EXILED ARTISTS

Suzanne Muchnic’s article on the L.A. County Museum of Art exhibition “Exiles and Emigres: The Flight of European Artists From Hitler” left me deeply touched (“Art in a World Gone Mad,” Feb. 16). Was it really over 60 years ago that I came to New York as a Hitler refugee, went to work for the International Relief Assn. and associated with many of the artists featured in Stephanie Barron’s exhibition?

Barron and her German associate, Sabine Eckmann, vividly illustrate a nearly forgottenaspect of the ‘30s: the American public was unaware of Nazi atrocities, and the belief that the Hitler regime was here to stay was widespread. Mainstream America had little sympathy for the people the Nazis persecuted, especially those weird abstract artists.

People who appreciated and supported the creative talent of the avant-garde were few indeed. The exhibition recognizes some of the most prominent ones, such as Peggy Guggenheim, Alfred Barr and Reinhold Niebuhr. Notably missing, however, are the contributions of the American Friends Service Committee, whose Friendship House became a gathering place for refugee artists. They succeeded, where others had failed, in convincing the sponsors of the 1939 New York World’s Fair to include an exhibit of art banned by the Nazis.

The show was curated by Kate Steinitz, herself a refugee artist from Germany. She chose the title “New Americans,” implying hopefully that these artists and their work would be welcomed and appreciated on these shores.

ILSE S. BERG

Alhambra