Portrait of Wally: Art, Nazi Plunder, and Museum Ethics

Documentary Film and Contemporary Art Philosophy

Documentaries about art and artists, such as Portrait of Wally, have the power to convey the philosophy, methodology, and ethos of contemporary art by covering a variety of perspectives pertaining to both the process of making art and the techniques of documentary filmmaking. The medium of film allows for a multimedia presentation of issues that warrant attention. Moreover, documentary film permits the exploration of the process and politics of art. In Portrait of Wally, subtitled "the face that launched a thousand lawsuits," a conflict is immediately established between the painting itself and the valuation of modern art.

Directed by Andrew Shea, the film has a multidimensional, multifaceted, and multidisciplinary focus. The documentary explores not only the artwork itself but also the broader institutional and ethical questions surrounding art ownership and museum practices. By using film as a medium, Shea demonstrates how documentary filmmaking can reveal hidden power structures and historical injustices embedded within cultural institutions.

The title refers most literally to Egon Schiele's 1912 painting, which had been on display at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. The titular Wally refers to Walburga Neuzil. Thus, there is the dimension or layer at which Neuzil herself lives. The viewer is immediately drawn into the film not only because of the power and potency of the image itself and her haunting blue eyes, but also because the painting has transcended time. Wally has etched herself on film, and her portrait has a political dimension that she would not have foreseen in her time. The same is true, of course, of Schiele.

The Painting, the Subject, and Historical Context

Egon Schiele was a controversial and influential Austrian expressionist painter, and his work often depicted frank eroticism and psychological intensity. The painting of Wally captures her distinctive gaze and presence in a way that has endured across generations. What makes this particular portrait significant is not only its aesthetic and emotional power, but also its journey through history—a journey that would become inseparable from questions of theft, ownership, and justice.

Portrait of Wally takes on its political and trans-temporal importance when the viewer is introduced to art dealer Lea Bondi Jaray, who had come into possession of Schiele's monumental work in Vienna. Her presence raises a host of emotional issues related to art collection in general and the connections collectors have with their pieces, which were often acquired directly from the artists and have a value beyond that which can be monetized on the current market. Bondi had to flee Vienna during the Nazi years, leaving her precious collection behind, as Jews had to do or die.

The Nazis appropriated Bondi's collection, including the titular painting. Clearly, the Nazi role is one of theft. With impunity, Nazis were appropriating art collections held by Jews throughout the Reich. Nazi loot exists all over the world, and this film draws attention to one high-profile case. There are many others, which is why the film will remain relevant for legal historians, art historians, and historians of all types.

Nazi Appropriation and the Bondi Collection

One of the beneficiaries or stakeholders of Nazi art depicted in Portrait of Wally is Rudolf Leopold of the Leopold Museum in Vienna. Leopold claimed ownership of the painting officially in the years subsequent to World War Two, with no apparent sense of remorse. His feelings toward Jews are irrelevant when it comes to the legal question of who would own the painting in the generations subsequent to Bondi's death in 1969.

The film takes a strong stance in favor of the victims of the Holocaust, but does so at the expense of exploring the deeper issues of the meaning of art collection and the valuation of art. Films like this naturally enhance the value of arts by the artists they depict. Egon Schiele is far from being unknown, but he is not as famous as his friend and contemporary Gustav Klimt. Portrait of Wally is not Klimt-like in its approach, but several of Schiele's other paintings certainly are, particularly in their depiction of frank lust and eroticism.

MOMA, the Leopold Museum, and Commercial Interests

The film based on Schiele's painting avoids discussion of the art history of the painting, ironically doing a disservice to Schiele while championing the rights of collectors above those of the artists themselves. Schiele had a relatively short career compared with that of Klimt, whose work has been heavily commercialized. Likewise, the film does the painting a disservice by drawing attention more to its ownership than to its emotional content or aesthetic form.

In any case, Portrait of Wally is the brainchild of its filmmaker and a work of art in its own right. When Portrait of Wally showed up in a MOMA display in 1997, all sorts of questions and eyebrows were raised. What is most interesting about the story is the fact that MOMA initially did not want to take responsibility. Fearing for its own financial losses and reputation, MOMA sided more with the Leopold Museum as if its loyalties lay with the "art world" and its commercial interests than with ethics.

The film is poignantly ironic because while MOMA protested the suit, it will benefit from the production indirectly because of the way the film draws attention to Schiele. Schiele, the sort of shadow side of the more populist Klimt, could now become commercially viable. Prior to the production of the documentary, Schiele would have been considered like Klimt's cruder contemporary. Yet the gift shops may now be brimming with Portrait of Wally memorabilia on both sides of the Atlantic. It is "not an ethics issue, it's a money issue," as the film makes poignantly clear (Shea).