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https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/wanted-looted-paintings-from-french-museum-wwii-era-1234793192/>
"Have you seen a middle-aged man sporting an 18th-century, white, powdered wig,
a nobleman’s fine clothes, and a gentle, open smile? If so, you may have come
upon a certain Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger, a French engraver, designer,
and art critic, who worked for King Louis XV and lived from 1715 to 1790.
The fact that he is long dead does not preclude him from effectively being a
wanted man in France today. Or more accurately, a painting of him by the
celebrated French artist Jean Siméon Chardin is actively being sought after,
after it was plundered from the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans during the
German invasion of the city during World War II.
Over 86 years later, the French museum along the banks of the Loire River is
trying to get that Chardin back, along with 423 other looted artworks, and has
launched a “Wanted” poster campaign to help find them, reported
Le Monde. As
part of this clever initiative, the words “WANTED” appear written in yellow,
chunky, all caps in American Old Western font, across a host of black-and-white
images of the missing paintings on the museum’s social media, website, and
other news platforms.
“The goal is, on one hand, to make this history known and give a renewed life
to these missing paintings, and on the other hand, it is to invite everyone to
participate in this search, so that everyone stays alert, and no one can ever
again say ‘we didn’t know,’” said the museum director, Olivia Voisin, in an
e-mail to
ARTnews."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
