The green, yellow, white Impressionist-style 1892 painting by Pierre Bonnard, Still Life with Guelder Roses, was one of 2,000 pieces stolen by the Nazis from a single collector, David David-Weill, the French-American philanthropist who had headed the banking house Lazard Frères. Yet taken as a whole, these tales also adhere to what we might think of as a new kind of archetypal journey, one that follows the fate of each work, from the original uprooting of cultural theft to displacement to eventual rescue and restitution.Īnother route to restitution is exemplified in an adjacent canvas. These objects are the material survivors of the Jewish communities of Europe, each one with a distinct story, an 'afterlife' of survival, to reveal. You cannot walk through these galleries without thinking of the sense of despoliation experienced by so many people of other cultures throughout history. But in the context of this show, they also speak even more powerfully to their rough seizure from their original owners who once wielded them to welcome the Sabbath, celebrate the holidays, and observe the milestones of life and death, all according to Jewish tradition. They can and should be admired for their craft. Then there are the beautiful arrays of delicately crafted ritual silver objects that once graced the homes and synagogues of the Jews of Europe. And they are presented through treasures both artistic and cultural. Such histories of theft and rescue are made more than real in a powerful new exhibition at New York's Jewish Museum, Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art. Also causing controversy recently are stories focusing on the origins – and the fate – of the Benin Bronzes, at least some of which are in the process of finding their way back to Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo from the many countries and museums to which their colonial rulers dispersed them, including Belgium, Germany, the British Museum and New York's Metropolitan Museum. We're reading more than ever about international disputes over ownership and restitution, including allegations this week that Switzerland's largest art museum might be displaying up to 90 works with problematic provenances.

The Nazi art hoard that shocked the world Usually left unmentioned is their means of acquisition – all too often, brutally uprooted from their original homes and owners as the spoils of war, colonial conquest, or at the dictate of despots. We are dazzled by these treasures from faraway lands and ancient eras, even as we remain mostly blind to their provenance. Within the long history of art resides the nearly-as-long history of looted art.

When hitler stole