Welcome back to UKRG Culture Club! Every few months we will be looking
at how Registrars, and the issues we face, influence and are portrayed in
popular culture. A registrar’s role, as we all know, has many different guises
– the issues we face are commonly reported in the news and media, and find
their way into popular culture. This blog will be reviewing exhibitions that
catch our eye and reporting on how registration issues are highlighted in pop
culture, through literature, film, music and beyond.
UKRG Committee would
love to hear from you! Please send your own UKRG Culture Club reviews to Becca
England, Supporting Officer r.england@dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk.
Now, if
you fancy curling up with a DVD this January, you might have thought about
having a look at George Clooney’s The Monuments Men. Becca England tells us more.
Dad’s Army meets Show
me the Monet?
The reviews of The Monuments Men were not particularly kind
when they came out, but I wondered if perhaps the repatriation of stolen artwork just wasn’t sexy
enough for the British media. Unfortunately, upon watching I realised that this
film is drier than a de-humidifier.
The film follows the story of seven brave curators,
conservators, architects and academics that were gathered together to ensure
the artwork looted by the Nazis ended up in safe hands (with the Allies). By ’44, the horrendous looting
of (predominantly) Jewish collections had become public knowledge, with Hitler
planning to display the very best of the haul at his planned Führer Museum in
Linz, Austria. As the German army weakened the fear was that the collections would
be destroyed when the Third Reich fell, or fall into Russian hands. The gang,
with minimal military training, had the daunting task of locating the
collections around Europe and ensuring they were recovered. The men managed to
save hundreds of thousands of artworks by locating the stashes in salt mines and private homes. Unfortunately, much of the artwork was burnt as the German army fell, with many
artworks lost forever. Most of us are also familiar with the vast amount of art
that never made it back to its rightful owners, with many cases active today.
 |
| Photocall at The National Gallery, London with the cast of the film and real-life Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger |
The peril these brave characters experienced was astonishing;
with two soldiers giving their lives to the mission. In real-life however, one
brave soldier perished on the mission, being hit by a shell while rescuing a
damaged altarpiece. I googled this fact, and discovered that
only about 80% of the story was actually based on truth. Here’s a wonderful quote from Gorgeous George, Director:
“Almost all of the
scenes happened. Sometimes they happened with other characters...But that’s
moviemaking. We’re not killing Hitler in a movie theater... We’re landing at
the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. We’re not landing there when it was
convenient for us to land there. We follow all the rules, we just made the
characters more interesting, I think. Not that the real people weren’t
interesting. It’s just that, you know...”
Hmm... truth not that interesting, eh George?
The film itself looks like a big-budget Dad’s Army. The tone
for the movie was off for me – this film is neither funny nor serious. It is sanctimonious
though, with Clooney delivering three speeches about the importance of
preserving art for future generations. Registrars
don’t need to be reminded of that, we care for art for future generations on a
daily basis. However, the film did resonate with me following the recent
bombing of the Temple of Baalshamin at the ancient ruins of Palmyra in Syria.
The truth is that without the bravery of experts during wartime; artworks and
monuments are lost forever. The British Museum’s exhibition in 2011 Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World
was a vivid shock to me. At first I felt a little cheated that I had paid to
see an exhibition with so little in it... and then I realised that this was all
that was left.
My summary would be that this film tells an important story,
but would have been better as a documentary told through real life interview, photographs
and footage. Perhaps on BBC4. Narrated by Matt Damon.
A much better
alternative
The good news is that... there is a fantastic documentary
about this very subject! The Rape of Europa is a fascinating documentary
exploring not only the discovery by the Allies of the looted art, but also
looking at current claims to artworks and how they are being reunited with
their rightful owners over 70 years later. Well worth a watch!
