On a cold January day in 1939, Nazi museum directors and officials broke into a Viennese palace and stole Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” (1907). Who was she and why did they want it? What is the story behind the creation of the work? And how did a 93-year old woman fight to have the painting returned after 60 years of deception and evasion?
On Thursday, July 11 at 7 p.m. at the Verona Public Library, join Verona resident Dr. Laura Morowitz, a professor of art history at Wagner College, as she reveals the deeper story behind the work’s creation, theft and return to New York City. Dr. Morowitz served as historical researcher for Stolen Beauty (Atria Books), a novel about the work published in 2018. She is the recipient of a 2017 National Endowment for the Humanities Award for her research in the Viennese archives and her forthcoming book, Art, Exhibition and Erasure in Nazi Vienna.
The talk, “Behind the Woman in Gold”, is presented by Verona Public Library and Verona Arts, the new coalition of visual artists and those who support the visual arts in town.
The Verona Public Library is located at 17 Gould Street, Verona. For more information, call 973-857-4848 or email [email protected].
