Example A
During the Holocaust many pieces of art were stolen from the Jewish people by the Nazi party. One of these paintings is known as The Women in Gold. The painting was originally known as Adele Bloch-Bauer, but the Nazi’s changed the name so it could be displayed (Stamberg, n.p.). In changing the name they in essence stripped the painting of its Jewish identity just so they could excuse the fact they wanted to hang the painting for themselves. The subject of the painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of the wealthy sugar tycoon, Ferdinand Bloch (Stamberg, n.p.). During their marriage, he commissioned his friend, Gustav Klimt, to paint two portraits of Adele, one of which is her in a golden gown (Stamberg, n.p.). Owning a Klimt at this time was a mark of one’s wealth and prestige. The portrait was finished in 1907 after four years of being created. The gown features geometric patterns, and is even three-dimensional in places with silver and gold leaf adding to the three dimensional effect. Adele’s lips are full, red, and curved, with her eyes partially shut all coming together to create a sensual image of her face, something most paintings of that time did not do. The owner at the time of the holocaust was Adele’s niece, Maria Altmann. When Altmann was forced into a concentration camp, the Nazi’s stole all her paintings, with The Women in Gold being among them. Upon her release and Germanys defeat, Altmann sought to retrieve the Klimt portraits which the Nazi’s had seized from her family. Fortunately Altmann succeeded in getting her paintings back and has since then allowed the painting to be housed in New York City at the Neue Museum.
Example B
The Elgin Marbles, also known as the Parthenon Sculptures, are pediment figures and friezes which once decorated the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Some of the figures also came from other Acropolis buildings. The pediment figures and friezes include images of mythological creatures such as centaurs and men riding horses into battle; this is appropriate since the Parthenon was built to honor Athena, the Greek goddess of war. Lord Elgin, a British diplomat, removed many of the Parthenon Sculptures in 1801, during the Ottoman Empire; this is why they were given the name the Elgin Marbles ("Elgin Marbles", n.p.). In 1816 Elgin sold them to the British crown, who in turn gave them to the British Museum; in total, the British Museum currently has approximately 30% of the original marbles, but the surviving marbles are split about evenly between Athens and the British Museum ("Elgin Marbles", n.p.). The Greeks assert that Eglin illegally stole the marbles while Greece was under Turkish occupation, and therefore they should be returned to the Greeks; the British Museum maintains that Eglin was an ambassador to the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and was given a letter granting permission to take the marbles ("Elgin Marbles", n.p.). In anticipation of the marbles eventual return, Athens opened an Acropolis Museum in 2009 that has enough space to show all the marbles in their original order ("Elgin Marbles", n.p.). Nonetheless, the marbles are still split between the British Museum and the Acropolis Museum, with the British Museum having loaned one to Russia’s St Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum, much to the annoyance of the Greek people.
Works Cited
"Elgin Marbles". BBC News. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
Stamberg, Susan. "Immortalized As 'The Woman In Gold,' How A Young Jew Became A Secular Icon". NPR.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
