Join the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana on Thursday, October 27th at the Speed Art Museum for a special program about art restitution, cultural heritage, and European Jewry. This month, we’ll be welcoming foreign correspondent and culture writer, Anne-Marie O’Connor, to Louisville to discuss the history of Gustav Klimt’s famous painting, The Woman in Gold and its impact on the diversity of Judaism globally.

Completed in 1907, Gustav Klimt’s The Woman in Gold was considered an innovative work for its time, breaking away from the more traditional art methods eschewed by the “Vienna Secessionists.” Thus, for many European Jews and art enthusiasts alike, the work is heralded as a point of cultural heritage and pride. Yet, behind this work’s revered elegance is a rather tumultuous history—one involving theft, arbitration, and eventual restitution. Initially stolen by the Nazis prior to World War II and thereafter withheld by the Austrian State Gallery, this esteemed work was rightfully reclaimed in 2006 by Maria Altman, the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (the woman depicted in the painting).

The restitution of this painting has had resounding effects in the world of art and serves as a hallmark case of the intrinsic ties that bind cultural heritage, art, and identity together.

Complete with a film-screening of The Woman in Gold and post-film discussion led by Anne-Marie O’Connor, author of The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, this event will reveal the significance art plays in cultural identity and heritage.

*Notice: This is event is NOT part of the “World @ Home” Monthly Speaker Program; thus, WAC paid member benefits cannot be applied to attend this program (no free tickets are available)

Event Agenda:

5:30 P.M. | Event Registration and Networking Reception
6:30 P.M. | Film-screening begins
8:30 P.M. | Post-film Discussion and Q&A, led by Anne-Marie O’Connor and Erika Holmquist-Wall
9:30 P.M. | Conclusion of event

Cost:

General Public (Non-WAC Members) | $65.00/person

World Affairs Council Paid Members* | $50.00/person

*[“WAC Paid Members” include: Student Backpackers ($25 level), World Travelers ($100 level), & Global Leaders ($250 level)]

About the Speaker:

Anne-Marie O’Connor is a veteran foreign correspondent and culture writer who has covered everything from post-Soviet Cuba to American artists and intellectuals. O’Connor attended Vassar and the San Francisco Art Institute and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where she and fellow students co-created an award-winning documentary on the repression of mural artists after the 1973 military coup in Chile. She covered the wars in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala as a Reuters bureau chief in Central America; the Shining Path guerrillas in Peru, coups in Haiti and U.S. interventions in Haiti and Panama; and covered Cuba and Haiti for a newspaper chain. At the Los Angeles Times she chronicled the violence of Mexico’s Arellano-Felix drug cartel, U.S. political convention; and profiled such figures as Nelson Mandela, George Soros, Joan Didion, John McCain, and Maya Lin. Her story on Maria Altmann’s effort to recover the family Klimt collection appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine in 2001. She has written for Esquire, The Nation, and The Christian Science Monitor. She currently contributes to The Washington Post from Jerusalem.