Belonging and Betrayal, Charles Dellheim
Belonging and Betrayal, Charles Dellheim
List: $32.50 | Sale: $22.75
Club: $16.25

Belonging and Betrayal
How Jews Made the Art World Modern

Author: Charles Dellheim

Narrator: Peter Noble

Unabridged: 31 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/19/2022


Synopsis

The story of dealers of Old Masters, champions of modern art, and victims of Nazi plunder.

Since the late-1990s, the fate of Nazi stolen art has become a cause célèbre. In Belonging and Betrayal, Charles Dellheim turns this story on its head by revealing how certain Jewish outsiders came to acquire so many old and modern masterpieces in the first place – and what this reveals about Jews, art, and modernity. This audiobook tells the epic story of the fortunes and misfortunes of a small number of eminent art dealers and collectors who, against the odds, played a pivotal role in the migration of works of art from Europe to the United States and in the triumph of modern art.
 
Beautifully written and compellingly told, this story takes place on both sides of the Atlantic from the late nineteenth century to the present. It is set against the backdrop of critical transformations, among them the gradual opening of European high culture, the ambiguities of Jewish acculturation, the massive sell-off of aristocratic family art collections, the emergence of different schools of modern art, the cultural impact of World War I, and the Nazi war against the Jews.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Hit on December 12, 2022

I wish it was longer. It was an absolute joy to read it.......more

Goodreads review by Kidlitter on May 04, 2023

The past few years have brought some very strong historical works on the Jewish relationship with art prized in the West, how a small group of men and women absorbed the cultural touchstones of the past, then influenced the rise of modern art and appreciation of non-Western works through collecting,......more

Goodreads review by Raphaelle on January 30, 2023

My book group chose this and if it hadn’t I probably would never have read it. Much of the early details were uninteresting to me. But as it reached the late 19th century and the beginnings of modern art it became more and more engrossing. By the end it was hard to put down.......more

Goodreads review by Doron on October 06, 2023

Very interesting and enlightening. Even though I am mainly interested in the looting during the Second World War, I enjoyed the earlier periods enriching my knowledge of art and Jews in the art world. I do think there were too many “even so”s in the book and some inconsistent spelling.......more

Goodreads review by Malcolm Rheuban on April 03, 2022

A refreshing look at world history through the lens of art and art dealers.......more