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Museums in New York that exhibit artworks looted by Nazis during the Holocaust are now required by law to let the public know about those dark chapters in their provenance through placards displayed with the stolen objects.

At least 600,000 pieces of art were looted from Jewish people before and during World War II, according to experts. Some of that plunder wound up in the world’s great museums.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law in August requiring museums to put up signs identifying pieces looted by the Nazis from 1933 through 1945.

The new rule comes as many museums in the US and Europe are also reckoning with collections that contain numerous objects looted from Asia, Africa, and other places during centuries of colonialism.

It isn’t clear how many pieces of art now on display will wind up being labeled as Nazi loot, and disagreements have already arisen over certain artworks with a complicated history.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, said it had identified 53 works in its collection as having been seized or sold under duress during the Nazi era.

All of those objects were obtained by the museum after being returned to their rightful owners. But Andrea Bayer, the museum’s deputy director for collections and administration, said the public still should know about their history.

“People should be aware of the terrible cost to people during World War II as these confiscations took place, and how these peoples’ treasures that they loved and had been in their families, had been torn from them at the same time their lives were disrupted,” she said.

The museum, however, does not intend to put up such a sign on a Picasso painting called “The Actor,” which it received as a gift in 1952.

That painting was once owned by Jewish businessman Paul Leffmann, who fled Germany – first for Italy, then ultimately to Brazil – to escape the Nazis. As Leffmann liquidated assets in 1938, he sold the painting to Paris art dealers for $13,200.

Leffmann’s great-grandniece, Laurel Zuckerman, sued the Metropolitan Museum in 2016, claiming it was a bargain-basement sale price that reflected the family’s desperation to flee Europe. The museum countered that the price was actually high for an early Picasso at the time. A US court eventually dismissed the lawsuit.

Lawrence Kaye, one of the lawyers who represented Zuckerman, said that despite that outcome, the museum should still put up a placard with the painting’s disputed history.

“I believe the law would cover this piece. It was dismissed on technical grounds and I believe under the broad definition of what this law means under the statute, it should be covered,” Kaye said.

Researching the provenance of an object has gotten easier in the digital age and some museums have launched efforts to identify artworks with a problematic ownership history.

New York law had already required museums to report works believed to have been stolen during the Nazi period to the Art Loss Register, the world’s largest database on stolen art.

A US law passed in 2016 provides victims of Holocaust-era persecution and their heirs a fair opportunity to recover works of art taken by the Nazis.

“This law did things legally that made it possible for people to make claims and sue,” said Wesley Fisher, the director of research for the Claims Conference, a group that represents the world’s Jews in negotiating for compensation for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs.

“It isn’t perfect, but it’s better,” he said.

In 2018, New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum returned an Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painting titled “Artillerymen” to the family of Jewish art dealer Alfred Flechtheim, who was forced to abandon his collection after fleeing Berlin in 1933.

A Guggenheim spokesperson said the museum is not aware of any other work in its collections that was looted by Nazis but is continuing its research.

In 2019, the Arkell Museum in upstate New York returned a painting after it was made known that it was stolen by Nazis from a Jewish family in 1933. The museum’s director, Suzan Friedlander, said they “fully support the recent legislation regarding work seized by the Nazis.”

Last year, the Jewish Museum, in New York City, dedicated an entire exhibition to the topic of looted art and ceremonial objects.

While signage for Nazi-looted artwork is a policy unique to New York, other US museums have undertaken efforts to trace the origin of potentially stolen artworks.

Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts launched a Nazi-era provenance research of their artwork in 1998, where they identify objects in the collection that were lost or stolen during the Nazi era and never returned to their rightful owners.

The Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles researched German art trade between 1900 and 1945 and now provides digital access to auction sales catalogs related to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Among the 53 pieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that will get signage identifying them as having once been looted is a Turkish helmet dating to the late 15th and 16th century that had been seized by Nazis from its owner Baron Alphonse Mayer Rothschild in 1938. It was returned to Rothschild’s widow in 1949 and sold to the museum in 1950.

Another is a 1695 painting titled “Gamepiece with a Dead Heron” by Dutch painter Jan Weenix. It was also seized by the Nazis from Rothschild in 1939, later returned to his widow in 1948 and sold to the museum in 1950.

In the last two decades, the museum has returned or reached settlements on 10 artworks that changed hands during the Nazi period, including a Claude Monet painting.

New York Sen. Anna M. Kaplan, who sponsored the legislation, said the new law is partly about educating younger people unfamiliar with the Holocaust.

“Because the survivors of the Holocaust are a generation that is dying out, this becomes much more important,” said Fisher, of the Claims Conference. “The object become much more important. The idea that students and general public should go through museums to understand where these items come from, is important.”

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Royal Irish Tours (RIT) has ‘doubled’ their sales team in Canada, from one to two! RIT have promoted John Fallon from their reservations department to the position of Sales Manager, Canada. This might be a little confusing for advisors as there are now two Johns on the sales team, both from Ireland (John Fallon, Sales Manager and Jonathan Sargeant, now Director of Sales).

Fallon completed his Master’s in International Tourism at the University of Limerick in 2017 before immigrating to Canada where he took up a role in RIT’s reservations department. Growing up on the west coast of Ireland between Galway City and the Cliffs of Moher, tourism has always been a part of John’s life and he is very proud, and passionate, about all the Emerald Isle has to offer visitors.

Outside of work you will find him playing the Irish sport of hurling with Clann na nGael in Toronto or looking for the best pub for some traditional Irish music (and Guinness).

Fallon is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about Ireland & Scotland, and Conor Duffy, Vice President at RIT, is excited about having him join Jonathan Sargeant on the sales team.

“We are delighted to promote John from reservations, and he will be a great asset to the sales team. After 5 years with RIT, he already has great product knowledge, he’s very personable and I know advisors across Canada are in good hands with the two Irish John’s!”

Fallon will manage Ontario West agencies as well as some key national accounts. He can be reached at john@ritvacations.com or on his cell at +1-437-984-6313.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

With more than 50,000 visitors expected to attend a Day of the Dead festival in Mexico this year, Grupo Xcaret is advising visitors to pre-book their tickets for the much-anticipated celebration in the Riviera Maya. The 16th annual “Festival of Live & Death Traditions” will take place Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, culminating on Mexico’s Day of the Dead (Nov. 2), a pre-Hispanic tradition that even today demonstrates Mexico’s cultural richness and which has been recognized as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO since 2008.

The festival will take place at Xcaret Park, Hotel Xcaret Mexico, Hotel Xcaret Arte, and at the City Theatre in Playa del Carmen, featuring a line-up of family-friendly activities that includes culinary experiences, workshops, altars, murals, concerts, puppet shows, and theatrical presentations created by local artists, Mexican talent, and special guests.

The full program will be available in the official event website – festivaldevidaymuerte.com/en/ – with general tickets sales starting Oct. 1.

Below is a list of some of this year’s highlights:

Xcaret Park

• This year’s guest of honor is Tlaxcala, a state considered the birthplace of the nation which will share the richness of its gastronomy, crafts, textiles, and dances.
• Musical performances such as: “Yuhmu Voices of Ixtenco” by the Otomí of Tlaxcala Children’s Choir.
• Exhibitions by artists Ignacio Nezahualcóyotl and Malena Díaz
• Theatre – “Canek, Legend of a Mayan Hero” by the Luna Morena Company; “The skeleton took me away” by Scenic Magic; and “Death and Corn” by Erik de Luna
• Concerts – Astrid Hadad and her show “Living by Dying,” and Ernesto Anaya’s “Skeletons, sounds, dead people and traditions”
• International artists – The countertenor Asael Cuesta of Colombia and the theatre company “The Baldufa” of Spain.
• Local culture and artists and arts groups
• The interactive Hacienda will offer a variety of workshops including learning how to make skulls, embroidery, traditional desserts, write like in pre-Hispanic times or assemble an altar
• The return of the gala concert at the great Tlachco that will have everyone dancing to a fusion of rhythms such as danzón, mambo, cha cha cha and cumbia along with rock, ska and other traditional influences from Mexican music.

Hotel Xcaret Mexico

• Ha’ restaurant – Homage to the Tlaxcala gastronomy by Chef Francisco Molina of “Evoka” restaurant, known for adding cultural value to traditional dishes.
• Mercado de la Merced – Traditional cuisine by Doña Elvia Contreras Becerra, originally from the Nanacamilpa municipality, who belongs to the group of cooks Cocineras Manos de Mayahuel of Tlaxcala.
• Las Cuevas – Traditional dishes inspired by the cook of the Mayan region Rosalinda Maay Poot.

Hotel Xcaret Arte

• Kibi Kibi – Curated menu by Chef Iván Fernando del Razo of “Mexko” restaurant who uses a combination of traditional, contemporary and research techniques to showcase the gastronomic and cultural richness of Tlaxcala.
• Cantina VI.AI.PY – Tlaxcalteca cuisine by Chef Andy Salazar López of “Tequexquite” restaurant.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

The Petersons are a folk-bluegrass outfit from Branson, Missouri, uniquely comprised of mom and dad Peterson, their four kids Katie, Ellen, Matt, and Julianne, and “dear friend and honorary Petersen” Emmett Franz.

The central figures, however, are the girls, who delightfully harmonize and share lead vocals, while all the members kick in with the instruments – amongst them guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, dobro, and fiddle.

Inspired to the Appalachian genre at a bluegrass festival at Gettysburg, Pa., the family unit has gone on to appear on various TV shows and tour extensively, including Canada.

They describe their music, including covers like the George Harrison classic “Here Comes the Sun” (linked below), as “like one big welcome mat… If you’re looking for some encouragement in a chaotic world and an escape from the busy-ness and stress of everyday life, you’ve come to the right place.”

And that sounds like just the right note about now. (PS, don’t tune out the post-song comments and credits).

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News