Chasing Portraits: Author and Filmmaker Elizabeth Rynecki on the Legacy of Warsaw-Based Artist Moshe Rynecki (1881/1885 – 1943)

Warfare of Art & Law Podcast

Please visit the Moshe Rynecki website to view his work.
To learn more about Elizabeth Rynecki's documentary and book about her journey, Chasing Portraits, please visit the Chasing Portrait's website.
To view rewards for supporting the podcast, please visit Warfare's Patreon page.

Show Notes:

2:50 Moshe Rynecki is likened to an ethnographer and documented similar scenes that Roman Vishniac photographed

4:00 three surviving studies from Moshe’s time in the Warsaw Ghetto

5:00 Yehudit Shendar from Yad Vashem

8:00 Archives of Emanuel Ringelblum from the Warsaw Ghetto

9:15 Moshe’s decision to stay in Warsaw Ghetto to be with his people

13:30 Moshe hid 800 artworks;120 of the surviving artworks are with the Ryneckis

15:08 Warsaw’s Jewish Historical Institute has 52 works

15:14 Private collectors of Moshe’s work are in Canada, Israel, the U.S. and France

15:30 How the Jewish Historical Institute acquired the 52 works by Moshe in its collection

17:00 Restitution issues and historical justice

24:00 Artworks are also survivors with a story

25:00 Elizabeth Rynecki’s decision to author a book and create a film with this story

27:00 Elizabeth’s advice on seeking lost art: persistence and a sense of practicality

29:20 Books recommended by Elizabeth, including Landscape with Smoke Stacks: The Case of the Allegedly Plundered Degas that relates to a restitution case involving Simon Goodman

35:20 Poland’s approach to restitution

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Music by Toulme.
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Thanks so much for listening!
© Stephanie Drawdy [2024]