This past month, our Appraiser, Ninya Lee Greek, and our Associate Appraiser, Kellene Abeyta, had the pleasure of going to International
Society of Appraiser’s New Frontiers Convention in Houston, Texas. As promised we are regularly participating in our continuing education classes, which help us to continue to better ourselves as appraisers. We do not do this just for us, but for all our clients as well. We promise to Bring You the Truth in a professional and courteous manner and this includes increasing our knowledge to keep up with the newest Artworks as well as the newest Guidelines set by USPAP (State guidelines for Fine Art Appraisers).
The convention consisted of multiple tours, to different Art Museums as well as to view the rather impressive collection of artwork belonging to Private Collectors. We like to keep our Blogs short and simple, so as not to bore you, so we will share some photos of our time in Houston. Please continue to the part of the blog where we talk about MONUMENTS MEN and WOMEN FOUNDATION. This foundation is fascinating as it honors those whose achievements are of Finding and Returning the World War II Missing works of Art and Cultural Objects to the rightful owners.
Monuments Men and Women Foundation
One of the classes was presented by Mr. Edsel from Monuments Men and Women. He is a New York Bestselling author on top of being the Founder and Chairman of this foundation. Mr. Edsel was passionate and knowledgeable about what this foundation does and what it represents. It was hard not to get caught up and excited about his work.
World War II was a devastating war; however, we are not going to get into the War itself, there is enough information… everywhere to learn more about this war if you so choose. However, as Art Appraisers and Lovers, we wanted to share the following information with you, in regards to the Men and Women whose sole job, at that time, was to find and return the Artwork that went missing during the war. The missing artwork belonged to individuals as well as organizations such as museums and galleries.
Did you know, Hitler had books prepared before he took over an area that described the artwork he wanted for himself?
These books were detailed and included photos of where the art resided, who owned it, and more.
The Monuments Men and Women and now the Foundation is set to right the wrongs of World War II. Not including what the original men and women found, but the foundation itself has recovered almost 40 works of art; such as Paintings, Drawings, Tapestries, Books, Religious Objects, and Documents.
You may wonder why there is a Foundation whose sole purpose is to find Artwork that went missing over 80 years ago? We will answer it with this information found in the Monuments Menand Women Brochure: “…….demonstrates the respect for the cultural property of others and the goodwill of Americans determined to contribute righting wrongs of WWII.”
You, or someone you know, may have seen one of the hundreds of thousands of missing artwork at some point in your life. Yes, Hitler and his Nazi’s were the ones that stole the artwork; however, throughout the war soldiers of the different armies involved in the war, may have come across the artwork and took one or more of these items home. As a matter of fact, that is how, some of these items were found and returned to their rightful owners. Grandkids of these Veterans would find out what they own is the missing artwork. Between them and Mr. Edsel, and his foundation, the artwork was turned back to its rightful owners. Hearing Mr. Edsel speak and seeing photos of all those involved in getting the items returned were happy to have helped “contribute to righting the wrongs of WWII”.
The Monuments Men and Women foundation is truly wonderful and we had such a wonderful time listening to Mr. Edsel speak. Our blog truly does not do the justice this foundation deserves, so please click on the following link: https://www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/ to go directly to their website in order to learn more.
We also encourage you to check our Mr. ShauLin Hon‘s website: https://slyworksphotography.com/. He is a gifted photographer based out of Houston Texas.
