The Vanished Collection
The Vanished Collection by Pauline Baer de Perignon, published by New Vessel Press in 2022, is a 256-page exploration of art, history, and personal memoir. The narrative begins with a list of paintings belonging to the author’s great-grandfather, Jules Strauss, which sparks a journey into the past. Through extensive research in various archives, including the Louvre and Gestapo records, Baer de Perignon seeks to uncover the fate of her family’s art collection during the tumultuous events of 1942.
Readers will find a detailed account of the author’s quest to understand the impact of historical events on her family’s legacy. The book delves into themes of art, European history, and the personal ramifications of conflict, as Baer de Perignon confronts the silence surrounding her family’s experiences during the Nazi occupation of France. This edition presents a unique blend of biography and historical inquiry, inviting readers to reflect on the enduring significance of art in the face of loss.
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“Engrossing … The book reads like a detective story.”–The Washington Post
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.
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