Dr Morwenna Blewett presents her groundbreaking book exploring the role of art restorers and conservators during the Nazi regime (1933–1948). This is the first comprehensive study of how professionals in the restoration field became complicit in the theft, concealment and ideological manipulation of cultural property looted by the regime.
Blewett examines how restorers exploited their expertise in revelation and concealment—techniques ordinarily used to uncover original artworks and compensate for damage—to serve criminal ends. They preserved stolen works, obscured evidence of theft from victims, and erased their own involvement in Nazi criminal activity. Yet their reputations have largely remained unblemished.
Drawing on extensive research and her background in both art conservation and law, Blewett discusses the motivations that drove the profession's participation in networks of profit, crime, persecution and ideological propaganda. This talk reveals how cultural experts enabled and benefited from one of history's greatest thefts.
Held at The Wiener Holocaust Library, 29 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5DP.
