Until recently, professional Jewish women in Toronto between the ages of 40 and 55 lacked opportunities to take part in community programs specifically targeted to their demographic.
An attempt to fill the void began Feb. 25, when the business and professional division of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Women’s Philanthropy marked the beginning of a new chapter.
The inaugural event, held at the Lonsdale Gallery, featured guest speaker Simon Houpt, the Globe and Mail’s senior media writer and author of Museum of the Missing: A History of Art Theft.
“Professional women want to interact and network with other professional women, and they want content in their programming. We are hoping to fill that need through education and engagement,” said Shira Lester-Cohen, senior campaign associate of the Women’s Philanthropy division.
“Alison Himel, our incoming chair for 2015, often expresses that the primary goal of Women’s Philanthropy is to engage women in order to increase our donor base so that we can better serve our over 100 partner schools and agencies.”
Event chair Caroline Bokar said the idea to invite Houpt to tell the true story behind the blank spaces on museum walls was that of committee member Leanne Hazon, also a journalist.
“The history of art theft is, certainly, a very interesting one, particularly alongside tales of its recovery. Its current day relevance was glaringly apparent to our entire committee, particularly since more than 1,400 works of stolen art were just found last year at Cornelius Gurlitt’s apartment in Munich and, more recently, another 60 or so in his Salzburg house,” Bokar said. Gurlitt had inherited the artwork from his father, who was an art dealer.
Houpt’s lecture highlighted the unfortunate reality of art theft around the world. In recent years, this theft has captured the public imagination more than ever before, spurred by real life incidents (the snatching of Edvard Munch’s well-known masterwork The Scream) and the glamorous fantasy of such Hollywood films as The Thomas Crown Affair.
The truth is, Houpt said, according to INTERPOL records, more than 20,000 stolen works of art are missing, including Rembrandts, Renoirs, van Goghs and Picassos. Art theft is the third-largest form of illegal trade in the world, as there is a great deal of emphasis on monetary value.
Aside from shattering myths about the subject, Houpt touched upon the search for Nazi looted art and then addressed several audience questions.
Bokar said she was “absolutely thrilled” with the success of the event. “We wanted to create a special evening at which career women and their friends could gather at a lovely venue, get acquainted and learn about an interesting and relevant topic.”
She said another important component of the event was that it encouraged attendees to bring art supplies that the committee could then donate to Jewish Immigrant Aid Services for distribution to children.
“I was so immensely touched to realize that everyone participated so eagerly.”
The business and professional division of UJA’s Women’s Philanthropy will hold its next event on April 3. For more information, visit www.jewishtoronto.com.
