Reviews for James McNeill Whistler: A Reexamination (Studies in the History of Art)

The average rating for James McNeill Whistler: A Reexamination (Studies in the History of Art) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-30 00:00:00 Marc Levesque With this book, originally published in several volumes, Austrian writer, philosopher and actor Egon Friedell aimed to paint a cohesive picture of the development of European cultural history from the Middle Ages to WW I. This seems like an impossible task, but the book's strength is that Friedell takes an unconventional approach to cut through the material and distill the underlying forces and main events that moved developments: He does not use scientific methods, but wrote this as a major essay, which also means that his opinions and emotions - and by that, Friedell himself - are an important part of the text. And Friedell has some very strong opinions: Goethe? Unworldly. Spinoza? Insane. Napoleon? The greatest genius who ever lived. Schiller? Knew what's up. Friedell talks about literature, fine art, music, philosophy, clothes, manners of speech; he inserts little portraits of important figures like Voltaire, Shakespeare and Luther; he explains the most important ideas of people like Nietzsche and Descartes; and he manages to bring everything together by connecting, contrasting and judging all those little parts. All of this renders the text deeply insightful and very entertaining, but it is of course necessary to know some basic things about Friedell's topics, because otherwise, it is hard to assess the author's opinions - and you certainly do not have to always agree with Friedell to enjoy his arguments (Friedell would probably have been the first one to encourage you to sapere aude in such a case). After listening to the audiobook (which is currently available on Spotify and which is a shortened version of the book, but still pretty long), I googled Friedell, learnt more about his considerable contributions to Austrian culture and was shocked to find out how he died: In February 1938, the Nazis banned "A Cultural History of the Modern Age" because it contradicted their fascist ideology. About four weeks later, the SA knocked on Friedell's door and inquired after the "Jew Friedell" (Friedell was a Lutheran with Jewish heritage). Friedell opened his window on the third floor, called down to the pedestrians to "please step back" and jumped. He was 60 years old.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-09 00:00:00 Kevin Williams ES ist schon erstaunlich, wie er es schafft, ganze Jahrhunderte anhand von Philosophen, Kleidermoden und ähnlichen Dingen in eine ganz amüsante Erzählung zu bringen, stets abzudriften, aber auch hier quasi unerschöpfliches Wissen zum besten gebend. Nur, ein wirklich wissenschaftliches Werk kann es weder heute noch konnte es damals sein. Es zählt Friedells Meinung, und er vertritt sie meist süffisant, manchmal auch sehr unnachgiebig, jedoch ohne Widerworte. Am meisten musste ich über die oft wiederkehrenden, unverhohlenen Rassismen lachen, z.B.: Spanier würden nicht gerne arbeiten, oder Franzosen seien ruhmsüchtig, Slaven seien dickköpfig und vieles mehr, etc.. Als Kind seiner Zeit mag das noch durchgehen, und dennoch entschuldigt es nichts, denn auch in seiner Zeit gab es weitaus tolerantere und flexiblere Geisteshaltungen. Und das ist ebenso erstaunlich: Obwohl uns hier ein über alle Maßen gebildeter Mensch 'DIE' Geschichte Europas auf vielen Seiten erzählt, und obwohl er selber eher eine rebellische Jugend verbracht hatte, bleibt er dennoch ein konservativer Kulturhüter, der immer ganz genau wusste, was 'richtig' zu sein hatte.