James J. Rorimer (1905–1966)
Autor de The Cloisters: The Building and The Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park
Sobre El Autor
Créditos de la imagen: James J. Rorimer [credit: Monuments Men Foundation]
Obras de James J. Rorimer
Monuments Man: The Mission to Save Vermeers, Rembrandts, and Da Vincis from the Nazis' Grasp (2022) 18 copias
Decorative Art from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Tapestry Room From Croome… (1964) 1 copia
Obras relacionadas
Art treasures of the Metropolitan; a selection from the European and Asiatic collectioins (1952) — Prólogo — 18 copias
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Nombre canónico
- Rorimer, James J.
- Nombre legal
- Rorimer, James Joseph
- Fecha de nacimiento
- 1905-09-07
- Fecha de fallecimiento
- 1966-05-11
- Género
- male
- Nacionalidad
- USA
- Lugar de nacimiento
- Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Lugar de fallecimiento
- New York, New York, USA
- Lugares de residencia
- New York, New York, USA
Paris, France - Educación
- Harvard University
Ecole Gory, Paris - Ocupaciones
- museum director
art historian
museum curator
author - Relaciones
- Rorimer, Anne (daughter)
Stout, George L. (colleague) - Organizaciones
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Cloisters Museum
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Subcommission
United States Army (WWII) - Biografía breve
- James Rorimer was born to a Jewish American family in Cleveland, Ohio; the family surname was originally Rohrheimer. He attended a private high school in Cleveland and spent the years 1920 to 1922 studying drawing and art at the École Gory in Paris. In 1927, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in fine arts and was immediately hired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, "the Met," thus beginning a career there that lasted his entire adult life. He rose through the ranks from his initial position as an assistant in the Decorative Arts Department to become Curator of Medieval Art in 1934. In this role, he continued the most important project of his former boss and mentor, Joseph Breck: the planning and construction of the Cloisters, the new medieval extension to the museum. Rorimer was named Curator of the Cloisters when it opened in 1938. Among the pieces he purchased for the museum were many that are now considered its signature works, including the Unicorn Tapestries. In 1943, Rorimer took a leave of absence from the Cloisters to join the U.S. Army in World War II. He was appointed as the head of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, known at the "Monuments Men," to find and preserve art treasures looted by the Nazis. His later book, Survival: The Salvage and Protection of Art in War (1950) detailed his experiences. After the war, he became Director of the Cloisters, and then in 1955, was named Director of the Met. During these years, he acquired many of the works for which the Met is now famous, including the painting Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer by Rembrandt. He died at age 60 following a heart attack. His daughter, Anne Rorimer, is also an art historian.
Miembros
Reseñas
The Cloisters por Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lending
James Rorimer, a 1927 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard in Fine Arts, spent the bulk of his career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was its Director from 1955 until his early death in 1966. His specialty was medieval art, and he became the first curator of the Cloisters when it opened in 1938.
His only time away from the Met was during World War II. He joined the Army as an infantry man, but his skills quickly led him to the Monuments Men. These were Army personnel charged with assessing war damage in Europe to historic structures and locating and protecting works of art stolen by the Germans. In 1950 Rorimer published a chronicle of his time in this work: SURVIVAL: THE SALVAGE AND PROTECTION OF ART IN WAR. The current MONUMENT MAN is a republication of the 1950 work, lavishly enhanced by photos, maps and other illustrations and by updated information. It is a handsome volume, as one expects from Rizzoli.
It reads as a combination of detective story and espionage tale. His work started in France days after the German withdrawal began; wartime privations and dangers were everywhere. His early tasks were assessments of damage to historic cathedrals, churches, monasteries, chateaux and other public structures. Alas, most of this damage came from Allied bombing and mortars. Happily, there are current photos in the book showing the results of reconstruction and repair efforts, often photographed after decades of work.
The detective story begins when Rorimer turns his attention to the location of plundered art taken by the Germans from museums, government and religious buildings and private, mostly Jewish, collections. During the '40s trainloads of multiple cars carried packed art out of France. But to where? Rorimer relied on Rose Valland, one of the only French employees remaining at the Jeu de Paume museum, which was the sorting center used by the Germans for stolen French art. She ingratiated herself with the German plunderers (keeping her knowledge of the German language a secret) and searched their documents at night. Her information led the Monuments Men to salt mines and other hiding places in Bavaria and Austria. Tens of thousands of stolen art pieces were recovered. These included paintings and etchings by these artists, among hundreds of others: Da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrant, Klimt, Ingres, Durer, Rubens, Bruegal, Fragonard, Delacroix, Goya, Gainsborough, Murillo, Renoir. Also recovered were jewelry and gold/silver works. Some pieces were damaged; many of those repairable. The intended final destination of these works was a to-be-built museum in Linz, Austria, Hitler's birthplace.
The greatest art thief was Hitler's deputy, Hermann Goering. He "collected" thousands of art works for his own use and attempted to transport the loot at the end of the war by truck and train to his hiding places in Austria. Some of the trains were intercepted by the Monuments Men, and Goering's storage locations in Austria were found.
The major job that ensued was to identify the art, its origin and owners, and return it. That process took many years, and in some cases it is still ongoing. The methodical Germans had created inventories of much of the stolen art, which inventories were crucial in determining ownership. There were multiple inventories in many places. Rorimer and his staff traced most of these, often with difficulty.
World War II brought suffering and death to Europe, injuries and death to the Allied and Nazi military and the Holocaust. This book shows, in addition, the endangerment of great art work, created from Egyptian and classical time onwards. Art work cannot be starved, tortured or killed. But it can be damaged, destroyed and lost. The efforts of the Monuments Men protected much of the plundered art. Rorimer's story is one of great determination and ingenuity, and it adds to our understanding of the War effort.… (más)
His only time away from the Met was during World War II. He joined the Army as an infantry man, but his skills quickly led him to the Monuments Men. These were Army personnel charged with assessing war damage in Europe to historic structures and locating and protecting works of art stolen by the Germans. In 1950 Rorimer published a chronicle of his time in this work: SURVIVAL: THE SALVAGE AND PROTECTION OF ART IN WAR. The current MONUMENT MAN is a republication of the 1950 work, lavishly enhanced by photos, maps and other illustrations and by updated information. It is a handsome volume, as one expects from Rizzoli.
It reads as a combination of detective story and espionage tale. His work started in France days after the German withdrawal began; wartime privations and dangers were everywhere. His early tasks were assessments of damage to historic cathedrals, churches, monasteries, chateaux and other public structures. Alas, most of this damage came from Allied bombing and mortars. Happily, there are current photos in the book showing the results of reconstruction and repair efforts, often photographed after decades of work.
The detective story begins when Rorimer turns his attention to the location of plundered art taken by the Germans from museums, government and religious buildings and private, mostly Jewish, collections. During the '40s trainloads of multiple cars carried packed art out of France. But to where? Rorimer relied on Rose Valland, one of the only French employees remaining at the Jeu de Paume museum, which was the sorting center used by the Germans for stolen French art. She ingratiated herself with the German plunderers (keeping her knowledge of the German language a secret) and searched their documents at night. Her information led the Monuments Men to salt mines and other hiding places in Bavaria and Austria. Tens of thousands of stolen art pieces were recovered. These included paintings and etchings by these artists, among hundreds of others: Da Vinci, Vermeer, Rembrant, Klimt, Ingres, Durer, Rubens, Bruegal, Fragonard, Delacroix, Goya, Gainsborough, Murillo, Renoir. Also recovered were jewelry and gold/silver works. Some pieces were damaged; many of those repairable. The intended final destination of these works was a to-be-built museum in Linz, Austria, Hitler's birthplace.
The greatest art thief was Hitler's deputy, Hermann Goering. He "collected" thousands of art works for his own use and attempted to transport the loot at the end of the war by truck and train to his hiding places in Austria. Some of the trains were intercepted by the Monuments Men, and Goering's storage locations in Austria were found.
The major job that ensued was to identify the art, its origin and owners, and return it. That process took many years, and in some cases it is still ongoing. The methodical Germans had created inventories of much of the stolen art, which inventories were crucial in determining ownership. There were multiple inventories in many places. Rorimer and his staff traced most of these, often with difficulty.
World War II brought suffering and death to Europe, injuries and death to the Allied and Nazi military and the Holocaust. This book shows, in addition, the endangerment of great art work, created from Egyptian and classical time onwards. Art work cannot be starved, tortured or killed. But it can be damaged, destroyed and lost. The efforts of the Monuments Men protected much of the plundered art. Rorimer's story is one of great determination and ingenuity, and it adds to our understanding of the War effort.… (más)
1 
bbrad | Sep 3, 2022 |
bbrad | Sep 3, 2022 | 
A wonderful little book, interesting for its presentation, not only its content. I wish there had been more content, that it hadn't been so short! And that there has been more than one colour illustration. For what it is, though, it gets 4 stars - and has gotten me very interested in investigating the people who the tapestries were created for, and whose hands they ended up in.
Once upon a time, color photography was extremely expensive to use in exhibit guidebooks. For that reason, this version of the Unicorn Tapestries has no color photos. Other than this small problem, this little pamphlet must have made its owners happy.
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Estadísticas
- Obras
- 15
- También por
- 7
- Miembros
- 335
- Popularidad
- #71,019
- Valoración
- 4.0
- Reseñas
- 8
- ISBNs
- 7
