The sense of semblance : philosophical analyses of Holocaust art

292 Pages·2013·13.225 MB·English

by  Pickford, Henry W

The Sense of Semblance

The Sense of Semblance
philosophical analyses
of holocaust art
Henry W. Pickford
fordham university press New York 2013
this book is made possible by a collaborative grant
from the andrew w. mellon foundation.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pickford, Henry W.
The sense of semblance : philosophical analyses of
Holocaust art / Henry W. Pickford.
pages cm
Summary: “Drawing on work in contemporary
analytic philosophy and Adorno’s normative
aesthetic theory, this book aims to show how selected
Holocaust artworks in a variety of media (lyric poetry
by Paul Celan, Holocaust memorials, quotational
texts by Heimrad Bäcker, Claude Lanzmann’s film
Shoah and Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus)
fulfill both aesthetic and historical requirements of
the genre” — Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8232-4540-6 (hardback)
1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945), and the arts.
I. Title.
NX180.H59.P53 2013
700'.458405318—dc23
2012027761
Printed in the United States of America
15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1
First edition
for my mother and in memory of my father

contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Judgment of Holocaust Art 1
1. Mandelshtam’s Meridian: On Paul Celan’s
Aesthetic-Historical Materialism 17
2. Conflict and Commemoration: Two Berlin Memorials 74
3. The Aesthetics of Historical Quotation:
On Heimrad Bäcker’s “System nachschrift” 137
4. The Aesthetic-Historical Imaginary: On Shoah and Maus 160
Conclusion: The Morality of Holocaust Art 204
Notes 211
Bibliography 253
Index 273

illustrations
1. Memorial to Cemal Kemal Altun by Akbar Behkalam. 81
2. Schinkel’s design of the Neue Wache. 86
3. Neue Wache, 19th C. 88
4. Neue Wache interior by Heinrich von Tessenow. 89
5. Neue Wache, Third Reich. 90
6. Neue Wache interior, Heldengedenktag. 91
7. Neue Wache, 1945. 92
8. Neue Wache, late 1940s. 93
9. Neue Wache interior by Heinz Mehlan. 94
10. Neue Wache exterior, changing of the guard. 95
11. Neue Wache interior by Lothar Kwasnitza. 96
12. Neue Wache, current interior. 100
13. Neue Wache, inscription. 101
14. “Pietà” by Käthe Kollwitz, 1903. 102
15. “Death with a Woman in her Lap” by Käthe Kollwitz, 103
1921.
16. Bronze tablet, entrance to Neue Wache. 104
17. Memorial sheet for Karl Liebknecht, print.
Käthe Kollwitz, 1920. 108
18. Holzmeister, Memorial to Schlageter, Düsseldorf. 111
19. Knappe-Bleeker, Memorial to the Fallen, Munich
(exterior). 112
x Illustrations
20. Knappe-Bleeker, Memorial to the Fallen, Munich
(interior). 113
21. Eisenman, Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe,
Berlin. 120
22a–22b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 126
23a–23b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 126
24a–24b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 127
25a–25b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 128
26a–26b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 129
27a–27b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 132
28a–28b. Places of Remembering, Berlin. 133
29. Laocöon sculpture. 162
30. Shoah, still, Abraham Bomba. 179
31. Shoah, still, Simon Srebnik. 183
32. Maus I, p. 37. 190
33. Maus I, rear flap. 196
34. Maus II, p. 41. 197