Identity and Image: Refugee Artists from Nazi Germany in Britain (1933-1945) by Jutta Vinzent
2008; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 103; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/mlr.2008.0122
ISSN2222-4319
Autores Tópico(s)Italian Fascism and Post-war Society
Resumo598 Reviews Bible. 'Anhang 3' takesus through key concepts such as religion, hell, prayer, the soul, truth, lies, theDevil, God, theChurch, Heaven, and theheart, noting how frequently they occur. 'Anhang 4' is a marvellous systematic list of Canetti's obsession with numbers, from zero to iOO,OOO,ooo.This might sound like grist to themill of those criticswho emphasize thenovel's interactionwith theeffectsof the Wall Street Crash, but Schutti's point isnot about Canetti's critique of inflation.Covering more than forty pages, her list inpart demonstrates how active Jewish numerology is in thenovel. This vital researchwill shape futurestudies of thenovel and should enable critics to intervene productively in the controversy between Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and Rabbi Joachim Neusner about whether there has always been a blatantly anti-Christian Talmud destined for a Jewish audience, and a second edition purged of blasphemy, intended for a Christian audience, designed to conceal the secret language of hatred nurtured by the Jews.This age-old issue came to a head again in I998. Unfortunately, Schutti does not weigh up her research in the balance, and skirts round the issue of whether Die Blendung can also be read as sustained blasphemy, offensive hatred of all thingsChristian inparticular. Her bibliography has also overlooked works by David Darby (Structures ofDisintegration (Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, I992)) and Harriet Murphy (Canetti and Nietzsche (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1997)) on intertextuality. MARBACHAMNECKAR HARRIETMURPHY Identity and Image: Refugee Artists fromNazi Germany inBritain (I933-I945). By JUTTA VINZENT. (Schriften der Guernica-Gesellschaft, i6) Kromsdorf and Weimar: VDG (Verlag und Datenbank fiir Geisteswissenschaften). 2006. 400 PP. ?67.50. ISBN 978-3-89739-496-4. Much of the research for this book was undertaken for a University of Cambridge Ph.D., but JuttaVinzent has greatly expanded both the range and the theoretical depth of her original project. In addition, as a result of her continuing researches, Vinzent has now established that over three hundred artists come into this exile ca tegory.One valuable appendix to this book is the list of exile artistswith details of theirbirth and death, artistic professions, reasons foremigration, place and period of internment, and information about membership of or participation inemigre organi zations. A second appendix provides 124 black-and-white illustrations by exile artists and two colour plates byMarie-Louise vonMotesiczky. In her introduction Vinzent gives due credit to the early pioneering work of researchers such as Cordula Frowein and Keith Holz and reviews exile research publications since then. She has herself contributed toArts inExile inBritain, I933-I945: Politics and Cultural Identity, ed. by Shulamith Behr and Marian Malet (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2oo6). In the sec tionwhich follows her introduction Vinzent surveys thepressures which resulted in emigration, internment, and release during thewar years and the post-war dilemma ofwhether or not to return. Some did, such as Ludwig Meidner, but many did not. The third section deals with how the emigre artists labelled themselves and how theywere seen by theBritish public, focusing on institutions such as Jack Bilbo's Modern Art Gallery andArthur Segal's Painting School. While this section questions the assumption of a unitywhich can be called 'refugee art', thenext section analyses the extent towhich 'refugee art' is characterized by social, artistic, stylistic, existen tial, political, or even religious features. In this connection Vinzent's firstcase study analyses works of artduring internment,while the second analyses those produced for refugee associations such as theFine Arts Section of theFree German League ofCul ture (FGLC), theAustrian Centre's Association ofAustrian Painters, Sculptors and Architects, and works produced fortheAnglo-Sudeten Club and theCzech Institute. MLR, I03.2, 2oo8 599 For the FGLC Vinzent focuses on major figures such as Oskar Kokoschka and his political paintings and on JohnHeartfield's photomontages, while those singled out for theAustrian Centre areGeorg Ehrlich forhis sculptures and drawings and Otto Flat ter forhis caricatures. For theAnglo-Sudeten Club and theCzech Institute the focus isonWolfgang Schlosser's drawings and onMarie-Louise vonMotesiczky's portraits ofwomen. Methodologically, this book represents a completely new way of looking at the identity and image of emigre artists. The mass of new material Vinzent has assembled alsomakes thisbook compulsory reading forall interested inExile Studies. INSTITUTE OF GERMANIC AND ROMANCE STUDIES, LONDON...
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