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Art believed destroyed by Nazis found in Berlin I wonder how much more stuff thought lost during WWII is waiting to be re-discovered? It seems like we hear these stories every couple of months and I would guess that we will still be hearing them for a good while yet.
It does make one wonder how much more is stored underneath other buildings in Germany. It would be nice if other works were found.
There?s probably a lot more to find in Japan than in Germany, since there were less occupying forces there.
Probably not, since Germany essentially looted all of Europe while Japan's opportunities for plunder were limited to China for the most part. Germany had much more art available to pick from than the Japanese did. Come to think of it, I dont think I have ever heard of the Japanese looting much in the way of art to begin with. I do think they have some looted items at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo though.
Well, I know that the most valuable art China had was moved as the Japanese advanced and eventually ended up in Taiwan, but I tend to believe that the Japanese soldiers took what they could. The museum in Taiwan is impressive, to say the least, showing that they managed to save. I remember hearing about Chinese paintings being sold on the black market. I'm not sure about South East Asia, but looting of art is almost a given, isn't it?
Oh, I don't say that art and other valuables were not looted; you are correct that that is pretty much a given. I just don't think the Japanese had as much opportunity for looting of valuable art as did the Germans.
Right. Nevertheless, there?s something to note about China prior to the communist takeover and even more so the cultural revolution. If we consider the opium wars, we see that China was more advanced than Britain in many ways, yet the British were able to defeat a huge army with a relatively far smaller navy. This is puzzling at first, but if we go deeper into Chinese society at the time, we see that the most elite men sneered at a military career, seeking to become poets, philosophers or artists instead. The military officials were often the ones who had been unable to become artists, very contrastingly to the European desire of elite men to join the military. This is one of the main reasons for Britain?s victory. Prior to the communist times, the emphasis and money spent on art in China was immense. The pottery, jade, ivory and gold that is displayed in Asia really tells a story. I don?t gamble, but I like to go into Stanley Ho?s casinos in Macau just to see some of the art.
