Searching for Edgar's Five Dancers Read online

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  ISBN 978-1-54396-727-2

  ISBN eBook 978-1-54396-728-9

  To Cindy; thanks for putting up with me, telling me the truth

  and always being there for me. I love you…you’re the best.

  Prologue

  Chapter I

  Chapter II

  Chapter III

  Chapter IV

  Chapter V

  Chapter VI

  Chapter VII

  Chapter VIII

  Chapter IX

  Chapter X

  Chapter XI

  Chapter XII

  Chapter XIII

  Chapter XIV

  Chapter XV

  Chapter XVI

  Chapter XVII

  Chapter XVIII

  Chapter XIX

  Chapter XX

  Chapter XXI

  Chapter XXII

  Chapter XXIII

  Chapter XXIV

  Chapter XXV

  Chapter XXVI

  Chapter XXVII

  Chapter XXVIII

  Chapter XXIX

  Chapter XXX

  Chapter XXXI

  Chapter XXXII

  Chapter XXXIII

  Chapter XXXIV

  Chapter XXXV

  Chapter XXXVI

  Chapter XXXVII

  Chapter XXXVIII

  Chapter XXXIX

  Chapter Xl

  Chapter XlI

  Chapter XLII

  Chapter XLIII

  Chapter XLIV

  Chapter XLV

  Chapter XLVI

  Chapter XLVII

  Chapter XLVIII

  Chapter XLIX

  Chapter l

  Chapter lI

  Chapter LII

  Chapter LIII

  Chapter LIV

  Chapter LV

  Chapter LVI

  Chapter LVII

  Chapter LVIII

  Chapter LIX

  Chapter LX

  Chapter LXI

  chapter LXII

  Chapter LXIII

  Chapter LXIV

  EPILOGUE

  Author’s Note

  About The Author

  Prologue

  In April of 1937 Germany’s Reichsminister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels and Hildebrand Gurlitt, a well-known art dealer in Nazi Germany, stared at one another across the desk in Goebbels’ office at the Reich Chancelry in Berlin. Gurlitt had Jewish blood in his lineage, and otherwise would have been excluded from any significant role in Germany’s fascist government, but Goebbels knew the Nazi regime needed his expertise. The regime needed help smuggling art they had stolen from Jews, and artwork they had designated “Degenerate Art,” out of Germany. As an art dealer, Gurlitt had contacts he had fostered all over the world that could be beneficial to Nazi Germany.

  “Herr Gurlitt, please have a seat,” said Goebbels in German. He continued, “Can I offer you Cognac or a cigarette?”

  “The honor is mine to speak with you today, Reichsminister. No, thank you, but I am eager to learn how I may be of service to you, our Fuhrer, and our Fatherland,” replied Gurlitt.

  “As you know, Herr Gurlitt, at the present time our nation is contaminated with art that does not reflect the pure values of our culture. I am ashamed to say that some of this art has been created by disloyal Germans themselves. These include our own countrymen, such as Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, and Heinz Kirchner. Not to worry though, Herr Gurlitt, I will take care of these disloyal artists personally. There are also foreign artists who are despicable. These are Bolsheviks like Pablo Picasso, Chagall, Toulouse-Lautrec, Wassily Kandinsky, and that French idiot Renoir. Their art is an insult to Germany and flies in the face of our Fuhrer’s message of wholesomeness, simplicity, loyalty, and decency. We must first remove these blights from our museums and other venues that house them. We must then rid ourselves in Germany of such filth wherever it may be on display, forever! I need your help in purifying our art and our culture. And, as repugnant as the thought is to me…there are collectors in other parts of the world that will pay for these godforsaken paintings and sculptures. You will represent the Reich as an art dealer officially authorized to travel to Paris, New York, Switzerland, or anywhere else necessary to sell these disgusting works of art. You will be an agent acting on behalf of our government and nation.”

  “I offer my services to the Reich in any way possible to achieve our national objectives, Minister Goebbels,” said Gurlitt.

  “Good, that is wonderful news, then you will be one of four art dealers who will assist in collecting this unwanted offensive art, and you will sell this art internationally. And we are always grateful, Herr Gurlitt, to our most loyal citizens who contribute to the national cause. So don’t worry, you will receive a liberal stipend in the form of a commission from every sale you make. This obscene and perverse art must be expunged from Germany for good!” proclaimed Goebbels. “We are going to sponsor an exhibit here in Berlin later on this year, exposing many of these loathsome paintings and sculptures. I expect there to be many foreign buyers at this exhibit, and with your help we can start to cleanse Germany of these disgusting blights from our walls, minds, and hearts. “Do you know Herr Curt Valentin?”

  “I have heard of Curt Valentin before, Reichsminister, but I’ve never met him,” replied Gurlitt.

  “Well, he may be of considerable assistance to you. He has supposedly opened an art gallery in New York and a large number of this degenerate art has found its way to his gallery there,” said Goebbels. “He will be a good point of contact and perhaps even a buyer. I want this art out of Germany, but I think the Reich should be paid for it just the same. You may have to travel to New York, but contact Curt Valentin and try to work with his contacts in the art world. Get whatever money you can for this obscene work mistakenly referred to as art. Wassily Kandinsky! Can any educated German really appreciate that Russian Bolshevik’s work? To expect a self respecting citizen of our nation to even glance at those disgusting paintings is an insult to our culture!”

  The exhibit opened in Munich, Germany, on July 19, 1937. It was named, “The Degenerate Art Exhibition” and was moved to other German cities after display in Munich until November 30, 1937. The exhibit was not meant to be taken seriously, but was a satirical spoof the Nazi’s conjured up that mocked modern art and the world’s great artists who created it. Over 650 works of art were displayed in a manner meant to degrade and slander the artwork and humiliate the artists who were the creators. Goebbels was directly involved in choosing the stolen artwork that he claimed, “insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill.” Despite the negative press, the Nazi government’s attempt to condemn and minimize the importance of this artwork backfired. Over one million visitors attended the exhibition within the first six weeks of its opening. Over four million German citizens would attend “The Degenerate Art Exhibition” before it finally closed several months later.

  But this was just the beginning. Before their purge was over, the Nazis would confiscate hundreds of thousands of paintings and other works of art from all over Europe. A small amount of the art confiscated was destroyed, but most of it was looted and sold for profit or simply hidden away. Several of the higher-ranking Nazis such as Joachim von Ribbentrop and Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering actually diverted millions of dollars’ worth of the looted art to their own collections, hiding the artwork in various mines and other hidden locations throughout the war. Th
e artists whose works were targeted suffered sanctions ranging from being fired from their teaching posts at universities, to being forbidden to ever create art again. Several well-known artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner were so depressed after being forbidden to create art during the time of the Nazis, they committed suicide.

  While in the late 1930s Europe was experiencing prelude to war and an assault on creative thought and expression, America was coming out of a tremendous Depression. Things though were not as repressive politically in America. Nearly a year later, in May 1938, the American painters Emil Bisttram, Agnes Pelton, and Raymond Jonson sat on the patio of Bisttram’s casita-style home in Taos, New Mexico, discussing their artwork. Taos was a small pueblo town in the northern Jemez Mountains of New Mexico with small adobe buildings and homes. The town was part of the Taos Indian Pueblo, and had a pronounced Spanish influence as well, as the Spanish and Pueblo Indians had occupied and lived there for centuries; though not always peacefully. Taos was an artists’ hangout, like Santa Fe, only smaller and about 70 miles to the north. The three painters gathered, each holding a favorite drink, as they stared at the New Mexico sunset with its naturally mixed shades of purple, red, and orange. It was a Thursday in May, and a slight breeze slowly swayed the bushes and trees. “These sunsets have made New Mexico famous.…I should paint this,” said Bisttram. “You won’t find a more peaceful and beautiful setting than this.”

  Agnes Pelton then said, “But that’s not what our group is about, Emil. We’ve discussed this many times. We’re going to do something different. We’re like the Impressionists and Expressionists of the last century who went against the convention of the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and went on to modernize art. It is abstract imagery, thought, and interpretation we’re interested in,” she said.

  “I’m not sure the public’s ready for what we have in mind,” said Jonson. “I mean…how far do we want to take the abstract themes in our painting?” he said.

  “As far as we dare to, Raymond. Our whole purpose is to encourage spiritual discovery through the abstract. Every individual will interpret and discovers their own spirituality—not shown them or preached to them. We will follow the works of Wassily Kandinsky, and Transcendental Philosophy,” said Pelton.

  “When do we begin?” said Bisttram.

  “Oh, we’ll have opportunity soon,” said Jonson. “First we need to create our charter,” he said.

  “Our charter, what do you mean?” asked Pelton.

  “Well, for example, what are we going to call this group of progressive artists…? The ‘Gang of Seven’ is taken already,” he said.

  “What should we call ourselves?”

  “How about, ‘The Taos Painters,’” said Pelton. “We’ve all come from the East Coast and migrated to the West for different reasons,” she said. “This name shows we’re Western artists now.”

  “Yeah, that’s true,” said Bisttram, “but it doesn’t say any more about us than that. What will make us stand out…why will we be different? Will we be like other Western artists who paint nature scenes, animals, mountains, and pueblos?”

  “We’re going to follow the Transcendental teachings and philosophy. Kandinsky and Blavatsky will be our role models,” said Jonson. “We’re going to focus on the abstract, but attempt to relate it to the real world. How about naming our group ‘The Transcendentalist Group of Western Artists’?”

  “Too complicated and too long,” replied Pelton. “How about, ‘The Transcendental Artist Group’? Or even better yet…‘The Transcendental Painting Group’? We could even use the initials, TPG.”

  “Now that has a great ring to it,” said Bisttram.

  “Actually that does sound interesting,” said Pelton.

  “I still say right now the public’s not ready for such abstract and conceptual art,” said Jonson. “We’ve got war as a real possibility in Europe…and we’ve got Communists and anti-Semites in this country. Do you know we wouldn’t even be able to paint this way in Germany right now? They’ve declared a moratorium and have restrictions on any type of modern art. They refer to it as ‘Entartete Kunst,’ or Degenerate Art. They recently publicly burned over 5,000 paintings, some of them from well-established artists. It’s real fascist stuff! We would most likely be jailed over there for even meeting and discussing this type of art. In America we’re just coming out of our worst Depression ever, and there’s a real possibility this country could be at war in a very short time. Who will appreciate and support this type of artwork here?”

  Agnes Pelton then spoke. “As artists, we paint and create what we feel and where our imaginations take us. We can’t base our work on who might or might not appreciate it! We also can’t base our work on world events happening at any particular time. There has always been appreciation for our work before, and there will be in the future. There are several large exhibits I know we can show at next year including the World’s Fair in New York,” she said.

  “Ask yourselves what the Nazis fear the most?” said Bisttram. “The imagination and free thinking is what scares them more than anything.…Their entire society is built on blind obedience to the propaganda, and conforming to their skewed philosophy. The way a select few view history, art, morality, political thought, and current events…and everyone gets in line and follows, or else. Abstract art and modern art require use of the imagination and critical thinking. That’s why this art is being collected and destroyed over there. It’s a real threat to them. The last thing they want to do is encourage free thinking.”

  Chapter I

  “Boom!” was the sound of the gavel the auctioneer smashed against his podium in the elegant room at the Grand Hotel National, in Lucerne, Switzerland. It was late June of 1939 and Hildebrand Gurlitt and the other Nazi art dealers were trying to sell the “Entartete Kunst” (Degenerate Art) that Goebbels had identified. Works from Pablo Picasso, Otto Dix, Lautrec, Matisse, Kirchner, Cezanne, Gauguin, Chagall, Van Gogh…and many more. There were hundreds of paintings for sale at this auction.

  “This fine painting is sold to the gentleman in the third row!!” the auctioneer yelled. There was a mixture of the usual wealthy buyers who frequented these high-priced auctions in European circles…and a good number of whom appeared to be less sophisticated attendees. All that really mattered on this day was that the prospective buyers had money to spend, and they could be induced to buy artwork that would support the Third Reich.

  The Nazis thought it an important enough occasion to hire the famous Theodor Fischer as auctioneer for this Degenerate Art Auction.…“What a rare and incredible piece for the discriminating collector! Ladies and Gentlemen, the bidding for this one-of-a-kind self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh—one of the great Expressionist artists recognized today—will begin at $20,000 Swiss Francs.” Fischer’s assistant held up the self-portrait of Van Gogh for the assembled crowd. Who will place the first bid on this beautiful and unique Expressionist’s self-portrait?” said Fischer.

  And the prospective buyers were there ready to purchase. The City of Liege, Belgium, sent a delegation on behalf of the city with five million Belgian Francs. The delegation spent this money on nine paintings which still hang in their municipal buildings to this day on display. Such were the kind of purchases made at the Lucerne auction—enriching the Nazi coffers by millions prior to the start of World War II only several months later.

  This was the art that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels had identified as “lacking true artistic merit,” and as “impure.” The Nazis had been confiscating art that was too abstract and “modern” for their taste and propaganda since the 1920s. Much of this artwork was stolen from Jews in Poland, France, Holland, and other Nazi-occupied countries from all over Europe. The overall objective was to move the art away from Germany while making profits for the Nazi regime. In this international game of big money art dealing, however, many hands would reach into the “profit cookie jar” long before any money ever made it back home. And sadly, the majority of origina
l Jewish owners would never live to see their prized works of art ever again.

  When it began in 1937, the “Degenerate Art Exhibit” was held in the Institute of Archeology building in Munich. At that time, about 650 works of modern art were displayed that the Nazis claimed were degenerate, products of Jews, Communists, and Bolsheviks and unfit for the German general population. Adolf Ziegler, head of the Reich Chamber of Culture and Hitler’s favorite artist, commented on the exhibition:

  Our patience with all those who have not been able to fall in line is at an end....What you are seeing here are the crippled products of madness, impertinence, and lack of talent...I would need several freight trains to clear our galleries of this rubbish... This will happen soon.

  Hitler’s restrictions on permissible and impermissible art nearly decimated all artistic creativity in Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler’s attitudes towards art were consistent with fascist propaganda itself: “Firmly believing that culture is the cornerstone of any enduring society.” Hitler recognized that art must play a major role in building the German nation based on his ideals. He articulated the goals of what he considered true German art: “It must develop from the collective soul of the people and express its identity; it must be national, not international; it must be comprehensive to the people; it must not be a passing fad, but strive to be eternal; it must be positive, not critical of society; it must be elevating, and represent the good, the beautiful, and the healthy.”

  Chapter II

  “Herr Diebner and Herr Heisenberg, what do you have that I can take to the Fuhrer?” said Erich Schumann in August 1939. Schumann was a General in the Wehrmacht and was appointed to lead the German Nuclear Research program by Hitler himself. Kurt Diebner was in charge of Kernforschungsrat (Nuclear Research Council) and was a military officer. Werner Heisenberg was a top scientist in Germany’s nuclear development and a Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 1932. Heisenberg was credited for developing the theory for quantum mechanics, and now in 1939, he led the Uranverein, or Uranium Club for Germany.