World War II Exhibit Asks Visitors, ‘What Would You Do?’

World War II Exhibit Asks Visitors, ‘What Would You Do?’

<!-- end jp-progress --><!-- end jp-controls -->Listen<!-- playpause --><!-- jp-time-holder --> For many, the stakes and the scale of World War II are hard to fathom. It was a war fought around the world, against powerful, determined regimes in Europe and the Pacific; some 65 million people died. And as the number of people who have actual memories of the war dwindle — as of next year, there will be fewer than 1 million living veterans — the mission of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans becomes all the more urgent.This weekend, the museum is opening a new wing — part of a $325 million expansion — with new, interactive exhibits that it hopes will give visitors a better understanding of the ethical and emotional challenges people faced during the war."A lot of people take it for granted that we would've won," says Gordon Mueller, the museum's president and CEO, "but nobody was sure about that when the war started."Mueller and his friend, the late historian Stephen Ambrose, founded the museum, which opened in 2000.Construction workers and museum staff spent the past week adding the final touches to the new wing, also known as the U.S. Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. One of its objectives is to show America's industrial might during the war.According to Mueller, Americans knew the threats of World War II were real, and civilians and corporations came together to help."Bill Knudsen from General Motors and Don Nelson from Sears and all these major companies helped FDR and the military understand what was needed to mass produce planes and tanks and jeeps on a scale never ever done before," Mueller says.But the museum also looks at how the war affected individuals.The Young Japanese-AmericanThe words "What Would You Do?" flash across huge screens where short films present different scenarios of the moral dilemmas people faced during World War II."It's now 1943 and you are a young Japanese-American," says a voice in one film. "You and your family and friends have been held in an internment camp for over a year.""The United States interned thousands of Japanese-Americans," says historian and author Rick Atkinson, who serves as a consultant to the museum. "They were rounded up and put into camps. It was a disgraceful episode in our history."According to Atkinson, as the war effort's need for manpower intensified, a special Japanese-American unit was formed."If you were a young Japanese-American and your parents and your family had been rounded up and put in a camp in Idaho or California or someplace and the conditions were austere, and you were treated as an enemy alien," Atkinson says, "would you volunteer to serve your country by joining one of these units?"Or, the film asks, "would you refuse to join the Army, aiding a government that has forfeited your trust?"Museum visitors will have to decide. They cast their votes and later find out what really happened.The Army PhotographerIn another scenario, you are a U.S. Army photographer at the liberation of the concentration camp at Dachau."And when the camp was liberated in April 1945," Atkinson says, "of course it was a horrible place."A short film sets the scene: "You spot 40 boxcars by the side of the road. You stop and climb to the top of the cars to take a look. The cars are packed with dead bodies: Jews murdered by the Nazis.""The photographer was given the assignment to shoot the liberation, and what he photographed was murder," Atkinson says.The film continues: "Incensed by these unspeakable atrocities, some of the liberating American soldiers take German SS guards, line them up against a coal yard wall and shoot them, killing 17 and wounding many others.""If you are that photographer," Atkinson asks, "do you then turn in the film that you have shot, or do you, knowing that it will show American soldiers behaving badly, do you destroy the film?"Atkinson says all of these scenarios are grounded in history."And, of course, a real moral dilemma," he adds. "There's never a right choice. It's never easy and that's the whole point."The USS TangThe museum also wants visitors to get a sense of the tension and fear that millions of American soldiers felt, including at the moment of an attack. They've created what Mueller calls a "multisensory simulation" experience of the sinking of the USS Tang.In October 1944, during a battle with Japanese ships, the submarine surfaced and fired a torpedo. But that torpedo malfunctioned and the vessel sank after being hit by its own ammunition.The museum has recreated that final mission — along with a slightly larger replica. Inside the submarine, groups of visitors will reenact the event. Each person will be given the name of an actual crew member from the USS Tang and assigned a battle station."When that torpedo swings around and hits," Mueller explains, "this whole thing is going to jolt and is going to start sinking and you're going to sense that water's coming in and you're going to feel that blow and that you're going down."When it's over, visitors will learn what happened to each crew member.According to Mueller, "[Lt. Cmdr. Richard] O'Kane and others — a few others — were thrown into the water on the surface and a number of others escaped from the bottom using their Momsen lungs from 180 feet. Some died in the ascent. Nine survived in total [and] were taken to Japanese prison camps and tortured for the next year or so."A Vivid HistoryBy playing the role of an actual crew member or by confronting the ethical issues that arose, Mueller and Atkinson hope World War II will become more palpable to visitors."For young people in particular," Atkinson says, "World War II is increasingly as remote as the Revolution or the Peloponnesian War and this gives them an opportunity to understand it. It's very interactive. It's very vivid. Sometimes it's very disturbing."The National WWII Museum isn't done expanding — two more buildings are scheduled to open over the next few years. In one planned exhibit, visitors will be given a dog tag and follow the journey of an actual participant in the war.Copyright 2013 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.  TranscriptSCOTT SIMON, HOST:This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The men and women who lived through World War II are dying out. More than 16 million Americans served in uniform during the war. But by next year, there will be less than a million living veterans from that war. And that makes the mission of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans all the more urgent. This weekend the museum is opening a new wing, part of a $300 million expansion. As NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, the museum hopes that its new, interactive exhibits will give visitors a better understanding of the ethical and emotional challenges people faced in the war.ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: For many people, the stakes and the scale of World War II are very hard to fathom. It was a war fought around the world against powerful, determined regimes in Europe and the Pacific. Some 65 million people died.GORDON MUELLER: A lot of people take it for granted that we would've won but nobody was sure about that when the war started.BLAIR: Gordon Nick Mueller is president of the National World War II Museum. He and his friend, the late historian Stephen Ambrose, founded the museum which opened in 2000. This week, construction workers and museum staff were still busy putting on the final touches to the new wing, which is called the U.S. Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, and showing America's industrial might during the war is one of its objectives. Mueller says it was a time when Americans knew the threats were real. He says civilians and corporations came together to help.MUELLER: Bill Knudsen from General Motors and Don Nelson from Sears and all these major companies helped FDR and the military understand what was needed to mass produce planes and tanks and jeeps on a scale never ever done before.BLAIR: Alongside the big machinery used in big battles, the museum also looks at how the war affected individuals. Flashing across huge screens are the words: What would you do? Short films present some of the moral dilemmas people faced during World War II.(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It's now 1943 and you are a young Japanese-American. You and your family and friends have been held in an internment camp for over a year.BLAIR: Historian and author Rick Atkinson is one of the consultants to the National World War II Museum.RICK ATKINSON: The United States interned thousands of Japanese-Americans. They were rounded up and put into camps. It was a disgraceful episode in our history.BLAIR: Atkinson says as the need for manpower intensified, special Japanese-American units were formed.ATKINSON: If you were young Japanese-American and your parents and your family had been rounded up and put in a camp in Idaho or California or someplace and the conditions were austere, and you were treated as an enemy alien, would you volunteer to serve your country by joining one of these units?(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Or would you refuse to join the army, aiding a government that has forfeited your trust.BLAIR: Museum visitors will have to decide. They cast their votes and later find out what really happened. In another scenario, you are a U.S. Army photographer at the liberation of the concentration camp Dachau.ATKINSON: And when the camp was liberated in April 1945, of course, it was a horrible place.(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You spot 40 boxcars by the side of the road. You stop and climb to the top to take a look. The cars are packed with dead bodies, Jews murdered by the Nazis.ATKINSON: The photographer was given the assignment to shoot the liberation and what he photographed was murder.(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Incensed by these unspeakable atrocities, some of the liberating American soldiers take German SS guards, line them up against a coal yard wall and shoot them, killing 17 and wounding many others.ATKINSON: If you are that photographer, do you then turn in the film that you have shot or do you, knowing that it will show American soldiers behaving badly, do you destroy the film?BLAIR: Atkinson says these scenarios are grounded in history.ATKINSON: And, of course, a real moral dilemma, there's never a right choice. It's never easy. And that's the whole point.BLAIR: The National World War II Museum also wants visitors to get a sense of the tension and fear that millions of American soldiers felt, including at the moment of an attack. So, they've created what Nick Mueller calls a multi-sensory simulation experience.MUELLER: So, we're in the engine room of the USS Tang right now. And...BLAIR: The museum has created a slightly larger replica of the submarine the USS Tang. In October of 1944, during a battle with Japanese ships, the submarine surfaced and fired a torpedo that malfunctioned. The USS Tang sank after being hit by one of its own torpedoes. The museum has recreated its final mission. Inside the submarine, groups of visitors will reenact the event. Each person will be given the name of an actual crew member from the USS Tang and assigned a battle station.MUELLER: When the torpedoes are fired, it'll be someone over there who will follow the order of the captain to fire the torpedo, press the button and they go. And you'll see them being loaded. And then, of course, when that torpedo swings around and hits this whole thing is going to jolt and is going to start sinking and you're going to sense the water's coming in and you're going to feel that blow and that you're going down.BLAIR: When it's over, visitors will find out what happened to each crew member.MUELLER: Captain O'Kane and a few others were thrown into the water on the surface. And a number of others escaped from the bottom using their Momsen lungs from 180 feet. Some died in the ascent. Nine survived in total, were taken to Japanese prison camps and tortured for the next year or so.BLAIR: By playing the role of an actual crew member, and by confronting the ethical issues that arose, Nick Mueller and historian Rick Atkinson hope World War II will be more palpable for visitors.ATKINSON: For young people in particular, World War II is increasingly as remote as the Revolution or the Peloponnesian War. And this gives them a chance to understand it. It's very interactive. It's very vivid. Sometimes it's very disturbing.BLAIR: The new wing of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans opens this weekend. But they're not done expanding. Two more buildings are scheduled to open over the next few years. In one exhibit, visitors will be given a dog tag and follow the journey of an actual participant in the war. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
Royal Street Gallery Show Leaves Quite an Impression

Royal Street Gallery Show Leaves Quite an Impression

<!-- end jp-progress --><!-- end jp-controls -->Listen<!-- playpause --><!-- jp-time-holder -->A show of Impressionist painters at M.S. Rau Antiques, on Royal Street. Amid the bustle of the French Quarter are some rooms well back from the street that are adorned with 40 Impressionist paintings. While some are for sale, all are free to behold.Bill Rau’s family has operated their antique store on Royal Street for 100 years. They decided to mark the occasion with a look back at what was most popular when it first opened. A century ago, Impressionism was all the rage.“It’s certainly the most famous that we deal in, but it’s also something that we love, and because we’ve been in business for so long that we also knew where a lot of great pieces were,” said Rau. “We couldn’t have an exhibition of Raphael pieces because we could never get those. But certainly Impressionism, we knew where a lot of the bodies were buried.”As he walked through the show gallery tucked in back of the shop, just past the knight in shining armor, Rau described some of the paintings on display and what makes them so special. One is an early still-life by Paul Gauguin.“It’s a blue vase, a wonderful blue vase. And the blue is interesting. It brings back the Renaissance, because during the Renaissance to make blue they would actually take pure lapis and grind it up, and this is one of those few vases — one of the few blues — you’ll ever see done after the Renaissance that has that same feel to it,” Rau said. Gauguin consciously worked to make it in a classical vein, according to Rau, “And it’s on a book of music and the most beautiful flowers out of there, and it’s signed by Gauguin and it’s quite early. It’s 1874. So it’s really in a great period of his, and it’s just a beautiful, extraordinarily rare work of art.”And the price tag? $4.8 million.A painting featured on a 19th century European art book published by Rau is not done by one of the well-known stars, but its style and use of light is unmistakable as Impressionist. It’s called “Woman in a Canoe” from 1876 by Giuseppe DeNittis, and is owned by a New Orleans collector.“There’s very few paintings that have it all,” Rau said. “It’s a wonderful lady going down what we could call a bayou, but a stream, in a beautiful white flowing silk dress with her parasol keeping her in the shade in a canoe. And it’s just stunning. There’s a whole bunch of things to make it wonderful.“This is a hard one to classify,” he continued. “It’s definitely an Impressionist painting, but there was a period of painting called Belle Époque. What that means was really was showing the glories and greatness of France. And these beautifully dressed women, so she’s very Belle Époque: the parasol and the back of light’s coming through and it just glows. It’s one of those paintings that when you look at it you stop and go ‘That is a true work of art.’ It’s as fine as any painting you’ll ever see anywhere in the world, in any museum.”Nearby is one small painting, about 17-by-6 inches across. The name, however, is big. Claude Monet. And he painted it for a room in his art dealer’s home.“Monet put a lot of effort and painting panels on this most beautiful room,” said Rau. “We have pictures of the room. Unfortunately the room was disassembled in the 1930s. But all the panels match, and he did these wonderful daffodil flowers, and in beautiful yellows and greens with blue backgrounds and pinks and just something that’s extraordinary.”Standing near Rau as he was describing some of the show’s paintings was Lisa Rotondo-McCord. She’s curator of Asian art at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She stopped by to see works by Impressionists who were influenced by Japanese art.“Monet had over 200 Japanese prints in his collection in his living room in Giverny,” said Rotondo-McCord.   She explains how a European movement was influenced by Asia. It began when Japanese art was featured at the Paris World’s Fair of 1867. And she says the Monet at Rau is an example.“’Daffodils’ — which I realize is made for a dining room and was a panel, part of a larger room. But it’s also the format of scroll painting for Japan. This is a typical proportion for Japanese scrolls. It’s very, in this case, smaller than a lot of scrolls, and it’s also just the flowers against a flat background, which, again, we know that he owned prints that showed the same kind of principles.”Another European painter is featured in the final part of the show. It demonstrates how Impressionist techniques were adapted into the post-Impressionist and other later movements. That painter?“He’s most famous not because he was a painter but because he was one of the most famous people of all times. And it was painted by Sir Winston Churchill,” said Rotondo-McCord.It’s Churchill’s depiction of a Roman aqueduct in the south of France. Painting became one of Churchill’s favorite pastimes. His work is featured at the show alongside masters of the era.The show is open to the public through January 4 – Monday through Saturday.M.S. Rau Antiques630 Royal Street, New Orleans(504) 523-5660