4 More: Monuments Men
As part of our year-end issue, we are revisiting Cincinnati People interviews from 2021.
We checked in with Peter Jonathan Bell curator of European Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings, Cincinnati Art Museum since we last spoke with him about the exhibition Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America
The original interview from July is below.
WHAT’S BEEN THE BIGGEST SURPRISE TO YOU IN 2021?
I’ve been bowled over by the strength of response, throughout this second year of the pandemic, to everything the museum does—from neighbors engaging with Art Climb, to visitors flocking to see our exhibitions and spend time in the galleries, to donors stepping up to support new acquisitions and campus improvements—I feel in this year, more than ever, the power of art and just how much that can mean for our community.
WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE WE LAST SPOKE?
Paintings Politics and the Monuments Men, the exhibition we talked about, closed in October, and so my focus has shifted from the immediacy of engaging with folks in and around that exhibition to plans for the future—exhibitions, publications, gallery updates, and conservation treatments—some projects that will bear fruit early in the new year, others that will come to life three or four years down the road.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT CINCINNATI?
Our community really responded to the show. I heard from someone who vividly remembers visiting the Berlin Masterpieces exhibition in Washington DC in 1948; I met the nephew of another Monuments Man who had worked alongside Walter Farmer protecting art in Europe; I was able to speak about the exhibition with military service members working right now to preserve cultural heritage around the world. It drove home for me that people in this city and region are rich in experiences and invested in understanding and sharing history and bringing its lessons forward to today.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2022?
Traveling! A big part of my professional remit, intellectual development and personal joy involves traveling to engage with art, which has been largely on hold during the COVID era. I am eager to resume regular travel within the country and to Europe in 2022.
The 2014 George Clooney explored a group of American and British men and women – museum curators, art historians, librarians, architects, even artists – responsible for preserving the artistic and cultural achievements of western civilization from the destruction of war and theft by the Nazis.
A number of those works are now on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum in the exhibition Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America. Peter Jonathan Bell, the Musuem’s curator of European paintings, sculpture and drawings, offers us an inside look at the exhibition and the stories behind preserving these masterpieces.