Author | Edmund de Waal |
---|---|
Subject | Ephrussi family |
Genre | Biography |
Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Publication date | 2010 |
Pages | 353 |
ISBN | 978-0-374-10597-6 |
OCLC | 694399313 |
The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (2010) is a family memoir by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal. [1] De Waal tells the story of his family, the Ephrussi, once a very wealthy European Jewish banking dynasty, centred in Odessa, Vienna and Paris, and peers of the Rothschild family. [1] The Ephrussis lost almost everything in 1938 when the Nazis confiscated their property, [1] and were unable to recover most of their property after the war, including priceless artwork; an easily hidden collection of 264 Japanese netsuke miniature sculptures was saved, tucked away inside a mattress by Anna, a loyal maid at Palais Ephrussi in Vienna during the war years. The collection has been passed down through five generations of the Ephrussi family, providing a common thread for the story of its fortunes from 1871 to 2009. In 2021, The Hare with Amber Eyes was distributed in Vienna as a free book, with a print run of 100,000 copies.
The narrator describes the lengthy research into various – long deceased – family members and concentrates his report on the touching story of a collection of 264 netsuke, Japanese miniatures, carved from wood or ivory. This collection was acquired by Charles Ephrussi in Paris, came as a gift to Charles's cousin, Viktor Ephrussi, and was hidden by a nanny named Anna when organs of the Nazi state confiscated the Palais Ephrussi and the family's art collection there and returned to the family after 1945. The book is equipped with a family tree.
The book is described by the literary scholar Oliver vom Hove as an “unprecedentedly precise memory book”. [2] However, it has been argued that the reported history of the Ephrussi & Co. banking house does not correspond to historical facts. For example, Alexander Weiner, the head of the bank from 1924, does not appear in the entire book. [3] And there are other inaccuracies: The depiction of Ignaz von Ephrussi contradicts the documents that have been preserved in the inheritance file, which is in the Vienna City and State Archives. [4] The social and economic historian Roman Sandgruber comments on the wealth of Victor Ephrussis, who is characterized as the richest banker in Vienna after Albert Rothschild: "De Waal also overestimates him. He was by no means the second richest banker in the city, but in 1910 ranked 258th on the income scale." [5] Contemporary historian Oliver Rathkolb has dedicated his own search for traces to Anna, but without success. [6]
It was generally well-received. In Bookmarks Nov/Dec 2010 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.00 out of 5) with the summary stating," "A duel, and a duet, of elegy and irony" (Boston Globe), de Waal's extraordinary family memoir brings his forebears vibrantly to life". [7]
Felix Salten was an Austro-Hungarian author and literary critic in Vienna. His most famous work is Bambi, a Life in the Woods, which was adapted into an animated feature film, Bambi, by Walt Disney Productions in 1942.
Wiener Zeitung is an Austrian newspaper. First published as the Wiennerisches Diarium in 1703, it is one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Until April 2023, it was the official gazette of the government of the Republic of Austria for legally-required announcements, such as company registrations and was also the official publishing body for laws and executive orders until 2004.
Palais Ephrussi is a former Ringstraßenpalais in Vienna. It was built for the Ephrussi family of financiers by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, the architect of the Austrian Parliament Building. It is on the Ringstrasse, specifically the Universitätsring, opposite the Votivkirche.
The Ephrussi family is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family. The family's bank and properties were seized by the Nazi authorities after the 1938 "Anschluss", the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.
Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal is a British journalist and writer on the Caucasus. He is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He is best known for his 2003 book Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War.
Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, is a contemporary English artist, master potter and author. He is known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels often created in response to collections and archives or the history of a particular place. De Waal's book The Hare with Amber Eyes was awarded the Costa Book Award for Biography, Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2011 and Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for Non-Fiction in 2015. De Waal's second book The White Road, tracing his journey to discover the history of porcelain was released in 2015.
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Victor Alexander de Waal is a British Anglican priest. He was the Dean of Canterbury from 1976 to 1986.
Oliver Jens Schmitt is a professor of South-East European history at Vienna University since 2005. He is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Charles Ephrussi was a French art critic, art historian, and art collector. He also was a part-owner and then editor as well as a contributor to the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, the most important art historical periodical in France.
Karl Penka was an Austrian philologist and anthropologist. Known for his now-outdated theories locating the Proto-Indo-European homeland in Northern Europe, Penka has been described as "a transitional figure between Aryanism and Nordicism".
The Karl Renner Prize, established on the occasion of the Austrian Federal President Karl Renner’s 80th birthday by the city of Vienna, is awarded to individuals or groups in recognition of merits for Vienna and Austria in cultural, social as well as economic concerns, acknowledged on a national or international level. Endowed with 43,600 euro, the prize is currently given to a maximum of six nominees every three years.
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Julya Rabinowich (Russian: Юля Борисовна Рабинович; born 1970 in Leningrad, is an Austrian author, playwright, painter and translator. In 1977 her family emigrated to Vienna, a move in which she describes herself as having been “uprooted and re-potted.”
Baron Ignace von Ephrussi (1829–1899) was a Russian-born Austrian banker and diplomat. He was the head of Ephrussi & Co. in Vienna, Austria.
Elisabeth Kulman is an Austrian classical singer who has performed operatic roles in soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto repertory. She has appeared at opera houses in Vienna and internationally. She has performed early operas such as Legrenzi's Il Giustino as well as new works, creating the role of Gora in the premiere of Reimann's Medea at the Vienna State Opera. She recorded Lieder by Mussorgsky, Bach's Christmas Oratorio with Peter Schreier and Beethoven's Missa solemnis with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. From 2015, she has focused on concert singing.
Hans Riemer was an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). From 1949 to 1956 he was a member of the Bundesrat and from 1956 to 1963 a member of the city council of Vienna.
Georg Hüsing was an Austrian historian and philologist who specialized in Germanic studies and mythography.
Miguel Herz-Kestranek is an Austrian actor and author.
Viktor, Ritter von Ephrussi (born 8 November 1860 in Odessa; died 6 February 1945 in Tunbridge Wells was an Austrian banker.
Media related to Hare with Amber Eyes (Ephrussi Collection) at Wikimedia Commons