Late medieval Persian or
Mughal textile canopy, woven with silk and metallic threads, 7
by 9 feet. Princes Czartoryski Foundation Museum, Krakow,
Poland.
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. - The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(LACMA) has returned a late medieval Persian or Mughal textile
canopy from its collection to the Princes Czartoryski Foundation
Museum in Krakow, Poland. After extensive research, LACMA
confirmed that the piece was seized by the Nazis in 1941 from the
collection of the late Princess Maria Ludwika Czartoryska.
LACMA president and director Andrea Rich presented the textile to
Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk, Consul General of the Republic of Poland
in Los Angeles, on behalf of Prince Adam Czartoryski, Princess
Maria Ludwika's grandson, at a ceremony at LACMA on March 6.
The piece entered LACMA's collection in 1971 through a purchase
from a respected Los Angeles textile dealer. It was not until
January 2001 that it was brought to the museum's attention that
the piece may have been looted by the Nazis during World War II.
Within just over one year, LACMA has effectively completed the
process of researching and verifying the claim and repatriating
the work.
"We are proud to have the opportunity to return this work to the
Princes Czartoryski Foundation in Poland," said Rich. "I would
like to thank the government of Poland, and in particular the
Polish Foreign Ministry and the Consul General in Los Angeles,
Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk, for their generous assistance and
cooperation in facilitating the return of this artwork. LACMA is
fully committed to returning confiscated works of art where
claims are substantiated. We do this not only because it is
professionally responsible, but also because it is morally and
ethically the right thing to do."
"I salute LACMA for its efforts to return this valuable piece of
art to my home country of Poland, which suffered during World War
II, tremendous loss of life as well as near devastation of its
culture and national heritage," said Consul General Kasprzyk. "We
are delighted that the canopy will once again be proudly
displayed at the Princes Czartoryski Foundation Museum in
Krakow."
The seven-by-nine-foot woven textile features depictions of an
ancient prince surrounded by angels, birds, animals and winged
men bearing gifts. It was originally used as a canopy to
designate the importance of the person seated beneath it.
The canopy was a treasured possession of Princess Maria Ludwika,
who placed it on deposit in the Princes Czartoryski Museum in
1931. Seized by the Nazis in 1939, the piece was returned to the
princess in 1940 only to be seized again in 1941 and taken to
Germany in 1944.
"The restitution of the Czartoryski textile underscores the
importance of provenance research by museums and collectors
worldwide," said Rich. "LACMA stands at the forefront of American
and European museums researching the history of ownership of
works in our collection and developing a clear and concise legal
process for responding to claims. The Czartoryski request is the
only official claim made to date for a piece in the museum's
collection." Both the research and the claim process have been
made available to a wide public through the museum's Web site.
Provenance Research At LACMA
LACMA's work in the area of provenance research began nearly
three years ago with a comprehensive study of its European
painting collection, particularly works created before 1945 and
that changed hands between 1933 and 1953. In 2000 LACMA hired Amy
Walsh, a respected scholar in the field, to work full-time on
provenance research issues at the museum.
The museum established a process for registering claims through
the office of the museum's general counsel and made that process
public on the LACMA Web site. Ongoing provenance research is
underway on other areas of LACMA's permanent collection that were
particularly susceptible to Nazi-era looting, such as sculpture
and drawings created before 1945.
History Of The Czartoryski Textile
Detail of canopy.
The late medieval Persian or Mughal textile, a light-weight
tapestry composed of silk and metallic threads, was deposited by
the Prince and Princess Czartoryski at the Princes Czartoryski
Museum in Krakow, Poland, in September 1931. The piece remained
at the museum until the summer of 1939, when it and other
treasures from the museum were secretly taken out of the city and
hidden from the German army behind a fake wall at Sieniawa Palace
outside Krakow.
In mid-September, German soldiers discovered the cache of
treasures and looted the jewels, coins and other easily
transportable objects, leaving behind many of the most valuable
objects including Leonardo da Vinci's "Lady with the Ermine," a
portrait by Raphael, and a landscape by Rembrandt van Rijn. The
lovely textile was also among the objects left behind and
inventoried at Sieniawa in October 1939 before being seized by
Nazi officials and transported to their depot at the Jagiellonian
Library in Krakow.
Petitions made to the Nazis on behalf of the Princess Czartoryska
to exempt her collections from seizure were initially successful.
In the summer of 1940 the majority of the collection from her
palace at Goluchow was returned to the museum and subsequently
sent to her in Warsaw. The textile, which she particularly
prized, is specifically mentioned in the accompanying documents.
In December 1941, the Germans discovered the hiding place beneath
the gate of Princess Maria Ludwika's palace in Warsaw, where she
had hidden 17 crates containing the most prized objects from her
collection. The crates were transported to the National Museum of
Warsaw, under the control of the Nazis. They remained there until
October 1944, when they were moved to Germany by the German SS.
Objects removed from Poland were stored in various castles in
Lower Silesia, Austria and Germany. As Allied troops began
advancing, they were moved several times by the Nazis. With each
move, however, some objects were left behind, lost or pilfered.
At the end of the war, the Allies took objects seized by the
Germans to Central Collecting Points, where they were inventoried
and returned to their presumed country of origin. Although most
of the Czartoryski Collection was ultimately returned, the
textile did not appear on any restitution list.
All trace of the textile canopy was lost until 1970 when it was
sold at auction in London by the foundation of Hagop Kevorkian, a
noted archaeologist, dealer and collector. The auction catalogue
included no information on the piece's provenance. Recent
investigation has found no records kept by Kevorkian of where he
acquired the textile.
LACMA purchased the piece in 1971 from Los Angeles textile dealer
Kay Robertson, whose father, a respected dealer in Munich, had
purchased it at the 1970 sale. In 1971 neither the dealer nor
LACMA had reason to believe the piece had been looted by the
Nazis because in the intervening 29 years between 1941 and 1970,
millions of artworks had been legally sold in Europe.
In January 2001 a London-based art dealer and member of the
Czartoryski Foundation's Board of Trustees informally asked his
friend and LACMA curator of European paintings and sculpture
Patrice Marandel about a textile looted from the Czartoryski
Foundation during World War II that the Foundation believed may
have been in LACMA's permanent collection.
The curator forwarded the request to LACMA's Costume and Textiles
department for research. The department found that, indeed, a
piece that matched the description existed in the museum's
collection and immediately notified the Czartoryski Foundation.
After reviewing photos and additional documentation of the piece,
the consul General of Poland in Los Angeles, on behalf of the
Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Princes Czartoryski
Foundation Museum, met with LACMA president and director Andrea
Rich to begin a comprehensive process to determine if the
tapestry was in fact the same piece.
Beginning with new information on the piece from the claim, Amy
Walsh undertook an extensive study of the facts surrounding the
textile. After several months of research, LACMA determined the
claim to be valid and began the process to return the piece to
the Czartoryski Foundation.
The recommendation to repatriate the piece was reviewed by the
LACMA Board of Trustees' Audit and Collections committee and, on
February 6, a full Board of Trustees unanimously approved the
return of the tapestry to the Princes Czartoryski Foundation
Museum in Krakow, Poland.
Only 37 years old as an independent institution, the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art has assembled a collection of approximately
100,000 works from around the world, spanning the history of art
from ancient times to the present. Through its far-reaching
collections and extensive public programming, the museum is both
a resource to and a reflection of the many cultural communities
and heritages in Southern California.
The museum is at 5905 Wilshire Boulevard. For information,
323-857-6000.
