Home Books The Vanished Collection

The Vanished Collection

The Vanished Collection

by Pauline Baer de Perignon tr. Natasha Lehrer

New Vessel Press ·2022 ·241 pages ·Investigative Journalism
Bottom of the Pile
Bottom of the Pile
I Index
18/99
Bottom of the Pile

15/99

Critics

Bottom of the Pile

20/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

27/99

Rating

3/99

Volume

6/99

Rating

34/99

Volume

Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.


About This Book

It all started with a list of paintings. There, scribbled by a cousin she hadn't seen for years, were the names of the masters whose works once belonged to her great-grandfather, Jules Strauss: Renoir, Monet, Degas, Tiepolo and more. Pauline Baer de Perignon knew little to nothing about Strauss, or about his vanished, precious art collection. But the list drove her on a frenzied trail of research in the archives of the Louvre and the Dresden museums, through Gestapo records, and to consult with Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano. What happened in 1942? And what became of the collection after Nazis seized her great-grandparents' elegant Parisian apartment? The quest takes Pauline Baer de Perignon from the Occupation of France to the present day as she breaks the silence around the wrenching experiences her family never fully transmitted, and asks what art itself is capable of conveying over time.


Preview


Reviews

"Some readers may find the often combative dynamics among the author's family off-putting, and the prose is occasionally stilted; still, the story is memorable and often moving ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Baer de Perignon recounts her remarkable quest to pursue her family's lost art collection in this riveting debut ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

Reader Reviews

0 reviews

Sign in to write a review.

No reader reviews yet. Be the first!