This blog is going to be a bit off my usual topics but, nevertheless, art and biography related.

I saw a TV program the other night that was an interview with the author of the book "The Monuments Men", made into a film currently in theaters. As artists, especially artists who have had the fortune to visit Europe, I was impressed by the story of how the precious treasures of Western culture were saved from oblivion by these dedicated men and women during and after World War II.

While I am certainly too young to have been in WW II, I do have a unique, indirect connection to their efforts that resulted in a large number of pieces of war art, certainly not European national treasures, being brought to the US (http://www.denverpost.com/ci_25223482?source=bb). After some years, although the exact history is difficult to find, much of it was shipped to the Pueblo Army Depot in Colorado for long term storage in a large warehouse under Colorado's dry conditions.

In 1974 I was an Army Captain stationed at a Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver. The Public Information Officer (PIO), inspired by one of my non-coms, Sergeant Jones (a pseudonym), who had spent several tours in West Germany, worked with the city of Aurora to arrange what we believed was the first public display of this art in the US. The event was to take place at the Buckingham Square Mall in Aurora in conjunction with Armed Forces Day.

I was assigned to head a detachment of GIs that would go to Pueblo, select a number of pieces and transport them to the Arsenal for movement to the display at the Mall. We selected pieces working within strict guidelines as to content, laid down between the Army and the City. The rules were: 1. no overtly propagandistic or blatantly offensive content and 2. stay within the concept of the universal fighting man. We were allowed to select portraits of Third Reich leaders including Hitler to round out the historical context. There was expectation that this would cause some controversy.

During the selection process Sergeant Jones was allowed to remove from storage and allow us to examine piece after piece of the hundreds in storage in search of the ones we would transport and exhibit subject to the PIO's approval. Although a number were vetoed, we ultimately selected 40 or so pieces that met the criteria. Three were full length portraits, one of Hitler. Despite the subject of the paintings these portraits were of historical importance and actually masterfully done oils.

At one point Sergeant Jones had been poking about in one of the racks and I heard him say "Wow!". We went over to see what he had dragged out and set up for us. It was a large painting of Hitler on horseback, incongruously dressed in full gleaming armor, grasping the swastika banner. Hitler's face had been damaged. Sergeant Jones told us the painting was legendary in some circles and thought to have been lost. He related the story of the painting: how it was named "The Standard Bearer", was believed to have hung in the office of Albert Speer, Hitler's Minister of war production, and been removed to the west to be hidden along with many pieces of art before the fall of Berlin to the Russians. When this particular piece was discovered by US troops, apocryphally, one GI bayoneted Hitler's face with a suitable expletive. The image and a very brief history can be found on the internet at this location: http://drittenreichkunst.tumblr.com/post/56419205806/hubert-lanzinger-der-bannertrager-hitler-the

And so, there we were standing and looking at it - hardly in admiration (my Dad was a WW II veteran) - but certainly somewhat in awe and aware of our touch with history. This particular painting definitely did not get into the exhibition despite the non-com's pleading with the Public Information guy.

The exhibit was assembled within a protective plexiglas gallery built for the occasion in an open area of the mall usually reserved for Santa Claus. I was allowed to take slides of many of the pieces on exhibit and still have them. As I recall there was some minor press controversy over the source of the art but not much regarding the content. The art, in general was accepted by the viewing public as intended: a touch with history that, only 29 years after VE Day was still vivid in the minds of many.

After the exhibit the art was returned to Pueblo and I understand from internet research moved to other storage or, in some cases, repatriated or toured through various cities.

So, there it is. My brief, very circumferential touch with "Monument  Men" and art history. As vivid in memory today as is was 40 years ago.

Regards,

John