The House of Fragile Things: Jewish Art Collectors and the Fall of France

Synopsis

A powerful history of Jewish art collectors in France, and how an embrace of art and beauty was met with hatred and destruction&“Alluring and disturbing. . . . The depths of French anti-Semitism is the stunning subject that Mr. McAuley lays bare. . . . [He] tells this haunting saga in eloquent detail. As French anti-Semitism rises once again today, the effect is nothing less than chilling.&”—Diane Cole, Wall Street Journal In the dramatic years between 1870 and the end of World War II, a number of prominent French Jews—pillars of an embattled community—invested their fortunes in France&’s cultural artifacts, sacrificed their sons to the country&’s army, and were ultimately rewarded by seeing their collections plundered and their families deported to Nazi concentration camps. In this rich, evocative account, James McAuley explores the central role that art and material culture played in the assimilation and identity of French Jews in the fin-de-siècle. Weaving together narratives of various figures, some familiar from the works of Marcel Proust and the diaries of Jules and Edmond Goncourt—the Camondos, the Rothschilds, the Ephrussis, the Cahens d'Anvers—McAuley shows how Jewish art collectors contended with a powerful strain of anti-Semitism: they were often accused of &“invading&” France&’s cultural patrimony. The collections these families left behind—many ultimately donated to the French state—were their response, tragic attempts to celebrate a nation that later betrayed them.

Copyright:

2021

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9780300252545

Related ISBNs:

9780300233377

Publisher:

Yale University Press

Date of Addition:

05/11/21

Copyrighted By:

James McAuley

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Art and Architecture

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.