From Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons - The Eye of Ileana Sonnabend at Ca' Pesaro, Venice

Nine Jackies by Andy Warhol (1964)

© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc., by SIAE 2014 
© Sonnabend Collection, New York

(Venice, Italy) The visionary gallerist and art collector Ileana Sonnabend left behind a treasure trove of art when she died in 2007, eight days shy of her 93rd birthday. A good chunk of her collection has found a temporary "European Home" here in Venice. From today, May 31, 2014 through January 4, 2015, seventy pieces from the hundreds of works on long-term loan from the Sonnabend Collection that have been housed here in Venice since 2013 are now on show on the entire second floor at Ca' Pesaro, Venice's International Gallery for Modern Art.

Eat Death by Bruce Nauman (1972) - Photo: Cat Bauer

Ileana had a daring eye, and many artists are now household names thanks to her championship. Together with her former husband, Leo Castelli, she shaped post-war art both in Europe and North America. From Neo-Dada to Pop Art, Minimal Art to Arte Povera, Conceptual to Neo-expressionism, and up to contemporary photography, artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, and Jim Dine achieved an international level of recognition due to her efforts.

Little Aloha by Roy Lichtenstein(1962)

© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein, by SIAE 2014 
© Sonnabend Collection, New York

Ileana was born into luxury in Bucharest, Romania. Her Jewish  father, Mihail Schapira, was financial adviser to the king; her mother, Marianne State-Felber was a refined, intellectual Viennese. As a child, Ileana was dropped off at museums at her own insistence to look at art while her mother and older sister, Eve, shopped for clothes. When Ileana was 17-years-old, she met Leo Castelli, who was born Leo Krausz in Trieste, Italy to a Hungarian-Jewish banker; his mother was the Italian heiress Bianca Castelli. Leo was a voracious reader who spoke many languages, who, at the time of their meeting, reluctantly worked for an insurance company, positioned there by his father. Ileana married him a year later.

Ileana remarked:

"Since I found my life rather stifling, I had only one wish: to get married. As a child, I always knew that someone would take me away. I met Leo. He wasn't like everyone else. He was going somewhere. He was going to leave Romania, and as I wanted to get out of Romania at any cost, I married him."

The young couple moved to Paris in 1935, Leo getting a job, again through his father, in banking, which he found as boring as insurance. He began womanizing. Ileana tried to keep an open mind, taking a lover of her own -- their new daughter's pediatrician. Ironically, Ileana would spend her days shopping at Elsa Schiaparelli, designer to the elite on Place Vendôme. Thanks to Ileana's father, who loaned Leo the money, he, without Ileana, opened a gallery in 1939 with his friend and partner René Drouin located in between the Hotel Ritz and Schiaparelli's boutique. The Surrealists flooded in -- as did the war. The Castellis fled to New York, where Ileana's father had bought a townhouse, and where, years later, Leo would open his first gallery in his and Ileana's apartment. 

The 62 Members of the Mickey Mouse Club in 1955 by Christian Boltanski

During the 1940s, Ileana's mother, Mariana Schapira made the leap into the world of art, divorcing Mihail Schapira and marrying the Ukranian-born artist John D. Graham -- if I have tallied correctly, she would have been his fifth wife. John Graham was born Ivan Gratianovitch Dombrowsky in Kiev, and changed his name when he became a US citizen in 1927. Graham was a mentor to artists such as Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning and Arshile Gorky, and also became a mentor to Ileana and Leo.

During the war, thanks to his many languages, Leo was employed by the OSS, the US intelligence agency, and stationed back in Bucharest, while Ileana enrolled in a French literature class at Columbia University. There, while studying Proust, she met the only other person who could speak French: Michael Sonnabend. 

Figure 8 by Jasper Johns (1959)

© Jasper Johns, by SIAE 2014

© Sonnabend Collection, New York

Leo's war contribution made him a US citizen. He returned to New York, becoming a partner in a knitwear firm -- again, thanks to his father --and  dealing art privately on the side, while continuing his womanizing, leaving Ileana depressed. But they shared a strong bond when it came to contemporary art. Together they went to visit Robert Rauschenberg's studio on Pearl Street. Rauschenberg went downstairs to get ice from a refrigerator he shared with Jasper Johns. The Castellis met Johns, and Leo exclaimed he wanted to give Johns a one-man show.

Johns' show opened at the Castelli Gallery in January, 1958 and transformed contemporary art. Rauschenberg's show opened two months later. The Castellis divorced in 1959.

Interior by Robert Rauschenberg (1956)

© Estate of Robert Rauschenberg, by SIAE 2014

© Sonnabend Collection, New York

In 1960, Ileana married Michael Sonnabend. They moved to Paris and opened a gallery, the first show again by Jasper Johns, introducing Europe to the new American art. The shows were well-attended, but the critics and dealers were harsh, resentful at having the center of the art scene moved from Paris to New York. Leo often supplied Ileana with artists, but she also had her own eye, with strong encouragement by Michael, and showed artists such as Jim Dine and Claes Oldenburg. Andy Warhol's first European show opened at Gallerie Ileana Sonnabend in January, 1964.  

 

Del Monte Boxes by Andy Warhol(1964)

© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc., by SIAE 2014

© Sonnabend Collection, New York

When Robert Rauschenberg won the International Grand Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1964 -- the first American to do such a thing -- all hell broke lose. Leo Castelli was accused of manipulating the jury. The week before the opening, he had been holding court at Caffè Florian with his second wife. Ileana and Michael Sonnabend were seated only tables away. The United States of America had thundered into the world of contemporary art. 

Then, in the late 1960s, the Sonnabends hired Antonio Homem, a Portuguese student, as gallery director, who was said to be a kind of alter-ego to Ileana. In the early '80s, they adopted him -- something unusual as he was then in his 40s and had a son of his own, but looking toward future, it would legally make things easier to transfer.

Per Purificare le Parole by Gilberto Zorio(1969)

© Gilberto Zorio, by SIAE 2014

© Sonnabend Collection, New York

Ileana's Paris gallery stayed in operation until the mid-80s, but in 1970s, the Sonnabends made their presence known once again in New York. Ileana reversed the trend she had started in Europe, introducing Americans to Arte Povera -- European artists such as Gilberto Zorio, who used throw-away materials to create their work.

After she opened a gallery on Madison Avenue, Leo convinced Ileana to move down to SoHo at 420 West Broadway back when it was a wasteland of empty industrial space inhabited by artists who valued the high ceilings and natural light. On September 25, 1971, four galleries opened at 420 West Broadway, Ileana one floor above Leo, starting another revolution in the World of Art.

The art scene next moved to Chelsea, and in 2000, Ileana opened a gallery there with her adopted son, Antonio Homem, who is co-curator of this current exhibition, Da Rauscenberg a Jeff Koons Lo sguardo di Ileana Sonnabend, along with Gabriella Belli, Director of Venice's Musei Civici.

Wild Boy and Puppy by Jeff Koons (1988)

© Jeff Koons

© Sonnabend Collection, New York

Even though they would divorce and marry others, Eleana Sonnabend and Leo Castelli would remain lifelong friends, their respective galleries promoting American art in Europe, and European art in North America. Ileana had her own distinct eye and her own specific taste, and emerged in her own right from the shadow of her flamboyant ex-husband, and is still going strong after her death in 2007. Ileana gathered together an immense collection of precious art, while Leo was more about the deal. Together with Peggy Guggenheim, these distinct individuals helped to transform the World of Art after the Second World War.

From Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons
The Ileana Sonnabend Collection
From May 31, 2014 to January 4, 2015
Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice
GO TO CA' PESARO FOR MORE INFORMATION

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Miroslav Kraljević, the "Artist of the Soul" at Ca' Pesaro, Venice International Gallery of Modern Art

Self-portrait with Dog by Miroslav Kraljević (1910)

(Venice, Italy) Croatian artist Miroslav Kraljević was called "The Artist of the Soul." Perhaps it was because he lived on the edge of death, struggling with tuberculous, and died so young, at the age of 27, that he developed a profound vision that allowed him to capture the essence of things. Through June 15th over at Ca' Pesaro, Venice's International Gallery of Modern Art, this small jewel of an exhibition, Un autoritratto di Miroslav Kraljevic, modernista croato, is on display.

Ziva Kraus

Miroslav Kraljević's arrival at Ca' Pesaro is considered to be the cultural event of the year in Croatia, and many dignitaries were on hand during the opening ceremony on April 18th. Thanks to a project by Živa Kraus, the prominent Croatian artist and owner of the Ikona Gallery in the Ghetto here in Venice, Miroslav Kraljević will finally get the recognition he deserves on the European stage.

Kraljević was born on December 14, 1885 in Gospić, Croatia, a small town that would become notorious a century later for the Gospić Massacre, when 100-120 Serbian civilians were killed during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Kraljević grew up in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, then finished high school back in Gospić.

Kraljević moved to Vienna in 1904 to study law as well as art, but like all great artists, after two years he dropped out of the legal world and moved firmly into the World of Art. At the beginning of the last century, the World of Art for a young Croatian was Vienna and Munich, so in 1906, Kraljević went to Munich, considered an important hub of the European art scene, and enrolled in the Academy of Fine Art, studying under Hugo von Habermann, another former law student who had turned to the arts. There Kraljević met fellow Croatians Joseph Račić, Vladimir Becić and Oscar Herman, who would later be dubbed the "Munich Circle." After his studies, he moved back to Croatia in 1910 and stayed with his family, who had moved to Požega.

Three Graces by Miroslav Kraljevic (1911)

 In 1911, Kraljević did something extraordinary that would earn him the designation, "the First Croatian Modernist Painter" -- he received a state grant to study in Paris, and off to Gay Paree he went, where a cultural revolution was under way. It is this period on which A Self-Portrait by Miroslav Kraljević, Croatian Modernist focuses, when Kraljevic became a flâneur, "someone who saunters around the city observing society" and painted what he saw -- as his tuberculosis consumed him. He was a dying man living at full speed in Paris during one of the most important times in the story of art, and he captured the souls of those around him, including his own. The twenty works on display at Ca' Pesaro are full of dark humor and insight -- street and cafe scenes, erotic sketches, theater and dance -- as well as his haunting self-portrait, smoking a pipe. 

Self-portrait with Pipe by Miroslav Kraljevic (1912)

Kraljević returned to Croatia after a year in Paris, staying again with his family. In the autumn of 1912, he went to Zagreb, where he organized his first solo exhibition, rented a studio, and painted. But his tuberculosis was unrelenting, and he died in Zagreb on April 16, 1913 at age 27. He is buried in the family grave in Požega.

Bonvivant by Miroslav Kraljevic (1912)

After his death, modern Croatian art would undergo a complex transformation, the foundations laid by the brilliant young Miroslav Kraljević, The Artist of the Soul.

Un autoritratto di Miroslav Kraljević, modernista croato
A Self-Portrait by Miroslav Kraljević, Croatian Modernist

Curated by Gabriella Belli, Biserka Rauter Plančić e Cristiano Sant
In collaboration with Moderna Galerija di Zagabria
Supported by Privredna Banka Zagreb

Ca' Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art
THROUGH JUNE 15, 2014

Click for more information

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

More Venetians than Tourists in Piazza San Marco & Open Arsenale in Venice

Human Rose in Piazza San Marco, April 25, 2014

(Venice, Italy) April 25th is Italian Liberation Day, which commemorates the end of the Second World War. But in Venice, long before there was a united Italy, April 25th was the Feast of Saint Mark, Venice's patron saint. On that day, during the Festa del Bocolo, or "Festival of the Rose Blossom," men give a single rose to the women they love -- their wives, girlfriends, friends, mothers, aunts -- any woman they care about. And behind that tradition is a wonderful Venetian legend.

This year, to celebrate the day, about 1,000 residents took to Piazza San Marco to create a human rose. It was part of an ongoing project by the Venetian artist Elena Tagliapietra and the Venetian author, Alberto Toso Fei to bring alive stories and traditions of Venice's past in 13 different venues -- the rose was the sixth event. Toso Fei read the legend of the rose in three languages -- Italian, English and Venetian -- while volunteers, including yours truly, formed a magnificent rose in the center of the square after having the red rose painted on our faces.

Cat Bauer & The Rose Tattoo

Here is the story:

A noblewoman, Maria Partecipazio, and a troubadour, Tancredi, fell in love. But Maria was the daughter of the Doge, and marriage to a troubadour would never have her father's approval. In order to overcome the social class differences, Tancredi went off to war to find glory and raise himself to the higher social level of his beloved. 

He served as a valiant soldier under Charles the Great in the war against the Moors, but, unfortunately, was mortally wounded. As he lay dying in a pool of blood by a bed of red roses, he plucked a rose for Maria Partecipazio and asked his comrade, Orlando, to take the blossom to his beloved Lady in Venice, stained with his blood. 

Orlando kept his vow, and arrived in Venice the day before the Feast of Saint Mark. He gave the rose to Maria Partecipazio as the last message of love from the dying Tancredi. The next morning, Maria Partecipazio herself was found dead, the red rose lying on her heart, finally joined with her beloved in the celestial world. Since that time, Venetian lovers use the symbol of the red rose blossom to pledge their love. 

So, creating the human rose in Piazza San Marco is a symbol to remind the world how much Venetians deeply love their city. After we took the photo the people in the bell tower waved to us on the ground, and the rose people waved back. We waved and waved until everyone broke into spontaneous applause; then we clapped and clapped, and it really was an emotional, beautiful moment.

Later that afternoon, Venetians from all over the Veneto defied an order not to gather in Piazza San Marco and arrived waving their flags. On March 16th, the same day that Crimea voted to secede from the Ukraine, the Veneto had symbolically voted to secede from Italy, sending a strong message to Rome that they felt overtaxed and unappreciated. Luca Zaia, the President of the Veneto Region, gave his full support to the demonstration, saying that it was not political but a manifestation of identity. "Seeking to ban the party of the Veneto from the heart of the Veneto -- Piazza San Marco -- on the feast day of Saint Mark, is not only incomprehensible, but offensive and insensitive."

Lucio Chiavegato, a secessionist who had been released from prison last Friday for allegedly plotting to take over Piazza San Marco with a homemade tank (click to read the story in The Local), arrived with his wife to attend mass in the Basilica of San Marco with Patriarch Francis Moraglia, saying "we have invoked the protection of Saint Mark, which makes us free from the occupying State."

View from Austrian tower

Meanwhile, down at Arsenale, Rome meets Venice halfway. On February 6, 2013, Italy gave Venice back a chunk of Arsenale, the enormous area where the Venetian Republic once was able to whip out up to two ships per day. For the past three days, April 25 to 27, much of Arsenale has been open to the public. Called Arsenale Aperto alla Città or "Arsenal Open to the City," the different entities that are now based in the Arsenale decided it would be a good idea to let the residents know what was going on down there.

A collaboration between the City of Venice, ACTV (the vaporetto and bus system), VELA (part of ACTV, which distributes tickets to Venice's cultural organizations through HELLO VENEZIA) Consorzio Venezia Nuova (the State Concessionary for the protection of Venice and its Lagoon, whose head ended up imprisoned for corruption), La Biennale (Venice's international artistic organization) Magistrato alle Acque (Venice's water authority), Instituto di Studi Militari Marittimi (the Maritime Military Institute) and Thetis (a consultancy and system integrator company, controlled by Consorzio Venezia Nuova), the event included conferences, boat rides, rowing lessons, history lessons, pottery lessons for the kids, a spectacular view from the old tower built by the Austrians when they occupied Venice -- I even got to sit inside the MOSE CONTROL ROOM, headquarters for the moveable dams that are supposed to rise up and protect Venice from acqua alta, or high water, then disappear under water again when the danger has passed.

The folks who make wine out on San Michele, the cemetery island, were there; the Afghans who make food from the Orient were there; the anti-cruise ship people were there, as were bunch of other creative folks; there was live music and real life transported to Arsenale. (Let's hope it's not a ploy to distract everyone's attention from the Rialto and Piazza San Marco!)

Pottery lessons a big hit with the younger set

Today, a hodgepodge of different interests call the Arsenale their base. And now Venetians get to play down there, too. Let's hope there's no fighting!

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog 

click to read the story in The Local

People in Glass Houses Should Drink Tea - Hiroshi Sugimoto's First Architectural Project in Venice

(Venice, Italy) Le Stanze del Vetro, or The Rooms of Glass, sent over this press release about Hiroshi Sugimoto, the renowned Japanese photographer -- who also designs architecture -- and his project that will open during this year's International Architecture Exhibition. As usual, it is so clearly written that I will let them speak for themselves -- I have added the images except for the one at the top. It sounds like an impressive event!

A joint project of Fondazione Giorgio Cini
and Pentagram Stiftung

Le Stanze del Vetro

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore

 

Glass Tea House Mondrian
by Hiroshi Sugimoto

Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto's first architectural project in Venice, designed for Le Stanze del Vetro on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

On June 6th, the “Glass Tea House Mondrian” will open to the public on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The “Glass Tea House” is a temporary pavilion designed by the Japanese artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto as part of the activities of Le Stanze del Vetro. Hiroshi Sugimoto is known worldwide for his black-and-white photographs, and for the first time ever he is to design an architectural building in Venice.

The “Glass Tea House Mondrian” is a project by Le Stanze del Vetro which was made possible thanks to the support of Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd., and Fondazione Bisazza, in collaboration with Asahi Building-Wall Co. Ltd. Special thanks to Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia for lending archaeological artefacts and to Cattaruzza Millosevich Associated Architects for having overseen each phase of the design and construction of the pavilion.

Appropriate Proportion by Hiroshi Sugimoto

Concurrent with the opening of the “Glass Tea House Mondrian”, the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa will host  an unprecedented retrospective exhibition of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s architectural photographs at the Palazzetto Tito: this exhibition, together with the "Glass Tea House Mondrian” at Le Stanze del Vetro, will place this world-famous artist and his commitment towards the built environment at the center of the Venice art scene this season, befitting the new expanded format of the Architecture Biennale.  

The “Glass Tea House Mondrian” is a new initiative from those organized so far by Le Stanze del Vetro, broadening its horizons, and involving internationally renowned artists to plan and design an architectural pavilion in the area in front of Le Stanze del Vetro, following the example of the “Pavilion Series” of the Serpentine Gallery in London.

The “Glass Tea House Mondrian” by Hiroshi Sugimoto is inspired by pre-modern abstraction, as perfected by Sen no Rikyû, in the Japanese tradition of the tea ceremony. The Pavilion consists of two main elements, an open-air landscape and an enclosedglass cube. The landscape (approximately 40 meters long and 12.5 meters wide) follows a path along a reflecting pool leading the visitor to a glass cube (2.5 x 2.5 meters), inside which the traditional Japanese tea ceremony will be performed regularly.

The glass cube will host two visitors at a time together with the tea master, while spectators can watch the ceremony from outside the glass cube. Original tea utensils for the “Glass Tea House Mondrian” were designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto and fabricated by traditional artisans in Kyoto.

Lightning Fields by Hiroshi Sugimoto

Useful information

Production:
Le Stanze del Vetro – Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung

Title
Glass Tea House Mondrian

Date
Opening on June 6, 2014

Times
10 am – 7 pm, closed on Wednesday

Location
gardens in front of Le Stanze del Vetro

Address
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Tickets
free admission

Original tea utensils for the “Glass Tea House Mondrian” were designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto and fabricated by traditional artisans in Kyoto:
Shuji Nakagawa / Nakagawa Mokkougei Shiga Studio
Takahiro Yagi / Kaikado
Supervised by So’oku Sen/Mushakoji-Senke Tea School
In cooperation with Kyoto University of Art & Design

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Venice Literary Festival - Crossroads of Civilization - Incroci di Civiltà 2014 - #VeniceBooks

(Venice, Italy) Crossroads of Civilization, Incroci di Civiltà, Venice's international literary festival wrapped up its seventh edition on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Once again, the writers spoke about how we need good literature more than ever. Caryl Phillips from Great Britain nailed it when he said, "Google is not knowledge. Google is information. ...Our brains are becoming increasingly narcissistic. Literature is needed as a counter-balance."

Reading good literature encourages our brains to process information and transform it into real knowledge. Good writers impart knowledge gathered from deep within themselves, transforming it into a feast that humanity can savor. As the world twitters away, those of us who still make time to read good literature dine on satisfying sentences and sumptuous words, a meal that leaves a lasting impression.

Unfortunately, because of schedule conflicts, I was not able to see all the writers I wanted to -- especially Raja Alem from Saudi Arabia, whom I had met back in 2011, but the conversations I was able to attend left me encouraged that Venice's literary festival continues to thrive. Especially heartening was the large number of students in attendance -- the University of Ca' Foscari here in Venice is a valuable contributor to Incroci di Civiltà.

Here are the writers who attended and their countries, stimulating diverse, international conversations about how the world looks from his or her unique point of view:

Naomi Alderman - Great Britain
Raja Alem - Saudi Arabia
Salwa Al-Neimi - Syria
Massimo Carlotto - Italy
Patrizia Cavalli - Italy
Arne Dahl - Sweden
Rita Dove - United States
Abilio Estévez - Cuba
Ge Fei - China
Rhea Galanaki - Greece
Peter Greenaway - Great Britain
Jhumpa Lahiri - United States
Abdolah Kader - Iran/Holland
Daniel Mendelsohn - United States
Carlo Petrini - Italy
Caryl Phillips - Great Britain
Marc Scialom - Tunisia/Italy/France
Sergej Stratanovskij - Russia
Noémi Szécsi - Hungary
Uwe Timm - Germany
Olivier Truc - France/Sweden
Varujan Vosganian - Romania
Binyavanga Wainaina - Kenya (unable to attend)

I did manage to see David Mendelsohn over at the Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi (and bumped into Martin Bethenod, Director of the Francois Pinault Foundation, for the second time that day -- earlier in the morning he was at Le Stanze del Vetro on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore presenting I Santillana - Works by Laura de Santillana and Alessandro Diaz de Santillana, the outstanding exhibition he conceived; everyone is talking about it; it is a MUST SEE). Mendelsohn was interviewed by Pietro Del Soldà, of Radio Rai 3, who spoke in Italian while Mendelsohn responded in English.

Mendelsohn is an American critic, author, essayist and classics professor. His 2006 memoir has a notable title -- The Lost: A Search for Six Among Six Million. With a background in Euripidean tragedy, he applied his talents to search for the phantoms that were haunting his family: six of his relatives that disappeared during the Holocaust.

Mendelsohn said his problem was how to tell a story that everyone already knew. He was a critic sitting in his pajamas, writing reviews, when he decided to delve into his family's history. He kept reminding himself to keep a narrow focus and stick to the story: "There's never been a story about my family before." His six relatives were representative of the six million Jews who disappeared during the Holocaust. Since his background was in Hellenic studies, he called upon his old friends Herodotus and Homer for help, and used Ring Composition for his structure. This fascinated me, and I knew I had to have his book. But Daniel Mendelsohn is such a riveting speaker that his book was sold out both in English and in Italian. (I will have to get my hands on a copy by other means:)

This incredibly educated, well-traveled, enlightened American man said something that struck me as an American woman who has lived in Europe for sixteen years. While doing his research, Mendelsohn realized how remote Europe was to the United States; that Americans are oblique to Europe. I have noticed the same thing. He said every American is haunted by another history... growing up in a small town in New York State, who visited his relatives in Miami for a couple weeks every year, he kept hearing about "the Old Country," "the Old Country." He said, "Even educated Americans like myself don't understand it." Now he is an American who finally has discovered what the Old Country is.

While traveling in Eastern Europe, every town he visited had a mass grave. It was a question he was repeatedly asked: "Do you want to see the mass grave?" Mendelsohn remarked, "Your whole country is a cemetery!" His relatives were from a small town called Bolekhiv in the Ukraine. In 1890, there were over 4,000 Jews living there; only 48 survived World War II.

Mendelsohn's brother, Matt, who did the photography, wanted to see Auschwitz; he did not. He was amazed when they were driving along the highway and saw the signs for "Auschwitz." "Imagine growing up in a country where the names are places of genocide!" His brother responded: "You grew up the same way." Mendolsohn said that where he grew up in New York State, everything was named after Native American tribes. After I processed the enormity of that thought, I was stunned. That is also how I grew up, surrounded by Native American names -- Pompton Lakes, my little hometown in New Jersey, was named after the Pompton tribe. Although the Indians left a deep impression on my childhood, it was a romanticized version of history -- wearing moccasins, walking toe-heel, toe-heel, gathering berries in the forest. But, in reality, it was genocide. An entire people were wiped out according to plan. The definition from Merriam-Webster:

geno·cide

noun \ˈje-nə-ˌsīd\

: the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political, or cultural group

Mendelsohn said that 9/11 was the first chance America had to feel like Europe. If you are a regular reader of Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog, you will know I just wrote the same thing last week when I commented on the book The Hôtel on Place Vendôme:

"Here in Europe, you can still feel the echoes of the World Wars, something that only a handful of today's Americans understand. The wars touched the lives of everyone in Europe, many of whom are still alive today. The pain of 9/11 shook the world, Americans in particular, but the event itself was isolated to a section of New York. The World Wars were anguish ramped up to the umpteenth power as country after country fell under the control of the Nazis and Fascists. It is almost unimaginable that such a short time ago France was under German rule; the Nazis were bombing Great Britain, and the US and the Soviet Union were allies -- the Soviets were the first to liberate the Jews from Auschwitz."

Daniel Mendelsohn said that the ancient Greeks were alert to the terror in the world, and that Americans have an infantile desire for closure, packaging everything to feel good. He said that there is not always a redemption, and instead we should ask, "How can we heal? What if there is healing?"

Mendelsohn was inspired by Marcel Proust, and closed with these thoughts: "Without pain, life is tasteless. Pain is the salt that gives life flavor. Pain is a necessary ingredient in the soup of life."

Click for The Lost by Daniel Mandelsohn on Amazon

Click for Incroci di Civiltà on Facebook.

Ciao from Venezia,
#VeniceBooks
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Ritzy Books! The Hotel on Place Vendôme, Arrigo Cipriani's latest, and The Garden of Eden in Venice Revealed - #VeniceBooks

(Venice, Italy) The Hotel Ritz is in the heart of Paris, not Venice, but when Harper Collins offered me a review copy of The Hôtel on Place Vendôme by Tilar J. Mazzeo, I readily agreed. If you are a longtime reader of my Venice blog, you will know that I have written about many of the fascinating denizens of the Hotel Ritz, who also made Venice part of their theatrical production. The Ritz was the glamorous setting for many of the major players of the time, who lived, loved and betrayed one another during the Second World War.

The Hôtel on Place Vendôme by Tilar J. Mazzeo

Ernest Hemingway and a couple of his wives, journalist Mary Welsh and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn were there; Gellhorn's rival, Marlene Dietrich, was there, peeved when another star, Ingrid Bergman, entered the scene and fell in love with Hemingway's friend and rival, Robert Capa -- whom Gellhorn considered to be "her real brother." Pablo Picasso and his surrealist lover, Dora Maar, Coco Chanel and her younger German lover, Hans von Dincklage, and an abundance of glitterati and literati made the Ritz their living room. Aristocrats and politicians, movie stars and celebrity writers played a deadly game of intrigue while carrying on illicit affairs under the eyes of the hotel staff, who added a deeper dimension to the schemes.

Before delving into WWII, Mazzeo starts with a pivotal event before the First World War: The Dreyfus Affair. Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish artillery officer, had been falsely charged with passing secrets to the German embassy in Paris. The Hotel Ritz opened its doors on June 1, 1898, a week after Emile Zola went on trial for writing his scathing letter-to-the-editor in support of Alfred Dreyfus, directed to President of France. Zola accused the French government of framing an innocent man, forcing them to put Zola on trial for libel "...literary and intellectual France broke ranks with the aristocracy, and came to the aid of Alfred Dreyfus." The story is told from Marcel Proust's point of view, touching upon how Sarah Bernhardt, the longtime lover of Aguste Escoffier, legendary chef and one of the partners in the Hotel Ritz enterprise, dined together every year on her birthday.

Ritz regular, Luisa, the Marquise Casati "a living work of art" then makes an appearance -- when Picasso attended a party at her palazzo on the Grand Canal here in Venice (the next grande dame to move in would be Peggy Guggenheim) he was astonished, and we can imagine he was not easily surprised. Luisa wore a drugged, gold-painted snake around her neck as a living necklace, and dyed her hair the color of flames. Her naked, gilded footmen tossed copper filings into the fires so they burned green and blue while the guests smoked opium, as she openly carried on with her lover, Gabriele D'Annunzio. (The 2014 Autumn at Palazzo Fortuny exhibition will be devoted to Luisa and the atmosphere of fin-de-siècle Venice, so mark your calendars -- October 3, 2014 to March 8, 2015.)

I devoured the book in two days, and think it is an excellent history lesson told in terms of giant personalities and the personal relationships they had under one roof during one of the most devastating challenges this planet has ever faced. Told in a series of vignettes with gossipy titles -- "The French Actress and Her Nazi Lover," "The Jewish Bartender and the German Resistance," "The American Wife and the Swiss Director," "Coco's War and Other Dirty Linen," "The Blond Bombshell and the Nuclear Scientists" -- Mazzeo uses a format that indulges the reader's thirst for scandal while imparting well-researched information that has been suppressed for too many years. 

During World War II, when the Germans occupied Paris, many high-ranking officers, such as Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler's second-in-command, made the Ritz their home, causing many of the famous residents -- like Coco Chanel -- to change their suites.The image of Chanel dramatically descending into an air raid shelter, a servant trailing behind, carrying her gas mask on a satin pillow, is priceless. When challenged about her German lover, Hans von Dincklage, Chanel quipped, "at my age you don't ask to see the gentleman's passport."

As in life, Ernest Hemingway and his outrageous antics dominate the story as he races to be the first writer to "liberate" the Ritz -- and its wine cellar -- from the occupation. He leaves a immense imprint -- as he did here in Venice when he lived at the Hotel Gritti Palace and frequented Harry's Bar; the bar in the Ritz is now named Bar Hemingway.

In the prologue, Mazzeo writes that "we live in the long shadow of this history," and I agree. Here in Europe, you can still feel the echoes of the World Wars, something that only a handful of today's Americans understand. The wars touched the lives of everyone in Europe, many of whom are still alive today. The pain of 9/11 shook the world, Americans in particular, but the event itself was isolated to a section of New York. The World Wars were anguish ramped up to the umpteenth power as country after country fell under the control of the Nazis and Fascists. It is almost unimaginable that such a short time ago France was under German rule; the Nazis were bombing Great Britain, and the US and the Soviet Union were allies -- the Soviets were the first to liberate the Jews from Auschwitz. A fascinating bit of history, not in the book, is that Hitler and Mussolini first met each other in Venice. 

Mazzeo writes: 'On at least one occasion, I was warned that I should not attempt to tell this story. The warning came from an elderly Frenchwoman... she said, ..."The truth you are looking for, it was lost to history the moment the war ended. Perhaps it was lost even before that. The questions you are asking are more treacherous than you think. This book about the Hotel Ritz and the story of the occupation, you should not write it. I am sorry."'

Thankfully, Mazzeo ignored that advice, and wrote The Hôtel on Place Vendôme. Read it, and bring yourself up to speed.

Review from the New York Journal of Books

Review from The Toronto Star

Review from Book Reporter 

Amazon: The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris

#VeniceBooks: Stupdt. O l'arte di rialzarsi da terra - Stupid. Or the Art of Getting Up Off the Ground by Arrigo Cipriani

Arrigo Cipriani, the owner of Harry's Bar in Venice and many other exclusive properties around the globe, has written a new book -- not about Ernest Hemingway -- called Stupdt. O l'arte di rialzarsi da terra, which translates to Stupdt. Or the Art of Getting up off the Ground. It is the third of a trilogy, where Cipriani, a man with a vivid and wonderful imagination, leaves the world of Harry's Bar and brings us to a whimsical universe where a sleep-walking wife has sex with her neighbor, returns to bed, and complains about her husband's snoring, and God argues with Buddha, takes it out on Adam, who, in turn, takes it out on Cain. The always-entertaining Marino Folin, who has gone back to his long-haired style, presented Arrigo's novel.

For those of you who are wondering what happened to the book launches that were formerly on the top floor of Mondadori bookstore by Piazza San Marco -- which is now Louis Vuitton -- you can find them at the Casinò in the elegant piano nobile on Wednesdays at 6:00 PM, still hosted by the delightful
Giovanni Pelizzato. 

If you're in Venice, you can find the Italian edition at Giovanni's bookstore La Toletta over in Dorsoduro. And I'm sure they have some copies over at Harry's Bar:)

Amazon: Stupdt: o l'arte di rialzarsi da terra (Varia) (Italian Edition)

#VeniceBooks: The Garden of Eden - A Secret Garden in Venice by Annemette Fogh 

Completely closed to the public, everybody in Venice wants to know what is behind the immense walls of the Garden of Eden on the island of Giudecca, and Annemette Fogh finally takes us behind that solitary gate.

Bought by an English couple, Frederic and Caroline Eden in 1884, the nine-acre garden was the hub for some of the international elite that we will find later at the Hotel Ritz in Paris. Marcel Proust was there in the garden, as were Rilke, Henry James, John Singer Sargent, Robert Browning and Claude Monet, along with members of the Anglo-American colony living in Venice. During the presentation at the Bauer Hotel, Fogh spoke about the secrecy surrounding the Eden family, and how difficult it had been to gather information.

Frederic Eden, a great-uncle of Sir Anthony Eden, the future prime minister, and Caroline, the elder sister of the well-known garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll, lived in Venice for 50 years. After wearying of life on the Grand Canal, Eden purchased the huge plot of land on the Giudecca, and created an English garden complete with milk cow.

"What scope for planting," Eden declared when he first saw the plot, "what an escape from constant idleness, what a relief from my lately loved mistress the lagoon, from whom my soul now turned in the ungrateful satiety of too long possession."

In 1928 the garden was sold to Major James Horlick, who gave it to Aspasia Manos, the ex-Princess of Greece and Denmark. For the rest of her life she lived in the small palazzina in the garden, often together with her daughter, Alexandra, the former Queen of Yugoslavia. 

In 1979 Friedensreich Hundertwasser, one of the best-known contemporary Austrian artists, took over the garden. During WWII, he and his Jewish mother posed as Christians; he went so far as to join the Hitler Youth. His experience under the Nazi regime made him yearn for rule by a constitutional monarchy: 

"...While the rationalist way of thinking has given us in this century an ephemeral, higher American standard of living at the expense of nature and creation, which has now come to an end, but our heart, our quality of life destroyed, our desires, without which an Austrian does not want to live. It is outrageous that Austria has an emperor who did no evil to anyone, but is still treated like a leper. Austria needs a crown! Long live Austria! Long live the constitutional monarchy! Long live Otto von Habsburg!"

Hundertwasser had his own ideas about gardening, which was to let nature take its course. The Garden of Eden is now owned by the Hundertwasser Foundation in Vienna and is completely closed to the public. Hundertwasser's possessions are still there, just as he left them when he died at sea in 2000, and the Garden of Eden is now growing wild, as nature, true to his wishes, takes its course. 

In May 2012, the Danish author, Annemette Fogh, was granted exclusive admission to the garden to take photos with the help of Mimmo Fabrizi. Her pricey paperback (€45) is the only opportunity we have to get a glimpse into this garden where phantoms of the past still roam.

The Garden of Eden at Saxo.com

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat Bauer
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Venice International ARTE LAGUNA ART PRIZE - 2014 - The Winners

Interior Arsenale Novissimo

(Venice, Italy) The Arte Laguna Art Prize, now in its eighth year, continues to evolve, growing more international and prestigious every year.

With strong support from Veneto Region, the Provinces of Venice and Treviso, as well as the Comune of Venice, the Arte Laguna Art Prize has built a network of collaborations with foundations, museums, galleries, art residencies and private companies all over the world to invest in emerging contemporary artists, helping to launch their professional careers.

PAINTING - The Four Seasons by Bianca De Gier (Netherlands)

The exhibition space for Arte Laguna is the immense Arsenale Novissimo. It is a fun adventure to go down there -- the vaporetto stop is at Celestia -- and see a part of Venice way off the beaten track.

Last night at the opening reception, the space was lit with a very cool light show, with very cool music playing in the background, and, as usual, the place was packed. I've known Beatrice Susa, co-founder of the Prize, along with Laura Gallon, since the beginning, and these two ladies continue to impress.

SCULPTURE: Raum by Elaine Byrne (Ireland)

The works of the 105 finalists selected among thousands of entries in Painting, Sculpture & Installation, Photographic Art, Video Art, and Performance are on display through April 6, 2014. The finalists come from all over the planet, from the United States, Brazil, Mexico and all of Europe to Hong Kong, Israel, Russia and the Republic of Korea.

In addition to zipping to the top of the heap in terms of international recognition, each winner receives €7,000, a nice bit of change that can really make a difference in an emerging artist's life.

The winners of the five Institutional Prizes are:

Section: Painting
Overall winner prize: 7.000,00 Euros
Selected artist: Bianca De Gier
Gouda | Netherlands 1966
Selected Artwork:
The Four Seasons (nr.56), 2013
Mixed media on canvas

VIDEO ART & PERFORMANCE - Not Swiss Made by Apiyo Amolo (Kenya)

Sezione: Video Arte e Performance
Premio Vincitore Assoluto: 7.000,00 Euros  
Selected artist: Apiyo Amolo
Kenya, 1978
Selected Artwork:
Not Swiss Made, 2012
SONY HVR-Z5E HDV and Adobe Premium Pro, 3'

Section: Sculpture and Installation
Overall winner prize: 7.000,00 Euros
Selected artist: Elaine Byrne
Dublin | Ireland 1970
Selected Artwork:
Raum, 2013
Wooden construction bolted together, sound, text and found objects

PHOTOGRAPHY - Gardens by Victoria Campillo (Spain)

Section: Photographic Art
Overall winner prize: 7.000,00 Euros
Selected artist: Victoria Campillo
Barcelona | Spain 1957
Selected Artwork:
Gardens, 2013
Lambda print on aluminium

VIRTURAL ART - Dérives by Emilie Brout & Maxime Marion (France)

Section: Virtual Art - iFOPE
Overall winner prize: 7.000,00 Euros
Selected artist: Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion
Nancy | France 1984 – Forbach | France 1982
Selected artwork:
Dérives, 2011-2013
Algorithmic cinema installation

It's interesting that all five winners happen to be women this year. There are all sorts of other prizes, such as artist residencies and collaborations with galleries, and different categories, including under-25, so please visit the Arte Laguna Art Prize for all the details.

Congratulation to all the finalists and winners!

Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog 


ARTE LAGUNA ART PRIZE
March 22 to April 6, 2014
Arsenale Novissimo
Vaporetto: Celestia (Line 52)
Daily 10AM to 6PM
Entrance: free