Assistant Director
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pa.
Mcllhenny, Henry
Curator of Decorative Arts
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pa.
McMahon, A. Philip
Chairman
Fine Arts Department
Washington Square College
New York University
New York, N. Y.
Meeks, Everett V.
Dean
Yale School of the Fine Arts
New Haven, Conn.
Meiss, Millard
Professor
Columbia University
New York, N. Y.
Miner, Miss Dorothy E.
Librarian
Walters Gallery
Baltimore, Md.
More, Hermon
Curator
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, N. Y.
Morley, Dr. Grace McCann
Director
San Francisco Museum of Art
San Francisco, Calif.
Morse, John D.
Editor
Magazine of Art
New York, N. Y.
Myer, John Walden
Assistant Director
Museum of the City of New York
New York, N. Y.
Myers, George Hewitt
President
Textile Museum of the District of Columbia
Washington, D. C.
Nagel, Charles, Jr.
Director
The Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, N. Y.
O’Connor, John, Jr.
Assistant Director
Carnegie Institute
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Packard, Miss Elizabeth G.
Walters Gallery
Baltimore, Md.
Parker, Thomas C.
Director
American Federation of Arts
Washington, D. C.
Peat, Wilbur D.
Director
John Herron Art Institute
Indianapolis, Ind.
Phillips, John Marshall
Assistant Director and Curator of the Garvan Collections
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Conn.
Poland, Reginald
Director
Fine Arts Society of San Diego
San Diego, Calif.
Porter, Allen
Secretary
The Museum of Modern Art
New York, N. Y.
Porter, Vernon
Director
Riverside Museum
New York, N. Y.
Post, Chandler
Fogg Museum of Art
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.
Rathbone, Perry T.
Director
City Art Museum of St. Louis
St. Louis, Mo.
Reed, Henry Hope
New York, N. Y.
Rich, Daniel Catton
Director
The Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Ill.
Riefstahl, Mrs. Elizabeth
Librarian
Wilbour Egyptological Library
The Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Ritchie, Andrew C.
Director
Albright Art Gallery
Buffalo, N. Y.
Robinson, Professor David M.
Department of Art and Archaeology
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Md.
Ross, Marvin Chauncey
Curator of Medieval Art
Walters Gallery
Baltimore, Md.
Rowe, Margaret T. J.
Curator
Hobart Moore Memorial Collection
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Conn.
Saint-Gaudens, Homer
Director
Carnegie Institute
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Scholle, Hardinge
Director
Museum of the City of New York
New York, N.Y.
Setze, Josephine
Assistant Curator of American Art
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Conn.
Sexton, Eric
Camden, Me.
Shelley, Donald A.
Curator of Paintings
New York Historical Society
New York, N. Y.
Sizer, Theodore
Director
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Conn.
Slusser, Jean Paul
Professor of Painting and Drawing
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Smith, Professor E. Baldwin
Department of Art and Archaeology
Princeton University
Princeton, N. J.
Soby, James Thrall
New York, N. Y.
Spinden, Dr. Herbert J.
Curator
Indian Art and Primitive Cultures
The Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Sweeney, James Johnson
Director
Department of Painting and Sculpture
The Museum of Modern Art
New York, N. Y.
Sweet, Frederick
Associate Curator, Painting and Sculpture
The Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Ill.
Tee Van, John
Department of Tropical Research and Special Events
New York Zoological Park
Bronx, N. Y.
Vail, R. W. G.
Director
New York Historical Society
New York, N. Y.
Walker, Hudson D.
President
American Federation of Arts
New York, N.Y.
Wall, Alexander J.
New York Historical Society
New York, N. Y.
Washburn, Gordon
Director
Museum of Art
Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, R. I.
Weissman, Miss Polaire
Museum of Costume Art
New York, N. Y.
Wissler, Dr. Clark
American Museum of Natural History
New York, N. Y.
Wind, Edgar
Smith College
Northampton, Mass.
York, Lewis E.
Chairman
Department of Painting
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, Conn.
Zigrosser, Carl
Curator of Prints and Drawings
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pa.
Stoddard, Whitney S.
Assistant Professor of History and Art
Williams College
Williamstown, Mass.
Dr. Clapp and Mrs. Force subsequently announced that they had received
eight additional signatures which arrived too late to be affixed
to the original copy of the resolution. They included: Frances A.
Comstock, Donald Drew Egbert, Henry A. Judd, Sherley W. Morgan, Richard
Stillwell—all of Princeton University; Robert Tyler Davis, Portland
Museum, Portland, Maine; Frederick Hartt, Acting Director, Smith College
Museum of Art; and George Rowley, Princeton Museum of Historic Art.
STATEMENT BY THE AMERICAN COMMISSION FOR THE PROTECTION AND
SALVAGE OF ARTISTIC AND HISTORIC MONUMENTS IN WAR AREAS,
OWEN J. ROBERTS, CHAIRMAN.
National Gallery of Art, Washington 25, D. C.
WASHINGTON, May 14, 1946: The members of the Commission have
received copies of a resolution signed by Dr. Frederick M.
Clapp, Director of the Frick Collection; Mrs. Juliana Force,
Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and others
who criticize the action of the United States Government,
taken at the Direction of the President and the United States
Army Command in Germany, in bringing to this country certain
paintings from German museums for safekeeping until conditions
in Germany warrant their return. The Clapp resolution compares
the action taken by the United States Government to looting
operations carried on by the Nazis during the war.
The Commission has also noted the statements issued by the
White House on September 26, 1945, and by the War Department
on December 6, 1945, that the works of art of bona fide
German ownership, which may be brought to this country for
safekeeping, will be kept in trust for the German people and
will be returned to Germany when conditions there warrant.
The Commission has also noted the statement issued by the
late Chief Justice Stone, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the National Gallery of Art, on December 14, 1945, that
the Trustees of the National Gallery, at the request of the
Secretary of State, had agreed to arrange for the storage space
for such paintings as might be brought to this country by
the United States Army for safekeeping, and that he felt the
Army “deserved the highest praise for the care exercised in
salvaging these great works of art and in making provisions for
their safety until they can be returned to Germany.”
The Commission accepts without reservation the promise of the
United States Government, as voiced by its highest officials,
that the works of art belonging to German museums and brought
to this country for safekeeping, will be returned to Germany
when conditions there warrant.
The Commission is strongly of the opinion that the resolution
sponsored by Dr. Clapp, Mrs. Force, and others is without
justification and is to be deplored.
Hon. Owen J. Roberts, Chairman
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
David E. Finley, Vice Chairman
Director, National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
Huntington Cairns, Secretary
Secretary, National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
Dr. William Bell Dinsmoor
Columbia University, New York
Hon. Herbert H. Lehman
New York
Paul J. Sachs
Professor of Fine Arts, Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Francis Cardinal Spellman
Archbishop of New York
Francis Henry Taylor
Director, Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
The following letters were released on June 10, 1946:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
May 22, 1946
Dear Mrs. Force:
This is in acknowledgment of the letter to the President,
signed by yourself and Dr. Frederick M. Clapp, Director, The
Frick Collection, with which you enclosed a resolution signed
by ninety-five of your colleagues in connection with the two
hundred valuable paintings removed from Germany to this country
for safekeeping.
These paintings were removed to this country last year on the
basis of information to the effect that adequate facilities and
personnel to ensure their safekeeping did not exist in Germany.
Our military authorities did not feel that they could take the
responsibility of safeguarding them under such conditions and
it was therefore decided that they would have to be shipped to
this country until such time as they could safely be returned
to Germany. It was realized at the time that this action might
lead to criticism but it was taken, nevertheless, because it
was considered that the most important aspect was to safeguard
these priceless treasures. It was hoped that the President’s
pledge that they would be returned to Germany, contained in a
White House press release on September 26, 1945, would satisfy
those who might be critical of this Government’s motives.
I know of no plans to make any further shipments of art objects
from Germany to the United States nor of any plans for the
exhibition of the two hundred paintings now in this country.
While a definite date for the return of these pictures has not
as yet been set, I can assure you that this Government will
honor its pledge to effect their return as soon as conditions
warrant.
Very sincerely yours,
(signed) William D. Hassett
Secretary to the President.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Washington
May 22, 1946
My dear Mrs. Force and Dr. Clapp:
I have received your letter of May 9, 1946, and its enclosed
resolution, signed by 95 of your colleagues, urging the
President to order the immediate safe return to Germany of the
200 paintings which were brought to this country last year.
When these paintings were found by our forces in southern
Germany every effort was made to assure their preservation. It
soon became evident that adequate facilities and personnel to
ensure their safe keeping could not be guaranteed. Consequently
our military authorities, realizing the magnitude of their
responsibility in preserving these priceless treasures,
requested that they be relieved of this heavy responsibility
and that the paintings be shipped to this country where they
could be properly cared for. This Government reluctantly gave
its approval to this request, knowing that such action would
lead to criticism of its motives. The decision was taken
because there seemed no other way to ensure preservation of
these unique works of art. In order to dispel doubts as to the
reasons for this action the White House released a statement to
the press on September 26, 1945, which explained the situation
and included a pledge that the paintings would be returned to
their rightful owners. That pledge still holds good and while
a definite date for the return of the paintings to Germany has
not as yet been set, you may rest assured that this will be
done as soon as conditions warrant.
The resolution also recommended that plans to exhibit
these paintings in this country be cancelled and that
further shipments of German works of art to this country
be countermanded. I have never heard of any plans to make
additional shipments of works of art from Germany to the United
States nor do I know of any plans to exhibit the paintings
which are now in this country.
Sincerely yours,
For the Secretary of State:
(signed) Dean Acheson
Under Secretary.
Following are Dr. Clapp’s and Mrs. Force’s replies, also released on June
10:
June 3, 1946
My dear Mr. President:
Permit us to thank you for your kind attention to the
resolution, signed by us and ninety-five of our colleagues
prominent on the staffs of museums or experts in the history
and preservation of art, relative to the shipment to this
country of two hundred famous paintings formerly in the Kaiser
Friedrich and other museums of Berlin.
In addressing the resolution in question to you we felt that
we were following the time-honored American custom of bringing
to our government’s attention a consensus of opinion on the
part of those who have special practical familiarity with
old pictures and personal, sometimes long, acquaintance with
European history and culture in its emotional and intellectual
aspects.
Should you, in the course of events, undertake further
inquiries into the problem created by the shipment referred to
in our resolution, we shall be happy to be so informed.
Respectfully yours,
June 3, 1946
Dear Mr. Hassett:
In reply to your letter of the twenty-second permit us to say
that should the President make further inquiries into the
subject covered by our resolution with reference to two hundred
pictures selected chiefly from the collections of the Kaiser
Friedrich Museum and brought to this country, we should be
pleased to be kept informed.
We, and our ninety-five colleagues in museums and universities
who have had long experience with old paintings and are
interested in the history and preservation of works of art,
would also be glad to know when the pictures referred to are
returned to Germany since we are as yet uninformed whether the
conditions which are held not to warrant their return are of a
practical or a political nature.
This question obviously cannot but be uppermost in our minds
in view of the fact that present conditions in Germany are
apparently such as to warrant leaving there thousands of
German-owned works of art of great moment which belong not only
to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum but to the museums of other
cities in the American zone, including the great collection
of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where under satisfactory
conditions and auspices an exhibition of early German art,
including masterpieces by Dürer, Grünewald and others, is now
being held.
It is in fact one of our perplexities that we have never been
told why our officials discriminated against important pictures
and art objects (many times the number of those urgently
transported to this country for safekeeping) which were also
formerly in the Kaiser Friedrich and other museums, not
forgetting those which were in South German churches. Were they
just left to their fate?
If it were convenient at any time to pass on to the President
our continued anxieties on these important points we should be
happy to have you do so.
Sincerely yours,
June 3, 1946
Dear Mr. Acheson:
In reply to your letter of the twenty-second with reference to
our resolution supported by the signatures of ninety-five of
our colleagues prominent in museums or experts in the history
and preservation of old masters and other works of art, permit
us to say that, in the absence of Secretary Byrnes, we took the
liberty of sending you the resolution.
We are aware of the statement released by the White House on
September 26, 1945 explaining the situation and promising to
return the pictures to Germany when conditions there should
warrant such action. We are, however, still uninformed why the
unanimous advice of the monuments officers, who had special
training and technical knowledge not only of the conditions
required for the preservation of old masters but of the certain
dangers to which journeys subject them, was disregarded.
We have also never been told whether the conditions believed
to jeopardize the safety of these important pictures were of a
practical or of a political nature. Neither do we know why, out
of the great and extensive collections of the Kaiser Friedrich
only two hundred pictures were selected nor by whom the
selection was made. More serious still no official mention has
ever been made of the fact that there were in the possession
of the other museums of Berlin and other cities, including the
famous collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, as well as
in the churches of the American Zone, art objects and pictures
many times more numerous than the paintings actually brought
to this country for safekeeping. One cannot but ask: Were
satisfactory conditions found for them or were they merely left
to their fate?
These are questions that have given and still give rise to
rumors, unhappy conjectures and ambiguous interpretations which
we deplore. Unreasonably or otherwise the whole situation is
confused by implications that we feel will not be laid until
the pictures deposited in Washington have been sent back with
the least possible delay to their rightful owners on whom
devolves an unequivocable responsibility for their care and
preservation.
Sincerely yours,
FOOTNOTES
[1] E(insatzstab) R(eichsleiter) R(osenberg)—Reichsleiter meaning realm
leader. The Rosenberg Task Force was commonly referred to by these
initials.
[2] See article “German Paintings in the National Gallery: A Protest,”
by Charles L. Kuhn, in _College Art Journal_, January 1946. This and
subsequent references printed by permission.
[3] See article “German Paintings in the National Gallery: A Protest,” by
Charles L. Kuhn, in _College Art Journal_, January 1946.
[4] As printed by Kuhn in _College Art Journal_, January 1946, p. 81;
also in _Magazine of Art_, February 1946, and New York _Times_, February
7, 1946.
[5] See in this connection the statements released to the press by the
White House on September 26, 1945, and by the War Department on December
6, 1945. They are printed in _Magazine of Art_ for February, 1946.
[6] These letters are printed on pages 83 and 84 of _College Art Journal_
for January 1946; in _Magazine of Art_ for February 1946, and in the New
York _Times_ of February 7, 1946.
INDEX
INDEX
Aachen crown jewels, 119
Abbey of Monte Cassino, 152
Adams, Capt. Edward, 240
Adcock, Maj. Gen. C. L, 272
Administration Building, 64, 65
_Adoration of the Magi_, Master of the Holy Kinship, 206
_Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, The_, van Eyck, 144, 146, 243, 291.
_See also_ Ghent altarpiece
_Adulteress, The_, _see_ “Vermeer” fake
Akhnaton, 287
Allen, Maj., 125
Allied air attacks over Germany, 48
Allied Forces, 274
Allied Group Control Council for Germany, 15, 49
Almanach de Gotha, 27
Almelo, 195
“Alpine Specials,” 161
Alt Aussee, evacuation of pictures at, 130-170;
last ten days at, 171_ff._;
other trips to, 178, 258;
Goudstikker pictures, 267;
mentioned, 58, 107, 118, 177, 184, 186, 192, 202, 204, 210, 213,
217, 225
Alt Aussee mine, evacuation of pictures, 65, 130-170, 240, 254,
269, 271, 277;
team arrives, 128;
mentioned, 176, 207, 244, 251
Altdorfer, Albrecht, 161
Altdorfer panels, 162, 165
Alte Pinakothek, 255
Alte Post, 237
Amalienburg, 215
American Embassy, London, 20
American Embassy, Paris, 265
American Fine Arts program, 235
American Military Government (AMG), 195, 259, 292
American Occupied Zone, 196, 243, 246, 260, 262, 268, 272, 275, 282,
291, 292, 293
Amsterdam, 149, 154, 257, 259, 261, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270
Anderson, Lt. George, 84, 85, 86, 102, 112, 190
Anderson, Maj. Harry, 180, 187, 188, 189, 190, 192, 222, 225
Angerer, ⸺, 219
_Annunciation_, Lippi, 152
Annunzio, Gabriele d’, 64
_Arabian Nights, The_, 20
Archival Collecting Point, Oberammergau, 282
Army Engineers, 38, 148
Army Museum at Prague, 271
Army redeployment program, 282
Arnhem, 266
Arnold, Gen. H. H., 191
_Artist’s Sister_, Rembrandt, 194
“Art Objects in the U. S. Zone,” 230
Aschaffenburg, Germany, 48
ATC, 18
Austria, 59, 62, 193, 236, 251
Austrian collections, 173
Austrian Government, 253
Autobahn, 31, 46, 71, 72, 76, 81, 83, 102, 109, 111, 203, 213, 214,
236
Azores, 16
Bad Aussee, 128, 131, 158, 181
Bad Brückenau, 40, 41, 42, 46
Baden-Baden, 242
Bad Homburg, 28, 29, 32, 54, 139, 231, 258
Bad Ischl, 128, 131, 147, 161, 162, 165, 187
Bad Nauheim, 285
Bad Reichenhall, 81
Bad Tölz, 214
Baillie-Grohman, Vice-Adm., 109
Bamberg, 247, 248, 250, 271, 282
Barbarossa, Frederick, 116
Barbizon, 49
Barboza, Lt., 158, 187
Barrett, Elizabeth, 19
Battle of Jutland, 120
Bauhaus, Dessau, 35
Bavaria, 24, 32, 33, 52, 55, 127, 193, 214, 237, 246, 247, 250, 269
“Bavarian Bible,” 214
Bavarian State Collections, 276
Bavarian State Galleries, 294
Bavarian State Museums, 146
_Bearded Old Man_, Rembrandt, 194
Belgium, 145, 153, 243, 255, 256, 261, 291, 293
Bellegambe, Jean, 207
Bellotto, ⸺, 251
Berchtesgaden, Frau Hofer at, 133;
transfer to, 168, 175, 176, 178, 179, 183, 185, 187;
operations at, 187-226;
mentioned, 81, 180
Berchtesgadener Hof, 188, 222
Berghof, Berchtesgaden, 146, 192, 222
Berlin, 146, 148, 154, 190, 229, 259, 260, 261, 262, 273, 278, 281,
287, 291
Berlin Gallery, 255
Berlin Museum, 50, 119, 145, 261, 286
Berlin Patent Office, 50
Berlin Print Room, 50
Berlin Reichsbank, 147
Berlin state museums, 32, 234, 246, 294
Berlitz School, 74
Bernterode, 119, 137
Beuningen, Van, Rotterdam collector, 200
Biblioteca Herziana, 150
Biddle, Col. Anthony, 261, 268
Big 3 Conference, 1945, 230
Birdcage Walk, 21
Black, Col. Ira W., 268
_Blind Leading the Blind_, Breughel, 152
Blyth, Capt., 61
Bohemia, 100
Bois, the, 21
Bomb Disposal Unit, 216
Bonaparte, Pauline, 93
Bonn, 118
Bonnard, M., 146
Bonney, Miss ⸺, 21, 22
Borchardt, Dr. Ludwig, 287
Bordone, Paris, 166
Bormann, Martin, 155, 192
Boucher, François, 133, 163, 164
Boucher panels, 197
Bouillon, Godefroy de, 116
Bouts, Dirk, 255
Bovingdon, England, 19
Boymans Museum, Rotterdam, 199, 200, 202
Braun Haus, 64
Brecker, Maj., 96
Bredius, Dr., 199, 200
Breitenbach, Edgar, 281
Bremen, 279
Brenner Pass, 109
Breslau, 254
Brest, France, 17
Breughel, Pieter, 24, 150, 168
Brienner-Strasse, 63, 71, 258
Brigade Headquarters, 203, 219, 225
British Zone, 266, 282
Brixlegg, 109
Brooklyn Museum, 232
Brown, John Nicholas, 49, 106, 108, 121, 262
Browning, Robert, 19
Bruges, 149, 255
Bruges, Bishop of, 143
Brussels, 244, 256, 261
Brye, Capt. Hubert de, 240, 256
Buchman, Lt. Julius, 35, 37, 38, 40, 53
Büchner, Dr. Ernst, 146
Buckingham Palace, 21
Budapest Museum, 68, 73
Budweis, 113
Buffalo Museum, 251
Buxheim, 215
Cairo Museum, 287
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 15, 166
Calvados, 77
Cambridge, Mass., 50
Cambridge University, 18, 25
Canada, 270
Canadians, 266
Canova, 93
Caravaggio, 143
Carolinen Platz, 63
Carthusian Monastery, Buxheim, 215
Casino at Frankfurt, 235
Cassidy, ⸺, 266, 267, 268, 270, 271
Castle at Posen, 151
Castle of Neuschwanstein, _see_ Schloss Neuschwanstein
Cathedral at Cologne, 119
Cathedral of Metz, 27, 233
Cathedral of St. Bavon, Ghent, 145
Central Collecting Point, Frankfurt, 247, 248
Central Collecting Point, Marburg, 276, 282, 292, 293
Central Collecting Point, Munich, 77, 127, 196, 207, 214, 216, 220,
222, 227, 231, 236, 244, 245, 251, 256, 258, 261, 271, 276,
282, 292, 293
Central Collecting Point, Wiesbaden, 275, 276, 277, 278, 282, 286,
292, 293
“C.G.R.,” _see_ Dutch Restitution Commission
Chamberlain, Neville, 65
Champs Élysées, 18
Channel Islands, 16
Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, 143
Chardin, Jean Baptiste Siméon, 245
Château of Pau, 145
“Chicken,” 57-58
Chiemsee, 81, 126, 179
Chiemsee Lake, Bavaria, 72
Chinesisches Kabinett from Schönbrunn, 144
_Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery_, Vermeer, 198
_Christ Appearing to Mary_, Master of the Holy Kinship, 206
_Christ at Emmaus_, Vermeer, 199, 200, 201
Church of Notre Dame, 143
Church of St. Mary, Cracow, 252
Church of St. Pierre, 255
Church of Santa Maria im Kapitol, 119
“CIC boys,” 221
City Detachment, Wiesbaden, 286
City Detachments, 284
Clark, Gen. Mark, 59, 169, 176, 186
“Class C” works of art, 230
Clay, Gen. Lucius D., 230, 262, 273, 275, 281
Coburg, 248, 249, 250, 251
Coburg Detachment, 249
Coin Room, _see_ Münz Kabinett
_College Art Journal_, 230, 262, 274_n._
Cologne, 233, 266
Cologne school, 206
_Commission de Récupération Artistique_, 196, 264, 266
_Commission de Récupération Générale_, 196
Conrad, Emperor, 252
_Cook, The_, Chardin, 234
Copper mine, Westphalia, 118
Coremans, Dr. Paul, 256
Coulter, Hamilton, rehabilitation of Verwaltungsbau, 64;
described, 66-67;
Rothschild jewels, 177;
“Bavarian Bible,” 214;
accompanies token restitution to Paris, 245-246;
rehabilitation of Führerbau, 256;
transports panels from Munich, 271;
mentioned, 68, 106, 127
Courbet landscapes, 198
Coypel painting, 205
Cracow, 254
Cracow, Archbishop of, 263
Cracow, altarpiece, 252
Cracow, tapestries, 151
Cranach, Lucas, 182, 235
Cranachs, the, 202
C rations, 79, 126
Crosby, Sumner, 20
“Crown of Charlemagne,” 252
Crown of St. Stephen, 287
_Crucifixion_, Bellegambe, 206
_Crucifixion_, Van Dyck, 152
Crusaders’ Hall, 115
Csanky, Dr., 73, 74, 75, 76
Csanky, (son of Dr.), 74