To dovetail on the similar recent thread (How much art was lost during WW2?) -- I'm naturally wondering if there are any specific works of art (especially by renown artists) that were lost (or are at least 'considered lost', or whose whereabouts are unknown), that we have photographic evidence of?
In other words: What's interesting, art-wise (that's lost), that we also have some very good (photographic) evidence of (exactly) what it looked like??
And, of course, I'm looking for links to such imagery (if possible) -- thanks!!
I just linked this in the other thread, but I will share it again. (Hopefully that is ok!) This is a database with photos of the lost works: http://maca.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/p132501coll33
Click the thumbnails for nice, big photos that you can zoom in or out on.
There isn't a picture per se, but here is a drawing of the Honjo Masamune, the official sword of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which was appropriated by an American soldier in March 1946. http://www.sydneytokenkai.com/user/cimage/honjomasamuneeb9.jpg
Try searching for info on the art that Nazi Germany termed "degenerate art" or entartete kunst. Many pieces have been recovered, but others are still missing. Grossman's book, Hitler and the Artists is good for background info. More recently, I believe, a running database of stolen/confiscated/missing works with photos has been set up.
Just checked. It's the Victoria and Albert museum that houses the database. Should include photos.
There are actually some color photos of lost/destroyed art such as this detail of Klimt's Medicine Mural. The mural was held in an Austrian castle during WWII before being destroyed in May of 1945 as retreating SS German troops, fearing the castle would fall into Allied hands, set fire to the building.
