Happy Art in Happier Times!

These wonderful posters can only remind one of "the good old days" of Mr. Hitler & Co., as of late I've been fascinated to the point of dread with NS-art, obviously not because I'm interested in the works themselves as one would be interested in Degas or Pissaro, neither disregarding altogether the possibility to discuss art, but more than anything because of the pivotal role which art played in the Nazi ideology, for which it became not just a means of "control" was it was in other forms of Totalitarianism and Fascism (particularly of the Soviet kind) where the "State" exercised massive measures of control on the artists and their work. In Nazi Germany art was one of the most important and distinguishable features, it constituted an end in itself. The wonderful art festival of Munich took place every year since 1937 until the very last year, in each ocassion the Führer's presence turned the event into a full-fledged carnival and the Volk received his "instruction" through his long and demagogic speeches on art and culture.

Regardless of its populistic nature and the inherent weakness of the core ideology, the cultivation of arts in the broader sense was thoroughly encouraged during the whole of the Third Reich's rather short but deadliest time span. Thousands of people joined the 3-days long carnival in Munich (where apparently support for Hitler was unfaltering) just very near the Concentration Camp of Dachau where the beautiful grandiose spectacle was rather different and much less colourful. Whereas the crowds of artists (architects as well) that built the "realist art" of the Nazi period (which was a counter-response to the so-called degenerate art represented by the Modernist and Expressionist artist which included in phrasing of the Nazis, Jews, Bolsheviks, mentally-ill and perverts) rejoiced in the praises of Hitler and his cronies, a young Dutch Jew got his fingers cut off one after the other by the nicest fellow at the Concentration Camp of Theresienstadt, because he attempted to draw scenes of the daily life at the camp. The flames of Auschwitz consumed at the time dozens if not hundreds of the finest minds of the time, artists, poets, writers, journalists, all of them "degenerate" somehow.

At the same time Jewish art collections were looted, confiscated and very often kept by the looters and thus a great deal of very valuable art disappeared into ignorami and also into private collections; those that haven't been traced to galleries remain unlocated to present day. Remarkable is the case of Maria Altmann, heir of the Austrian magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer who died in exile in Switzerland before the end of the war and bequested his fortune to three of his brother's children, among them Mrs. Altmann. The property changed hands a couple of times as the Nazis fled from Austria and the painting were expropriated by the National Gallery in Vienna. In 2006 after a few decades of failed attempts, the painting were returned to the heirs and shortly thereafter sold in auctions and the money divided into the many heirs.

At the same time that looted works of art from Jewish houses remain unlocated, exemplaries of the wonderful Nazi art are being marketed and freely sold through the internet, certainly not at the price of master pieces of art, what makes one cast some doubt on either the authenticity or the provenance of the aforementioned pieces. The dealing with, selling and purchasing of Nazi art and memorabilia doesn't seem to carry any punishment in North America and in most of Europe except for Austria and Germany, otherwise one could hardly explain the ease with which these items are being handled for sale, as though they were unique Barbie exemplars.

Yes, Adele is going. But this time, hopefully not to a Camp.