursday January 30, 2014
6:00 pm — Reception
6:45 pm —
Program starts
University Club, 1673 Sherman St., Denver
 
Presented by The Colorado Center for Literature and Art and The Colorado Yale Association
 
Elizabeth Campbell Karlsgodt is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Denver. Karlsgodt’s presentation will discuss Nazi art looting with a focus on the history behind the about-to-be released Hollywood movie The Monuments Men (directed and written by and starring George Clooney, with Cate Blanchett). The movie is about the true story of art experts who joined Allied forces to rescue European cultural heritage during World War II.
 
Karlsgodt’s first book, Defending National Treasures: French Art and Heritage under Vichy (Stanford University Press, 2011), examines French cultural policy during the Nazi occupation, including the Vichy regime’s reaction to German looting of Jewish art collections. Books will be available for purchase and signing.


In Defending National Treasures, Karlsgodt introduces the concept of patrimania to reveal examples of opportunism in art preservation. During the war, French officials sought to acquire coveted artwork from Jewish collections for the Louvre and other museums; in the early postwar years, they established a complicated guardianship over unclaimed art recovered from Germany. A cautionary tale for our own times, Defending National Treasures examines the ethical dimensions of museum acquisitions in the ongoing noble quest to preserve great works of art.
                                                       
She teaches courses in modern European and French history, from the French Revolution to present times. She is currently working on a second book focusing on the French government’s recovery of art that had been looted or sold under duress during the Occupation, comparing restitution practices in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In all three cases, the postwar governments held unclaimed works for display in state-run museums, setting the stage for controversy and litigation in the 1990s and ongoing cultural property disputes.
 
Tickets:
$10 if purchased by January 14
$15 after that date
Hors D’Oeuvres will be served, and cash bar.
 
 
For questions or to mail payment, contact Chris Citron at BookingDenver@msn.com
Catering deadline necessitates timely RSVPs!

Guests without Yale affiliation are definitely welcome!