Attorney E. Randol Schoenberg was able to accomplish what few thought was possible—He recovered Gustav Klimt’s famous “Golden Lady” painting, which was stolen by the Nazis in 1938. Schoenberg’s experiences are the subject of a newly released movie, Woman in Gold, which he will discuss at the May 6 Holocaust Living History Workshop (HLHW) event. His talk, “Whatever Happened to Klimt’s Golden Lady,” is sponsored by Phyllis and Daniel Epstein. HLWH is a collaboration between the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies program.
Schoenberg, a top litigator and the grandson of composer Arnold Schoenberg, succeeded in getting back the “Golden Lady” painting and other works of art after a seven-year struggle against the Austrian government. Woman in Gold—starring Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, and Katie Holmes— is the true story of Schoenberg’s decision to take on a seemingly hopeless case for a close family friend, Maria Altmann, who was trying to recover six Klimt paintings stolen from her family home in Austria in 1938. The famous painting, officially called “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” depicts Altmann’s aunt, swathed in a glittering mosaic of gold.
Woman in Gold is based on Schoenberg and Altmann’s experiences, which are also the subject of the Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Blauer, the 2012 book by Anne-Marie O’Connor.
The May 6 talk will take place at 5 p.m. at the Copley International Conference Center on the UC San Diego campus. The event will begin at 4:30 p.m., with light refreshments. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended. To reserve seats, and for more information: https://hlhw-klimt.eventbrite.com. For more information about the Holocaust Living History Workshop, contact Susanne Hillman at hlhw@ucsd.edu or 858-534-7661 or visit: http://library.ucsd.edu/hlhw.