Berkshire Museum to Present Rape of Europa film & discussion
PITTSFIELD – The Berkshire Museum’s Little Cinema will present a program about the Nazi looting of Europe’s art treasures during World War II on Sunday, June 22, at 1:30 p.m. The program will include a special film screening of Rape of Europa.The 117-minute film made in 2007 is based on Lynn H. Nicholas’ 1995 book. It is unrated. Sarah Lees, assistant curator of European Art at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, will lead a discussion about the miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during World War II. Tickets are $10 ($5 members).
Narrated by Joan Allen, The Rape of Europa is a feature documentary film that takes the audience on an epic journey through seven countries and into the violent whirlwind of ideological fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history. Fighting back, heroic young museum officials and art historians from America and across Europe mounted a miraculous campaign to rescue and return the millions of art works displaced by the war. Today, more than sixty years later, the legacy of this tragic history continues to play out as families of looted collectors recover major works of art, conservators repair battle damage, and nations fight over the fate of ill-gotten spoils of war. The film was written, produced, and directed by Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, and Nicole Newman.
Sarah Lees has been the Clark's Assistant Curator of Paintings since 2002. From 2000 to 2002, she was a Research Associate at the Clark and during this time she coordinated and contributed to the first systematic scholarly catalogue of the Clark's collection of 19th-century paintings, a project that is still in progress. Lees received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, in May of 1999. She co-curated the exhibition A Walk in the Country: Inness and the Berkshires, in 2005. Other curatorial work includes Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!: The Bruyas Collection from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier. Lees's other publications include "An Odyssey of Painting: How Alfred Bruyas Came to America" in the CAI Journal, and an upcoming essay on the national tour of Collecting the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Clark Art Institute.
The Berkshire Museum is located at 39 South Street on Route 7 in Downtown Pittsfield. Complete Little Cinema listings are available online at berkshiremuseum.org. Film buffs may subscribe to a weekly email newsletter of film announcements by visiting the web site and clicking on enews. For more information, contact the Berkshire Museum at 413-443-7171, ext. 10.
