Solar dance : Van Gogh, forgery, and the eclipse of certainty /
Eksteins, Modris.
Solar dance : Van Gogh, forgery, and the eclipse of certainty / Modris Eksteins. - Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2012. - 1 online resource (341 pages) : illustrations -
Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-320) and index.
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- THE ISSUE -- VISION -- SKY AGLOW -- SUN ON SUNS -- SPRING -- DEALER -- AESTHETE -- SCRIBBLER -- MADAM -- SPIRIT -- STORM -- PHANTASMS -- WINDS -- FEVER -- SODOMIA -- SUN CHILD -- SHOWTIME -- PALACE REVOLUTION -- STORIES -- SAILOR BOY -- CERTIFIERS -- CAVEAT EMPTOR -- FAME -- SOURCE -- ALARUM -- ALEXANDERPLATZ -- COUP -- SURREALITY -- SENSATION -- RAVENS -- EVIDENCE -- CELA N'EST PAS ... -- PRESENT SENSE -- SEANCE -- SCRIPTS -- SEQUENCE -- ETCETERA -- PLUS ÇA CHANGE ... -- APPRECIATION -- EXPERTS -- PROOF -- SOUL -- SUMMATIONS -- SENTENCE -- APPEAL -- SYNONYMS -- SYMBOL -- SOPHIENSTRASSE -- REAPER -- NIGHT LIGHT -- STUDIO SANARY -- CRIME SCENE -- MENDER -- SCHEHEREZADE -- WALL -- OUR WEIMAR -- MANIA -- EPILOGUE -- NOTES -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- PHOTO CREDITS -- INDEX -- Backmatter.
Art dealer Otto Wacker's 1932 sensational trial in Berlin for selling fake Van Goghs leads Eksteins to a unique narrative of a collapsing Weimar Germany, the rise of another misfit, Adolf Hitler, and the replacement of nineteenth-century certitude with twentieth-century doubt. 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.
English.
9780674069541 (electronic bk.) 0674069544 (electronic bk.) 9780674064942 (electronic bk.) 0674064941 (electronic bk.)
10.4159/harvard.9780674064942 doi
22573/ctt2f1cmk JSTOR
Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890 --Public opinion.
Wacker, Otto, 1898-1970.
Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890.
Wacker, Otto, 1898-1970.
1900-1999
Authenticity (Philosophy)
Authenticité (Philosophie)
HISTORY--Europe--Germany.
ART--History--Modern (late 19th Century to 1945)
Authenticity (Philosophy)
Intellectual life.
Public opinion.
Germany--Intellectual life--20th century.
Allemagne--Vie intellectuelle--20e siècle.
Germany.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
DD239 / .E39 2012eb
943.085
Solar dance : Van Gogh, forgery, and the eclipse of certainty / Modris Eksteins. - Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2012. - 1 online resource (341 pages) : illustrations -
Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-320) and index.
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- THE ISSUE -- VISION -- SKY AGLOW -- SUN ON SUNS -- SPRING -- DEALER -- AESTHETE -- SCRIBBLER -- MADAM -- SPIRIT -- STORM -- PHANTASMS -- WINDS -- FEVER -- SODOMIA -- SUN CHILD -- SHOWTIME -- PALACE REVOLUTION -- STORIES -- SAILOR BOY -- CERTIFIERS -- CAVEAT EMPTOR -- FAME -- SOURCE -- ALARUM -- ALEXANDERPLATZ -- COUP -- SURREALITY -- SENSATION -- RAVENS -- EVIDENCE -- CELA N'EST PAS ... -- PRESENT SENSE -- SEANCE -- SCRIPTS -- SEQUENCE -- ETCETERA -- PLUS ÇA CHANGE ... -- APPRECIATION -- EXPERTS -- PROOF -- SOUL -- SUMMATIONS -- SENTENCE -- APPEAL -- SYNONYMS -- SYMBOL -- SOPHIENSTRASSE -- REAPER -- NIGHT LIGHT -- STUDIO SANARY -- CRIME SCENE -- MENDER -- SCHEHEREZADE -- WALL -- OUR WEIMAR -- MANIA -- EPILOGUE -- NOTES -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- PHOTO CREDITS -- INDEX -- Backmatter.
Art dealer Otto Wacker's 1932 sensational trial in Berlin for selling fake Van Goghs leads Eksteins to a unique narrative of a collapsing Weimar Germany, the rise of another misfit, Adolf Hitler, and the replacement of nineteenth-century certitude with twentieth-century doubt. 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.
English.
9780674069541 (electronic bk.) 0674069544 (electronic bk.) 9780674064942 (electronic bk.) 0674064941 (electronic bk.)
10.4159/harvard.9780674064942 doi
22573/ctt2f1cmk JSTOR
Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890 --Public opinion.
Wacker, Otto, 1898-1970.
Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890.
Wacker, Otto, 1898-1970.
1900-1999
Authenticity (Philosophy)
Authenticité (Philosophie)
HISTORY--Europe--Germany.
ART--History--Modern (late 19th Century to 1945)
Authenticity (Philosophy)
Intellectual life.
Public opinion.
Germany--Intellectual life--20th century.
Allemagne--Vie intellectuelle--20e siècle.
Germany.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
Electronic books.
DD239 / .E39 2012eb
943.085