Belonging and Betrayal:
How Jews Made the Art World Modern
A conversation with James McAuley and Charles Dellheim on his recent book Belonging and Betrayal: How Jews Made the Art World Modern (Brandeis, 2021).
The book turns the story of Nazi stolen art on its head by focusing on how, against all odds, certain Jewish outsiders came to acquire so many old and modern masterpieces in the first place.
Stretching from the later-19th century to the present and spanning Europe and the United States, the narrative focuses on the rises and falls of a remarkable circle of dealers, collectors, and artists.
Charles Dellheim is professor of History at Boston University. His work has explored varied areas of cultural history and has written on subjects ranging from architecture, painting, and company cultures to politics, literature, and baseball. He has held fellowships from the national endowment for the Humanities, Harvard University's graduate school of Business, and the University of Pennsylvania's Center from advanced Judaic studies. His previous publications include The Face of the Past: The Preservation of the Medieval Inheritance in Victorian England and The Disenchanted Isle: Mrs. Thatcher's Capitalist Revolution.
James McAuley is Global Opinions contributing columnist focusing on French and European politics and culture, The Washington Post. He holds a PhD in French history from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He recently published The House of Fragile Things, exploring the central role that art and material culture played in the assimilation and identity of French Jews in the fin-de-siècle.
The Art Dealers (The Bernheim-Jeune Brothers)
1912
Oil on board, mounted on canvas
60.5 x 66 cm.
Saint Louis Art Museum