Paradies und Paradox: Wunderwerke aus fünf Jahrhunderten

by Anita Albus

Chiar daca asa ni se pare uneori, arta nu trebuie sa fie nestiutoare si invatatura nu trebuie sa fie plicticoasa. Anita Albus ne invita prin aceasta carte la o plimbare prin cinci secole si la intalniri minunate cu pictori si filosofi, scriitori si cercetatori. Acest parcurs incepe din epoca Renasterii tarzii. Acolo, miniaturistul Joris Hoefnagel se intalneste cu cosmograful Abraham Ortelius, cu cabalistul crestin Guilaume Postel si cu alti invatati, colectionari si nomazi ai secolului al XVI-lea. In secolul al XVII-lea, Maria Sibylla Merian porneste pe urmele „greierilor“ pana in Surinam. Ceea ce a creat Dumnezeu, a fost pus in ordine in secolul al XVIII-lea de Carl von Linne. Toate acestea sunt ilustrate cu frumoase schite ale unor botanisti de renume. Fratii Goncourt isi studiaza in secolul al XIX-lea semenii asemenea naturalistilor care observa indeaproape viata animala. Cautand timpul pierdut al lui Marcel Proust, Anita Albus porneste si pe urmele misterelor lui Vermeer.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Veronica Guranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening and Captivating! (Am cartea in versiunea romana pt cine este interesat sa o imprumute.)

[Kai Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're interested in the old visual arts, say of 16th and 17th century, and want to learn to see more from the drawings, etchings and paintings of this era, this collection of essays can serve as a good training book. The beholder from today is usually ignorant of the allegorical meanings of certain elements - mostly animals and flowers - of these pictures, and Anita Albus, who is not only a writer but also a painter herself, has done thorough research to unveil such meanings. The centrepiece of this book is the interpretation of Joris Hoefnagel's Allégorie des quatre saisons, followed by a fold-out reproduction of the same artist's View of Sevilla.
The book opens with short biographical sketches of humanist scholars and etchers like Guillaume Postel and Abraham Ortelius, and goes via the aforementioned Hoefnagel to the insect research and paintings of Maria Sibylla Merian in Surinam, some 18th century botanics (Linné and others). The last three essays deal with writers: The Goncourt brothers, Marcel Proust and Vladimir Nabokov. In the case of Proust the focus is on the influence of Vermeer's famous View of Delft on In Search of Lost Time and in the case of Nabokov Albus asks about Nabokov's early pseudonym Sirin and speculates that Nabokov may have had the idea when seeing an old etching by Adriaen Collaert.
All this is probably of great interest to lovers of the visual arts. Unfortunately I'm not a very visual person, so I am tickled by this book, yet some of it is a bit too detailed for me.