Art Conversation: The World at War—Beyond Matisse’s Jazz

On the surface, Henri Matisse’s artist book Jazz is a dazzling display of bold colors and abstracted forms, recalling happy scenes from the circus and trips to Tahiti as well as folktales, and mythology. However, the exhibition Matisse’s Jazz: Rhythms in Color suggests an alternative reading, one rooted in the historical context of its creation—the spread of fascism and a world at war. This conversation between curator Emily Ziemba and Jacques Schuhmacher, executive director of Provenance Research, will explore the diverse ways in which the art world responded to and was affected by the ideology and actions of the Nazi regime.

Registration required - https://www.artic.edu/events/6400/conversation-the-world-at-war-beyond-matisses-jazz

Seating is limited. Register early!

Emily Ziemba is the director of curatorial administration and research curator for Prints and Drawings. Since joining the museum in 2001, she has contributed to several exhibitions, including The Artist and the Poet (2013), Undressed: The Fashion of Privacy (2013), Helen Frankenthaler Prints: The Romance of a New Medium (2018), Mel Bochner Drawings: A Retrospective (2022), Ellsworth Kelly: Portrait Drawings (2023), and Picasso: Drawing from Life (2024). In 2017, Emily was selected for the first exchange of German/American Provenance Researchers organized by the Smithsonian Institution and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation-National Museums in Berlin.

Jacques Schuhmacher, executive director of Provenance Research, leads the research into the history of the collection. He is an expert in the field of WW2-era provenance research, and author of Nazi-Era Provenance of Museum Collections. Prior to joining the Art Institute, he served as the Senior Provenance Research Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where he curated Concealed Histories: Uncovering the Story of Nazi Looting. He holds a doctorate in History from the University of Oxford, where he was co-director of the War Crimes Research Network.