Picture of author.

Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943)

Teoksen Life? or Theatre? tekijä

7 teosta 225 jäsentä 8 arvostelua 1 Favorited

Tietoja tekijästä

Tekijän teokset

Life? or Theatre? (1981) — Tekijä — 161 kappaletta
Charlotte : a diary in pictures (1963) — Kuvittaja — 26 kappaletta
Vita? O teatro? Ediz. a colori (2019) 2 kappaletta
Museum — Artist — 2 kappaletta
Charlotte 1 kappale

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Muut nimet
SALOMON, Charlotte
Syntymäaika
1917-04-16
Kuolinaika
1943-10-10
Sukupuoli
female
Kansalaisuus
Germany
Syntymäpaikka
Berlin, Germany
Kuolinpaikka
Auschwitz, Poland
Asuinpaikat
Berlin, Germany
Villefranche-sur-Mer, France
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France
Koulutus
Berlin Academy of Fine Arts
Ammatit
artist
painter
playwright
diarist
Lyhyt elämäkerta
Charlotte Salomon, called Lotte, was born to a prosperous German Jewish family in Berlin. Her father Albert Salomon was a surgeon and professor at the Berlin University Medical School; her mother committed suicide when Lotte was nine. She was not told the cause of her mother's death, and the loss and silence made Lotte Salomon a solitary and observant child. She created her first paintings around age 13. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Lotte had to leave school and did drawings on her own. In 1936, she was admitted to the Berlin Academy of Fine Art (which had a Jewish quota) and attended cultural performances that were allowed to Jewish audiences. However, she was forced to leave in 1938. After the November 1938 pogrom known as Kristallnacht, Albert Salomon was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp; after his release, Lotte was sent for safety to her maternal grandparents in Villefranche, near Nice in southern France. There she witnessed her grandmother’s suicide and learned from her grandfather of her own mother’s suicide. In 1940, Lotte and her grandfather were sent to the Gurs concentration camp in the Pyrenees; they were released in the summer of that year and returned to Villefranche. Lotte Salomon supported herself by painting greeting cards and portraits and in 1941 moved to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. There she began creating her autobiographical masterpiece, a Singspiel -- a German form of operetta consisting of a series of notebook-size gouache paintings, with bright colors in the early scenes that darkened as the story progressed, accompanied by narrations ranging from witty and sardonic to grave and desperate. She then returned to Villefranche, moving in with Alexander Nagler, another German-speaking Jewish refugee. After they learned Lotte was pregnant, they felt safe enough to register their marriage at the Nice town hall. In 1943, however, they were arrested and deported first to the Drancy transit camp outside Paris and then to Auschwitz, where Lotte was killed on arrival and Alexander died later. Lotte had packaged her work, which she called "Life? Or Theater? A Song-Play" and hidden it with a trusted friend. It was located after the war and donated to the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. "Life? Or Theater?" went on permanent exhibit and also traveled in major exhibits throughout the world.

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

For a basic introduction to the work of Charlotte Salomon see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Salomon; for further study and thorough discussions see eg. Reading Charlotte Salomon .
 
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MeisterPfriem | 6 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Dec 31, 2022 |
I thought I had already read this book after I saw the exhibit at the Jewish Contemporary Museum in San Francisco on August 30, 2011. (https://www.thecjm.org/exhibitions/35) I hadn’t added it to Goodreads though and I was already a member. Perhaps I was able to read only portions of the book at the time, so I reread/reskimmed it so that I could rate and review it now. (I just noticed I shelved it as to read on 8/30/11. I think that I read much of the book while at the exhibit. There were copies available. We spent hours there but most of that time was looking at the art and the captions at the pieces and I am now assuming I wouldn’t have had time to read the entire book.

For me, this is a full 5 stars worthy book. I’d remembered mostly the art and Charlotte’s story but the text play is just as compelling and wonderful as the art. I love this book! I admire how Charlotte was able to take pain and turn it into art.

I love this artist’s art. I am interested in her story. I was happy to revisit both. It’s a really heavy book so I was able to read it only when home. I was not willing to carry it around with me. It’s a paperback but heavier than most hardcover books. The quality of the art as shown on the book’s pages is excellent. The art content and their captions tell a fascinating and complete story. The art alone does a lot. There are also sections at the start of the book that are also fascinating and educational. They’re are text heavy but include some lovely and helpful and interesting photos and also some of Charlotte’s art.

From the inside front cover of the book that precedes the Contents page: “The work that Charlotte Salomon entitled Life? Or Theater? figures among the 1,325 gouaches and transparencies owned by the Jewish Historical Museum. This publication includes reproductions of 769 gouaches, thirteen printed pages of text and one transparency. Only the unnumbered programme booklet (JHM no. 4155) and three unnumbered gouaches have been added. At Gary Schwartz’s recommendation the sequence of gouaches JHM no. 4404 has been switched in contrast to the previous edition. The numbering of these gouaches conflicts with the story’s continuity. All texts accompanying the gouaches are by Charlotte Salomon.”

Everything about this book is 5 star worthy. The art, Charlotte’s writing, the biography written about her and her time, which spanned from 1917 WWI to the middle of WWII 1943. It’s just as chilling as it’s ever been to read about what happened in the years 1933-1943, in this case how it affected Charlotte and her family and those she knew.

She was German Jewish but was living in France when she was captured by the Nazis. As far as her biography, what most impressed me was how suicide and depression were rampant in her family members (including her closest women relatives!) and ancestors, and she suffered from depression and contemplated suicide and she was obsessed with the family suicides, but she chose life. When she was sent to Auschwitz at 26 she was 5 months pregnant. She was gassed upon arrival. If she’d not been pregnant (choosing more life) she might have survived. She chose life and then was murdered. It’s so sad. Tragic. Her father & stepmother did survive and it was them being given her art/play/writings/ work that reminded me of Otto Frank being given Anne Frank’s diary.

Her play autobiographical play (personal and family and what was going on in Nazi occupied Germany/socially/historically) takes place from 1913-1940 and is supposed to be set to music. I’d love to hear the music. Some of the music in the directions is known to me and I could hear some of it in my head as I read.

When I decided to read/reread this book I had planned to make a list of my very favorite art pieces in the book but I just couldn’t do that. Yes, I love some more than other, want to view some longer than others, but I’d adored too many to list, maybe about half of them. I will say that overall I liked the art earlier in the play more than the art later in the play. I was a tad frustrated that I couldn’t read the German words included in some of the art. I was able to translate some of the words, though not nearly enough to understand what she was trying to convey with her words.

She was already an accomplished artist before she wrote this long piece. I am interested in seeing all of her art and maybe in reading an in depth biography of her, her family, her contemporaries, and their places in history.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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Lisa2013 | 6 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Feb 11, 2020 |
These paintings were done in France after 1940 where she moved. They relive her younger years in Berlin and were completed shortly before she was deported to Auschwitz where she died ca. 1943.
 
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HolocaustMuseum | 6 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Nov 23, 2011 |
The introductory material and information is somewhat incorrect. Charlotte's work is a unique and classical contribution to late German Expressionism. Anyone interested in the Holocaust and pre-WWII Germany should own this book.
 
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RoyHartCentre | 6 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jun 5, 2009 |

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