365 Days of Art: October 15 – Fascist Propaganda Discusses Artworks, Lee Krasner Has First Solo Show

Palermo devastated by American bombing, May 1943

Palermo devastated by American bombs, May 1943

October 15, 1943

Radio Rome provides this bit of Fascist propaganda:

The first ships left Sicily for London today with precious works of art, some of which will go to the British Museum and some to private collections”.

The idea is to create suspicion surrounding Americans interested in artworks (i.e., the Museum and Fine Arts Archives Program, AKA the Monuments Men). Given that American bombs have devastated Palermo just months earlier, feelings are already running high. A healthy dose of national pride doesn’t hurt either…what red-blooded Sicilian wants to see his or her cultural treasures going to private collectors in London, for pete’s sake??

Lee Krasner, Untitled, 1948

October 15, 1951

Lee Krasner has her first solo show at Betty Parsons Gallery