A singular man in the history of modern art; betrayed by Vichy; is the subject of this riveting family memoirOn September 20; 1940; one of the most famous European art dealers disembarked in New York; one of hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing Vichy France. Leaving behind his beloved Paris gallery; Paul Rosenberg had managed to save his family; but his paintingsmdash;modern masterpieces by Ceacute;zanne; Monet; Sisley; and othersmdash;were not so fortunate. As he fled; dozens of works were seized by Nazi forces and the art dealers own legacy was eradicated.More than half a century later; Anne Sinclair uncovered a box filled with letters. "Curious in spite of myself;" she writes; "I plunged into these archives; in search of the story of my family. To find out who my mothers father really was . . . a man hailed as a pioneer in the world of modern art; who then became a pariah in his own country during the Second World War. I was overcome with a desire to fit together the pieces of this French story of art and war."Drawing on her grandfathers intimate correspondence with Picasso; Matisse; Braque; and others; Sinclair takes us on a personal journey through the life of a legendary member of the Parisian art scene in My Grandfathers Gallery. Rosenbergs story is emblematic of millions of Jews; rich and poor; whose lives were indelibly altered by World War II. Sinclairs journey to reclaim her family history paints a picture of modern art on both sides of the Atlantic between the 1920s and 1950s that reframes twentieth-century art history.
#891060 in eBooks 2014-10-15 2014-10-15File Name: B00IWTWBW6
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. The Rise and Fall of the Glass ArmonicaBy NancyAdairBAngelic Music by Corey Mean is the story of Ben Franklins Glass Armonica; the invention that gave him the "greatest personal satisfaction."When we lived in Philadelphia in the mid-1970s to late 1980s we saw the Glass Armonica at the Franklin Institute. And we had heard a man perform on musical glasses in several venues around the time of the Bicentenniel. So I had heard the ethereal; angelic music of the musical glasses.I had not realized that the Glass Armonica was all the rage in the 18th c and early 19th c. Chamber music including the instrument was written by Mozart; Beethoven; and Handel. Vituosos toured Europe playing the music that made women swoon.It gained a tarnished reputation in the early 19th c when people believed the music could drive one mad and cause illness; or summon the dead with magical powers. Mesmer used it in his seances.As music changed from small ensambles to large symphonic orchestras in halls the Armonica fell out of favor; relegated to being a museum curiosoity. But in the last twenty years it has found a revival; electronically enchanced; and used in pop music; movies; opera; and chamber music.I was fascinated by this book. Corey covers the rise and fall of the musical glasses; the development of glassmaking; early musical glasses; Franklins musical background and development of the Armonica; the hey-day of the Glass Armonica; and Mesmers career and his use of the instrument; including his comissioning an opera from Mozart; the decline and revival of the instrument.When German glassblower Gerhard Finkenbeiner saw a Glass Armonica in a musem in 1960 it was a curiosity. He rediscovered how to create the glass and instrument and the instrument found a revival.Today a few people are experts; including Dennis James whose collaboration with Linda Ronstadt on six CDs revived an interest in the instrument. A a boy he saw Franklins instruemtent at the Franklin Institute; in music school he asked what it sounded like and his professor answered; "No one knows. It hasnt been played for two hundred years." Now he leads the worlds first known glass music studies program at Rutgers University.I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
