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Solar Dance: Van Gogh, Forgery, and the Eclipse of Certainty
In Modris Eksteins’s hands, the interlocking stories of Vincent van Gogh and art dealer Otto Wacker reveal the origins of the fundamental uncertainty that is the hallmark of the modern era. Through the lens of Wacker’s sensational 1932 trial in Berlin for selling fake Van Goghs, Eksteins offers a unique narrative of Weimar Germany, the rise of Hitler, and the replacement of nineteenth-century certitude with twentieth-century doubt.
Berlin after the Great War was a magnet for art and transgression. Among those it attracted was Otto Wacker, a young gay dancer turned art impresario. His sale of thirty-three forged Van Goghs and the ensuing scandal gave Van Gogh’s work unprecedented commercial value. It also called into question a world of defined values and standards that had already begun to erode during the war. Van Gogh emerged posthumously as a hero who rejected organized religion and other suspect sources of authority in favor of art. Self-pitying Germans saw in his biography a series of triumphs―over defeat, poverty, and meaninglessness―that spoke to them directly. Eksteins shows how the collapsing Weimar Republic that made Van Gogh famous and gave Wacker an opportunity for reinvention propelled a third misfit into the spotlight. Taking advantage of the void left by a gutted belief system, Hitler gained power by fashioning myths of mastery.
Filled with characters who delight and frighten, Solar Dance merges cultural and political history to show how upheavals of the early twentieth century gave rise to a search for authenticity and purpose.
Berlin after the Great War was a magnet for art and transgression. Among those it attracted was Otto Wacker, a young gay dancer turned art impresario. His sale of thirty-three forged Van Goghs and the ensuing scandal gave Van Gogh’s work unprecedented commercial value. It also called into question a world of defined values and standards that had already begun to erode during the war. Van Gogh emerged posthumously as a hero who rejected organized religion and other suspect sources of authority in favor of art. Self-pitying Germans saw in his biography a series of triumphs―over defeat, poverty, and meaninglessness―that spoke to them directly. Eksteins shows how the collapsing Weimar Republic that made Van Gogh famous and gave Wacker an opportunity for reinvention propelled a third misfit into the spotlight. Taking advantage of the void left by a gutted belief system, Hitler gained power by fashioning myths of mastery.
Filled with characters who delight and frighten, Solar Dance merges cultural and political history to show how upheavals of the early twentieth century gave rise to a search for authenticity and purpose.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 20, 2012
A few months ago I bought the new Van Gogh biography, and it's been snoozing on my shelves ever since. So I felt a bit foolish picking up a second book on Van Gogh. But Eksteins' book promised to be both less and more. At the heart of Solar Dance is the curious tale of Otto Wacker, "a young gay dancer turned art impresario" (flap copy) who in the final years of the celebrated, maligned Weimar Republic introduced a small gallery of previously-unknown Van Goghs into the art market. Most, if not all, of these paintings were forgeries. The tale is rich with irony: these same paintings were authenticated (then de-authenticated) by a raft of experts, and purchased by wealthy, tetchy collectors. The artist who painted them – like their original owner, an émigré who supposedly spirited them out of Russia – has never been identified.
The tale of Otto and his forgeries is worthy of one of those legendary New Yorker articles of 50 pages, but it's not enough for a whole book. Eksteins seems to realize this – and here's where the book gets into trouble, at least for me. Precariously, both Van Gogh and Wacker made to stand not only for Weimar culture, but for modernity itself (its uncertainties, instabilities, etc.). The warning sounds early: "More than ever today, Van Gogh is ours, and we are Van Gogh. And Otto Wacker is one of us." (p 3) Although this may have a certain apothegmatic ring, it really doesn't mean anything.
This disposition toward inflation and ludicrous "connections" mars what is otherwise a fairly interesting book:
Over the years the Oppenheimers acquired ... a few Van Goghs. These Van Goghs dominated a living room decorated in gilt. At the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer would produce his own version of a rising sun, a scientific work of art "brighter than a thousand suns." (p. 254)
[The poet Paul Celan] survived the Holocaust, but his parents did not. How was he subsequently to express himself? Could he even use the German language? And would not any notion of poetry automatically be a lie after Auschwitz? (p. 271)
Automatically?! This turns Adorno's already specious dictum into mechanical nonsense. One final example:
When students rioted in Chicago in 1968 their demands included the abolition of money and the acknowledgement that every human being is an artist. Such is the legacy of Weimar. And such is the legacy of Vincent Van Gogh. (p. 278)
Fortunately, most of the book isn't this vacuous, and I'm still looking forward to reading Eksteins' classic Rites of Spring.
______________
Note: this is review of the U.S. edition published by Harvard, which has a different subtitle (and possibly different pagination) from the Canadian edition.
The tale of Otto and his forgeries is worthy of one of those legendary New Yorker articles of 50 pages, but it's not enough for a whole book. Eksteins seems to realize this – and here's where the book gets into trouble, at least for me. Precariously, both Van Gogh and Wacker made to stand not only for Weimar culture, but for modernity itself (its uncertainties, instabilities, etc.). The warning sounds early: "More than ever today, Van Gogh is ours, and we are Van Gogh. And Otto Wacker is one of us." (p 3) Although this may have a certain apothegmatic ring, it really doesn't mean anything.
This disposition toward inflation and ludicrous "connections" mars what is otherwise a fairly interesting book:
Over the years the Oppenheimers acquired ... a few Van Goghs. These Van Goghs dominated a living room decorated in gilt. At the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer would produce his own version of a rising sun, a scientific work of art "brighter than a thousand suns." (p. 254)
[The poet Paul Celan] survived the Holocaust, but his parents did not. How was he subsequently to express himself? Could he even use the German language? And would not any notion of poetry automatically be a lie after Auschwitz? (p. 271)
Automatically?! This turns Adorno's already specious dictum into mechanical nonsense. One final example:
When students rioted in Chicago in 1968 their demands included the abolition of money and the acknowledgement that every human being is an artist. Such is the legacy of Weimar. And such is the legacy of Vincent Van Gogh. (p. 278)
Fortunately, most of the book isn't this vacuous, and I'm still looking forward to reading Eksteins' classic Rites of Spring.
______________
Note: this is review of the U.S. edition published by Harvard, which has a different subtitle (and possibly different pagination) from the Canadian edition.
April 24, 2012
"Rites of Spring" and "Walking Since Daybreak" are two of my favourite books of history, especially the latter for both its accomplished fusion of memoir and history and its unique structure. Solar Dance, however, is not good. There's a good long article buried in there on the posthumous rising reputation of Van Gogh, the simultaneous rise of the Van Gogh forger, Otto Wacker, and the disgrace of contemporary art critics. But that's maybe a hundred pages of material and unfortunately the book is closer to 400 pages. Much of the balance is given over to a tedious trial scene that would have been much more competently handled by your average journalist, the rest to some very undergraduate art/literary history embellished with hints and allegations about how the devaluing of authenticity and truth in Weimar (as exemplified by the Van Gogh / Wacker nexus) led to the rise of the Nazis. I actually think there's something to that but I hope that no one will be convinced by Eksteins' very flimsy assertions of the point. Disappointing.
April 20, 2023
narracja bardzo ciekawa, chociaż początki w czytaniu są trudne. to ten typ książki, który wymaga pewnego zaplecza wiedzy, ale sam prezentuje niezbędne minimum. jak się te minimum przeczyta (pierwsze 150-200 stron), dopiero jest się w stanie zrozumieć istotę omawianego tematu. no i czuć stosunek autora względem co niektórych spraw...
March 15, 2014
Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age was very influential for me when I was younger, and I was curious to read Eksteins' new exploration of the themes of the "Modern Age." Here, his exploration centres on Van Gogh, whose work posthumously gained enormous currency, both literally (art as a safe investment between the wars as the economy tanked) and figuratively (as emblematic of various ideas about modernity, authenticity, and Germanness). Eksteins also explores the curious tale of Otto Wacker, who was tried in interwar Germany for dealing in Van Gogh forgeries, albeit ones that had been authenticated by a series of experts at the time. Some fascinating insights, and some flimsier, more facile observations - a bit uneven.
November 17, 2018
An interesting but possibly slow-starting discussion of art and the meaning of it at the turn of the century.
The scandal surrounding Wacker and the fake Van Gogh's seems at times secondary to the main arc of the discussion. The connection is, at times, somewhat forced but, still interesting nonetheless.
The scandal surrounding Wacker and the fake Van Gogh's seems at times secondary to the main arc of the discussion. The connection is, at times, somewhat forced but, still interesting nonetheless.
January 7, 2021
Engaging and informative, as you might expect from Eksteins, but not as persuasive and compelling as his Rites of Spring. He loaded an awful lot of cultural and historic freight into a rather small boat with this one. The boat may not have foundered but the surrounding water is at least at the top of the gunwales. Van Gogh seems historically significant, and the sensational trial of a mysterious German accused of peddling fake paintings sold as Van Goghs is interesting, but it's hard to see them as the cultural linchpin of the last century.
However, some of Ekstein's judgments sparkle and resonate. He was writing well before the age of Trump when he summed up fraudster Otto Wacker as "an expression of the modern" crisis of authenticity: "He rejected all the boundaries set up by tradition. For him the deed was everything — it had replaced meaning. The deed negated all former strictures."
However, some of Ekstein's judgments sparkle and resonate. He was writing well before the age of Trump when he summed up fraudster Otto Wacker as "an expression of the modern" crisis of authenticity: "He rejected all the boundaries set up by tradition. For him the deed was everything — it had replaced meaning. The deed negated all former strictures."
August 2, 2023
It's quite ironic that a book that supposedly delves into forgery throughout the 20th century pulled a fast one on me and barely discusses it; moreso infatuated with Van Gogh or even moreso, just general aristocrats that liked his art in the '20s and 30's before Van Gogh posthumously sold out (of his mortal coil). I thought that maybe this would be table dressing for the themes to tie into later on but this was more a recounting of anyone who interacted with Van Gogh pictures, especially Wackler's Van Gogh pictures and there's sometimes an overlap chronologically on upwind or down drafts in the rise of NAzism and Wackler's trial, but nothing that wound them intrinsically or was saying anything particularly compelling. But, if you're interested in the psyche of the Weimar Republic and want an overview of the art scene in that period, this offers a suitable observation.
April 6, 2023
,,Van Gogh jest nasz, my jesteśmy van Goghami, skonsumowaliśmy i przetrwaliśmy jego rzeczywistość, a nade wszystko - jego twórcze zdziwienia i oburzenie. Jesteśmy jednak zarazem równie tajemniczymi Ottonami Wackerami, pozerami i upraszczaczami. Sans cesse kopiując i dygitalizując, sprawiamy, iż basza technika reprodukcji odbiera wszelki sens jakiejkolwiek trwałości i stałości, fałszerz stapia się z artystą, a w efekcie być może wszelka autentyczność odchodzi w przeszłość.”
December 3, 2018
Why does Van Gogh
Attract us so?
Attract us so?
Read
January 6, 2022intriguing and informative. fun to also look up the corresponding painting of each chapter
March 28, 2012
We live in a time of false imitation.
That is either a double negative or a tautology. But I don't think Modris Eksteins meant either. Nor do I think he meant it to show off his fluency in Gibberish. Yet Gibberish abounds in this book, and right from the start.
The book pictured is the Canadian edition. It's called, as you can see, Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age. 'Crisis' may be hyperbolic. I have the U.S. edition, which oddly hasn't been 'published' yet. Its cover isn't as nice; and it has a different title: Solar Dance: Van Gogh, Forgery, and the Eclipse of Certainty. Less hyperbole, more Gibberish: it's the American Way.
The Crisis of Truth and The Eclipse of Certainty. Really?
I kept my ears open as I was reading this for other phrases spoken by my friends and colleagues that could substitute for those subtitles without losing any of the nonsense. How about:
Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Lariat of Responses.
Or: Solar Dance: Fashion, Forgery and Sartorial Conundrums.
And: Solar Dance: Van Gogh, Forgery and the Agony of Existential Doubt.
Okay. One's a phrase from this book, but the others were contemporaneously uttered or typed. They're beautiful. And one actually made some sense, in context. My point is: Modris is very full of himself, to the point of ruining a good story.
(Sometimes don't you just want to know who gets the girl and who shot Rocky?)
Van Gogh is unfailingly interesting; and he's interesting here. Otto Wacker, his forger, should have been interesting; but somewhere Modris lost the thread. But his theme was to make a larger point, to make the book more important. This is were the Crisis of Truth comes in. Or the Eclipse of Certainty. Or the Enigma of Arrival, I don't know.
The book would have been helped with the inclusion of the paintings discussed. Instead, the author points us early to the website vggallery.com which has every Van Gogh painting. That's nice and very 21st Century. But I still would have paid another $5 for color glossies inside.
There is a moment where the author talks about Hitler envisioning the burning of U.S. skyscrapers which made me stop abruptly.
Lots of interesting morsels here but also a lot of, frankly, stupid statements.
We are Van Gogh....But we are also his equally enigmatic other, Otto Wacker, the poseur and facilitator. Nuh-uh.
And: Van Gogh hat sich selbst gefalscht!
You know, I'm sorry, but I didn't steal anything.
That is either a double negative or a tautology. But I don't think Modris Eksteins meant either. Nor do I think he meant it to show off his fluency in Gibberish. Yet Gibberish abounds in this book, and right from the start.
The book pictured is the Canadian edition. It's called, as you can see, Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age. 'Crisis' may be hyperbolic. I have the U.S. edition, which oddly hasn't been 'published' yet. Its cover isn't as nice; and it has a different title: Solar Dance: Van Gogh, Forgery, and the Eclipse of Certainty. Less hyperbole, more Gibberish: it's the American Way.
The Crisis of Truth and The Eclipse of Certainty. Really?
I kept my ears open as I was reading this for other phrases spoken by my friends and colleagues that could substitute for those subtitles without losing any of the nonsense. How about:
Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery and the Lariat of Responses.
Or: Solar Dance: Fashion, Forgery and Sartorial Conundrums.
And: Solar Dance: Van Gogh, Forgery and the Agony of Existential Doubt.
Okay. One's a phrase from this book, but the others were contemporaneously uttered or typed. They're beautiful. And one actually made some sense, in context. My point is: Modris is very full of himself, to the point of ruining a good story.
(Sometimes don't you just want to know who gets the girl and who shot Rocky?)
Van Gogh is unfailingly interesting; and he's interesting here. Otto Wacker, his forger, should have been interesting; but somewhere Modris lost the thread. But his theme was to make a larger point, to make the book more important. This is were the Crisis of Truth comes in. Or the Eclipse of Certainty. Or the Enigma of Arrival, I don't know.
The book would have been helped with the inclusion of the paintings discussed. Instead, the author points us early to the website vggallery.com which has every Van Gogh painting. That's nice and very 21st Century. But I still would have paid another $5 for color glossies inside.
There is a moment where the author talks about Hitler envisioning the burning of U.S. skyscrapers which made me stop abruptly.
Lots of interesting morsels here but also a lot of, frankly, stupid statements.
We are Van Gogh....But we are also his equally enigmatic other, Otto Wacker, the poseur and facilitator. Nuh-uh.
And: Van Gogh hat sich selbst gefalscht!
You know, I'm sorry, but I didn't steal anything.
March 9, 2013
This work of cultural analysis and art history puts forward a rather bold premise: the best way to truly understand the complexity, essence, and message of Modernism is to comprehend it in the life, work, death, and subsequent cult that evolves and advances around Vincent Van Gogh and his art, particularly in the way the German dancer-cum-art dealer Otto Wacker created a thriving business that became an international scandal around Van Gogh forgeries, blurring the categories of authenticity and inauthenticity, art for art’s sake and art as commodity. Although I’m not sure the overall premise is the best way to get at the essence of Modernism, I very much appreciated the way this volume immersed me in the transitory phenomenon that was the artistry and Zeitgeist of the Weimar Republic period in Germany, and the social world of the avant garde in Berlin. I also found the device of making each chapter title and topic a distinct link to some specific famed work of Van Gogh actually charming.
As I read this on a Kindle, I do regret I could not access the visuals in the manner one might in book form. For someone planning to read this, I would suggest keeping access to a website, volume, or database of Van Gogh images close at hand, to dip into when the desire arises to gaze upon a particular image being discussed or mentioned. Also, the text was replete with footnotes—something I usually welcome as an indication of careful documenting of scholarship, but I found on the Kindle I would sometimes hit a footnote unintentionally when trying to turn a page and suddenly be thrown to the rear of the book, not always clear what page I had last been on, necessitating some unintended interruptions in my absorbtion of the material to regain my proper place. I don’t blame the book for my error here, I just alert you to the concern.
As I read this on a Kindle, I do regret I could not access the visuals in the manner one might in book form. For someone planning to read this, I would suggest keeping access to a website, volume, or database of Van Gogh images close at hand, to dip into when the desire arises to gaze upon a particular image being discussed or mentioned. Also, the text was replete with footnotes—something I usually welcome as an indication of careful documenting of scholarship, but I found on the Kindle I would sometimes hit a footnote unintentionally when trying to turn a page and suddenly be thrown to the rear of the book, not always clear what page I had last been on, necessitating some unintended interruptions in my absorbtion of the material to regain my proper place. I don’t blame the book for my error here, I just alert you to the concern.
November 3, 2021
A serious dissapppointment after I so enjoyed Modris's previous "Rites of Spring" - which is saying something as I could not wait to get into this 2nd "Cultural History" of WW2.
In effect Solar Dance is a fairly complete exposition of the strange case of Otto Wacker - who was (finally) found guilty of fraudulent dealing in "fake" Van Gogh paintings in 1931 at exactly the same time as Hitler rose to power. Modris reviews much of the hagiography of the short life and times of Van Gogh life and his family - especially brother Theo - and explores his art and motivations noting that he died virtually an unknown/unappreciated pauper with only 1 piece sold. The relationship of genius or madness as a core theme among the various Modern Expressionists accross Europe at the end of 1800's is well presented - as is the philosophy of Avante-Garde artistry in music, visual and performance vis-a-vis the post WW1 era from 1918-1939 in Germany, Netherlands, France and America (at least as prolific collectors/patrons).
While the book's end-papers suggested that Solar Dance would explain how the phenomena of the Van Gogh/Wacker fraud mirrored the "Crisis of Truth" during the inter-war years and created the zietguist that made Hitler Chancellor - no such case was clearly made or presented. It was a shock given the deep, extensive research that under-pinned Modris Vol 1 "Rites of Spring" and supported his theory that Modernism (as well as Absurdist Dadaism) in Germany predicated the cultural attitudes that drove Europe and Germany to WW1.
The book presented is half-a-book missing the same scholarship that makes the link between the Wacker Affair and how a complete nation fell into the calamity of World War all over again.
In effect Solar Dance is a fairly complete exposition of the strange case of Otto Wacker - who was (finally) found guilty of fraudulent dealing in "fake" Van Gogh paintings in 1931 at exactly the same time as Hitler rose to power. Modris reviews much of the hagiography of the short life and times of Van Gogh life and his family - especially brother Theo - and explores his art and motivations noting that he died virtually an unknown/unappreciated pauper with only 1 piece sold. The relationship of genius or madness as a core theme among the various Modern Expressionists accross Europe at the end of 1800's is well presented - as is the philosophy of Avante-Garde artistry in music, visual and performance vis-a-vis the post WW1 era from 1918-1939 in Germany, Netherlands, France and America (at least as prolific collectors/patrons).
While the book's end-papers suggested that Solar Dance would explain how the phenomena of the Van Gogh/Wacker fraud mirrored the "Crisis of Truth" during the inter-war years and created the zietguist that made Hitler Chancellor - no such case was clearly made or presented. It was a shock given the deep, extensive research that under-pinned Modris Vol 1 "Rites of Spring" and supported his theory that Modernism (as well as Absurdist Dadaism) in Germany predicated the cultural attitudes that drove Europe and Germany to WW1.
The book presented is half-a-book missing the same scholarship that makes the link between the Wacker Affair and how a complete nation fell into the calamity of World War all over again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2013
First off I liked this book. It is in a genre I usually don’t visit but I am a huge fan of Van Gogh’s work.
Although the book has a plot, an interesting cast of characters and a compelling raison d’etre it is not really a story as much as it fits in a Masters Degree thesis.
Eckstein who is a self professed “cultural historian” is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Toronto.
He paints (pun not intended) the canvas (again pun not intended) of Post World War 1 and pre World War 2 Germany and in particular the management or more accurately the mismanagement of Van Gogh’s collection of art.
It exquisitely details what is happening in the 1910’s and 20’s in Germany and Holland.
It details how an art dealer comes up with Van Gogh paintings almost on demand and proceeds to get them authenticated by art experts as to their authenticity, without any details on whom they came from other then a reference to an escaped Russian aristocrat.
Our protagonist, Otto Wacker, then proceeds to sell them to unsuspecting galleries and collectors.
Overall the greed, avarice and pure arrogance and narcissism of the major players collapses the house of cards that has been created.
While Wacker does in fact go to jail it is only after multiple years of investigation and a trial and appeal. The actual source of the Van Gogh paintings in question has never been revealed.
As a look at the world in Germany during this period it excels, as a pure reading book it is less successful. This does not mean it’s a bad book but the purpose for it’s existence is something deeper then just story telling.
Recommended as noted
Although the book has a plot, an interesting cast of characters and a compelling raison d’etre it is not really a story as much as it fits in a Masters Degree thesis.
Eckstein who is a self professed “cultural historian” is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Toronto.
He paints (pun not intended) the canvas (again pun not intended) of Post World War 1 and pre World War 2 Germany and in particular the management or more accurately the mismanagement of Van Gogh’s collection of art.
It exquisitely details what is happening in the 1910’s and 20’s in Germany and Holland.
It details how an art dealer comes up with Van Gogh paintings almost on demand and proceeds to get them authenticated by art experts as to their authenticity, without any details on whom they came from other then a reference to an escaped Russian aristocrat.
Our protagonist, Otto Wacker, then proceeds to sell them to unsuspecting galleries and collectors.
Overall the greed, avarice and pure arrogance and narcissism of the major players collapses the house of cards that has been created.
While Wacker does in fact go to jail it is only after multiple years of investigation and a trial and appeal. The actual source of the Van Gogh paintings in question has never been revealed.
As a look at the world in Germany during this period it excels, as a pure reading book it is less successful. This does not mean it’s a bad book but the purpose for it’s existence is something deeper then just story telling.
Recommended as noted
September 27, 2013
One of the enduring mysteries surrounding Vincent Van Gogh is just exactly how was he transformed from an unpleasant eccentric who shot himself in a field before any of his paintings fetched so much as a sheckel, into . . . well, Van Gogh?
Time and place are paramount to the Van Gogh Story, and, if Modris Eksteins is to be believed, Weimar Berlin especially so. Ekstein's beat is exploring the cultural upheavals that accompanied and contributed to the 20th Century European horrors. In Van Gogh's post-death success, and an infamous forgery scandal that briefly captured the attention of Germans and Western culturati in general, Eksteins finds a narrative that can stand as both a metaphor and morality tale for that particular time and place.
As with his earlier book, Rites Of Spring, it is apparent on every page that Eksteins has struck on material that enervates him. Eksteins' energy is infectious, and his eye for the telling detail hooks and holds the reader. Solar Dance is a fabulous story, adroitly told, which raises some subtly disruptive questions about the place and value of art in our own time.
Time and place are paramount to the Van Gogh Story, and, if Modris Eksteins is to be believed, Weimar Berlin especially so. Ekstein's beat is exploring the cultural upheavals that accompanied and contributed to the 20th Century European horrors. In Van Gogh's post-death success, and an infamous forgery scandal that briefly captured the attention of Germans and Western culturati in general, Eksteins finds a narrative that can stand as both a metaphor and morality tale for that particular time and place.
As with his earlier book, Rites Of Spring, it is apparent on every page that Eksteins has struck on material that enervates him. Eksteins' energy is infectious, and his eye for the telling detail hooks and holds the reader. Solar Dance is a fabulous story, adroitly told, which raises some subtly disruptive questions about the place and value of art in our own time.
April 10, 2012
I bought this book after seeing "Van Gogh: Up Close" at the Philly Museum of Art. So far I have not had any cause to regret what was a bit of an impulse buy.
There's a brief bio of Van Gogh to set the stage. Soon the author takes us into the 20th century as Van Gogh's work starts to command high prices, particularly in Weimar Germany. I've read and seen quite a bit about '20's Paris but haven't read much about Weimar Berlin since my college days, so getting that insight was a treat.
The main story is that of a young dancer/huckster named Otto who produces some "lost" Van Goghs in the '20s. He has no problem getting them authenticated by the leading experts of the day, and makes a fortune. However, a couple of critics with weather eyes start casting doubt on the authenticity of some of Otto's lost Van Goghs... and that's about where I am in the book.
With each new chapter, the author suggests a work of Van Gogh's to view online, to set the stage. I thought this was a nice touch.
If you're into modern history/art history, this book will lure you like catnip.
There's a brief bio of Van Gogh to set the stage. Soon the author takes us into the 20th century as Van Gogh's work starts to command high prices, particularly in Weimar Germany. I've read and seen quite a bit about '20's Paris but haven't read much about Weimar Berlin since my college days, so getting that insight was a treat.
The main story is that of a young dancer/huckster named Otto who produces some "lost" Van Goghs in the '20s. He has no problem getting them authenticated by the leading experts of the day, and makes a fortune. However, a couple of critics with weather eyes start casting doubt on the authenticity of some of Otto's lost Van Goghs... and that's about where I am in the book.
With each new chapter, the author suggests a work of Van Gogh's to view online, to set the stage. I thought this was a nice touch.
If you're into modern history/art history, this book will lure you like catnip.
February 11, 2013
We really loved the first two thirds of this book - a fascinating look at the art world in the early part of the 20th century, particularly the sections on Germany in the 1920s. It focusses on the rise (literally) of value for art works, especially the work of Vincent Van Gogh.
One of the things I found really interesting is the point made that people began buying art as an investment, rather than something that pleased them.
We started to get bogged down by the detailed report of the trial of Otto Wacker, accused of selling Van Gogh forgeries. I also found Eksteins' rhetorical questions to be wearing. As the book progressed into the late 1930s and beyond, and Ekstein began to talk more about socialism, Naziism, Hitler and less about Van Gogh, impressionism, expressionism and art (forged or not), we gave up.
It began to remind me of my first year conversational German course. In the first lesson, we learned how to say our names and where we lived. In the second lesson, we were asked to discuss the merits of Das Deutsche Hochschulsystem. Whhhaaaaaaat??
One of the things I found really interesting is the point made that people began buying art as an investment, rather than something that pleased them.
We started to get bogged down by the detailed report of the trial of Otto Wacker, accused of selling Van Gogh forgeries. I also found Eksteins' rhetorical questions to be wearing. As the book progressed into the late 1930s and beyond, and Ekstein began to talk more about socialism, Naziism, Hitler and less about Van Gogh, impressionism, expressionism and art (forged or not), we gave up.
It began to remind me of my first year conversational German course. In the first lesson, we learned how to say our names and where we lived. In the second lesson, we were asked to discuss the merits of Das Deutsche Hochschulsystem. Whhhaaaaaaat??
June 22, 2012
Eksteins' knowledge of this period (interwar years in Europe) is hugely expansive, and he uses art and culture to illuminate political and societal realities. In his view, politics and commerce do not exist at a remove from art, rather, a country and culture can only be truly understood if the arts are considered as much a part of daily experience as everything else.
The book is broken into sections named after Van Gogh paintings, and the reader is encouraged to go to the online Vincent Van Gogh Gallery to examine each of the mentioned images as we read along. It's an interesting conceit for the structure of the book, and adds a visual element to everything we're learning as we read.
It is a fascinating read and full of telling moments. It is dense and I found it a bit slow going in the middle, but ended up learning so much, once again.
Full review at The Indextrious Reader
The book is broken into sections named after Van Gogh paintings, and the reader is encouraged to go to the online Vincent Van Gogh Gallery to examine each of the mentioned images as we read along. It's an interesting conceit for the structure of the book, and adds a visual element to everything we're learning as we read.
It is a fascinating read and full of telling moments. It is dense and I found it a bit slow going in the middle, but ended up learning so much, once again.
Full review at The Indextrious Reader
June 11, 2012
Read this for background for a visit to a Van Gogh exhibit.
Page 259
"After the First World War, Van Gogh was associated with the agony of existential doubt. His brilliance had been his affirmative creativity in the context of debilitating misgivings. His mood was thought to correspond with the postwar German mood. Three decades later, after the unimaginable devastation of the Second World War, in which somewhere between fifty and seven-five million human beings perished, in which all distinctions between civilians and soldiers, the permissible and the impossible, the imaginable and the unfathomable seemed to disappear, Van Gogh's life and work were seen to overlap with a much wider mindset. He was adopted over more broadly as representative of resilence in the midst of anguish."
Page 259
"After the First World War, Van Gogh was associated with the agony of existential doubt. His brilliance had been his affirmative creativity in the context of debilitating misgivings. His mood was thought to correspond with the postwar German mood. Three decades later, after the unimaginable devastation of the Second World War, in which somewhere between fifty and seven-five million human beings perished, in which all distinctions between civilians and soldiers, the permissible and the impossible, the imaginable and the unfathomable seemed to disappear, Van Gogh's life and work were seen to overlap with a much wider mindset. He was adopted over more broadly as representative of resilence in the midst of anguish."
April 23, 2013
Modris Eksteins lectures are some of my fondest memories of my university years. I approached the reading of this book with enthusiasm. I haven't known what to say about this book. It certainly was different than I was expecting when I began reading it. I spent the first few chapters waiting for the focus to change. After two weeks of pondering what to say I have to decided to only say that I felt it was a well researched and well written account of an art scandal.
August 10, 2013
I was very disappointed. Perhaps it was my fault for expecting another Rites of Spring. This one was disconnected and rather pointless. Read the epilogue before you read the book. If you don't like that bit, well the rest of the book is just like it. And, it may be immature, but it's hard not to snicker at a book about Otto Wacker.
April 22, 2013
Starts strong with sa general overview of the art scene in Wiemarer Germany, but looses focus/steam as it reaches the later section on the trial itself, and only lightly addresses the themes of authenticity versus forgery that it promises to explore.
October 6, 2013
Mixed feelings. A bit above my head as I know little about art/art forgery, the Weimar. Interesting, and sad when you realize the basic drive of the book is really that the Germans lost faith in everything.
August 9, 2012
A little but of a stretch on some point but fascinating account of how Van Gogh became an icon in the earlier 20th century, especially in Weimar Berlin.
October 25, 2023
One of the best history books I've ever read! Amazing insight into the progression of history while being grounded by one artist.
October 24, 2016
Interesting read but not nearly as good as Walking Since Daybreak or the Rites of Spring
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews