William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University; Resident Faculty & Seminar Chair, Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University; Director, The Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
October 24, 2019
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
Two home inventories.
A Paris Interior c. 1940: The dining room: 1 Henri II sideboard with matching table and chairs,1 tea table, 3 old pewter pots.Assorted paintings: 2 views of Rouen, 1 of the Marché de St. Valéry, 1 of the Grosse Horloge in Rouen. The living room: 2 Louis XVI armchairs; 2 Louis XV chairs; 1 foot bath genre Bagnolles de l’Orne; 1 canapé Louis Philippe, and, a wooden sculpture from Indochina.
A Berlin Interior c. 1936: Japanese, Meissen, and Rosenthal Porcelain, Egermann Glass (Czech), 2 silver Chippendale candelabra, Queen Anne style “Herrenzimmer” and dining room; Louis XVI style chair; modern style bedroom; German and Italian paintings.
Snapshots of two Jewish homes. The first is filled with nothing but French (including the Empire) things. The second surrounds its owner with goods from around the world. This talk will explicate this difference and what it teaches about Jewishness, Frenchness, and Germanness in the first half of the 20th century.