Letters to Camondo

Angebote / Angebote:

Count Moise de Camondo was a Jewish collector and philanthropist who lived on the famous rue de Monceau, Paris, at the same time as the Ephrussi (the forebears of Edmund de Waal, who famously appear in The Hare with Amber Eyes). Like the Ephrussi, Count Camondo and his family were part of Belle Époque Parisian high society. They were also targets of ugly anti-semitism.Moise de Camondo created a spectacular house, modelled on the Petit Trianon, and filled it with the greatest private collection of French eighteenth century art for his son Nissim to inherit. But when Nissim was killed in the First World War, it became a memorial -- with the instruction that nothing be changed -- and was bequeathed by Moise on his death in 1935 to the French state. The Musée Nissim de Camondo has remained unaltered since 1936. Over the past year, Edmund de Waal has had the run of the beautiful palace overlooking the park, its objects and its archives. Here, he reflects on the Count's story -- on one hand a close-knit family, with a love of horse-riding, good food and fine furniture. On the other, a journey from Constantinople and the generational work to assimiliate, before all that is gained is torn away.The Count didn't live to see the horrific betrayal to come -- with characteristic delicacy and care, Edmund de Waal informs him, and the reader, of what happened next, and what it might mean to create a memorial.