ADFAS talk: "Art and the Third Reich"

Leigh Capel speaks on "Art and the Third Reich"

This lecture will look into Hitler’s often overlooked artistic background; a frustrated artist in the traditional school, rejected due to the rise of Modern Art in the early 20th Century. It will also analyse some of the most important artworks and artists lost in Hitler’s war on Modern Art, the Monuments Men and the search for the stolen art, and the aftermath and impact on Post Wat art, including the impact and influence of the Holocaust on past war and immigrant art in Australia.

Leigh Capel says: "I fell into art by accident. I studied filmmaking in Sydney and San Francisco, worked on the London Olympics Games with NBCUniversal, then moved home in 2013 without a job. As a favour to my mum, a small auction room gave me a start moving furniture and disposing of dead people’s possessions. Within six months I was the fine art photographer for the business and within two years, the art researcher and valuer. Following stints at Menzies and Mossgreen, I finally rose to Sotheby’s, working on Russell Crowe’s ‘Art of Divorce’, ‘Kirk Pengilly (INXS) Collection’ and ‘Important Art from the John Schaeffer Collection’. Disenchanted with the auction industry and working for other people’s dreams, I quit my job to start my own art gallery in Petersham as an extension of mum’s antique furniture business, Belle Epoque Fine Art and Antiques. I had just turned 30."