World War II

Two women and a man at a desk holding books and marking a map with pencils and rulers
One Hundred Years at the Library: Monuments Men and Women
Stephen J. Bury, Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian, explores one of the most fascinating eras in the Frick Art Reference Library’s hundred-year history. A photograph from the 1940s sheds light on the creation of maps at the library during World War II, which were made to prevent the destruction of at-risk cultural sites and works of art in war areas.
Two books stacked. The front cover features an artwork detail of a shell-shocked soldier.
Reading List: Art and World War II
In commemoration of the seventy-seventh anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II, Michelle McCarthy-Behler, Reference Lead, offers ten titles from the Frick Art Reference Library exploring art during and after the Second World War—from paintings on the front lines to art used as propaganda, the Monuments Men, and later restitution efforts.
oil painting of Perseus and Andromeda riding Pegasus through the sky
Tiepolo in Milan: The Lost Frescoes of Palazzo Archinto
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The Frick Collection presented a selection of paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs related to Giambattista Tiepolo’s first significant project outside of Venice, a series of ceiling frescoes for Palazzo Archinto in Milan that were destroyed during World War II.

Black and white photograph of the East Gallery of the Frick Collection in 1942 depicts war-time arrangement of collection.
Rearrangement and New Acquisitions During World War II
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During World War II, The Frick Collection underwent its first complete rearrangement since it was opened to the public in 1935. The removal of a number of works of art to a place of safety made possible an interesting and attractive rehanging of all the galleries.

The Frick During World War II

The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men were a multinational group of 350 men and women who volunteered for military service in order to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from destruction during World War II. In civilian life, many of them were museum directors, curators, artists, architects, and educators. These dedicated men and women tracked, located, and ultimately returned to their rightful owners more than five million artworks and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis.

The Frick Art Reference Library in World War II: Helping Save Europe's Art

Explore more about the Frick during World War II

Monuments Men Podcast

"The Frick Art Reference Library in World War II: Helping Save Europe's Art"
Inge Reist, Director of the Center for the History of Collecting, Frick Ar
Ruisdael

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29–1682)
Landscape with a Footbridge, 1652
Oil on canvas
38 3/4 x 62 5/8 in. (98.4 x 159.1 cm)
Purchased by The Frick Collection, 1949
Accession number: 1949.1.156

For more information, see Landscape with a Footbridge

video still of Stephen Bury pulling book item out of bag
One Hundred Years at the Library: Monuments Men and Women

Stephen J. Bury, Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian, presents a group of maps, guides, photos, and other objects related to the Frick Art Reference Library’s involvement in cultural preservation during World War II. From July 1943 to January 1944, the institution closed to the public to serve as the headquarters of the Committee on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas, part of the so-called Monuments Men program—a rare but pivotal time the library’s century-long history intersected with major world events.