Walter Farmer

Walter Ings Farmer (born  July 7, 1911 in Alliance, Ohio ; †  August 9, 1997 in Cincinnati ) was an American architect and designer and an officer in the United States Army . After the end of the Second World War, he worked in the American occupation zone as an art protection officer from June 1945 and headed the central collection point for works of art in Wiesbaden . In November 1945 he initiated a Wiesbaden ManifestoWell-known protest note by American art protection officers (so-called Monuments Men ) against the transfer of art treasures from German museums to the United States . The publication of this manifesto in American newspapers resulted in the works being returned to Germany in April 1949 . A year before his death, Walter Farmer received the Great Federal Cross of Merit in recognition of his work .

Life

Walter Farmer was born in Alliance, Ohio in 1911 and earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a bachelor's degree in architecture from Miami University in 1935 . He then worked as a designer at a private company until 1942 and as a lecturer at the Cincinnati Art Museum from 1936 to 1970 . In early 1942 he entered the service of the United States Army , in which he completed officer training in January 1943 and was then assigned to a pioneer unit. In April of the same year he became an adjutant in the 373rd Engineer Regiment, with which he was transferred to England .

After the end of the Second World War he reached Aschaffenburg with his unit , where he wrote an article in the army newspaper Stars and Stripes on the work of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas (MFA & A) became aware. In June 1945 he was transferred to the MFA & A at his own request and thus worked as an art protection officer for the American military government in Germany . In this function, he was responsible for setting up the Central Collecting Point for works of art in the State Museum in Wiesbaden , and was its director. Among other things, art treasures were stored here that had previously been kept in mines in Thuringia , including the bust of Nefertiti .

On November 6, 1945, he was ordered to prepare the transfer of 202 high-quality paintings from Berlin museums . On the following day, he organized a meeting of the art protection officers of the MFA & A stationed in Germany, at which they wrote a protest note known as the Wiesbaden Manifesto . The transport of the works to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC could not be prevented by this declaration. However, the Wiesbaden Manifesto was published in several American newspapers in early 1946, which led to numerous protests by then President Harry S. Truman . After controversial discussions and the exhibition of the paintings in 13 American cities, they were finally returned to the central collection point in Wiesbaden in April 1949.

Farmer returned to the USA in 1946, where he worked as a designer in Houston until 1949 , during which time he founded the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston there. From 1949 until his death he was a designer and owner of his own company in Cincinnati . In addition, he served as a lecturer at the University of Cincinnati from 1950 to 1967 . In 1978 he founded the Miami University Art Museum in Oxford, Ohio . He has been married twice and has one daughter. In 1997 he died in Cincinnati of complications from cancer .

Awards

Farmer was awarded an honorary doctorate from Miami University in 1973 and, in February 1996, the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of his services to the rescue of German art treasures . The Grand Lodge of the Old Free and Accepted Masons of Germany recognized his work in 1997 with the Humanitarian Prize of the German Freemasons. In addition, he received several design awards during his professional career.

Fonts (selection)

• The History Of The Miami University Art Museum 1966–1981: Carefully Supported With Original Documents And A Critique Of Its Last Two Years. Oxford OH 1981
• In America since 1607: The Hollingsworth, Farmer, and Judkins Families, Their Ancestors, Descendants, And Many Related Families. Baltimore 1987 and Houston 2002
• The Wiesbaden Manifesto of 7 November 1945. Berlin 1997
• The Safekeepers: A Memoir Of The Arts At The End Of World War II. Cincinnati 1994 and Berlin and New York 2000; German edition: The Preservers of the Heritage: The Fate of German Cultural Assets at the End of the Second World War. Berlin 2002

literature

• William Whobrey: The Victory Duties. Walter Farmer and the Wiesbaden Manifesto. In: Walter Farmer: The Preservers of the Heritage: The Fate of German Cultural Assets at the End of the Second World War. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89949-010-X , pp. 223-229
• Walter Ings Farmer, CV. In: Walter Farmer: The Preservers of the Heritage: The Fate of German Cultural Assets at the End of the Second World War. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-89949-010-X , p. 129
• Kleinau: Died: Walter Farmer, 86 . In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 1997, pp. 210 ( online ).

Web links

• Biography of Walter Farmer In: Homepage of the Monuments Men Foundation (English)