RECOMMENDED READING

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This is a five-star recommendation of the book by Anne-Marie O’Connor, about the theft and restitution of the iconic portrait, ADELE BLOCH-BAUER I, created by GUSTAV KLIMT.

Many of us would recognize the story from the 2015 film (THE WOMAN IN GOLD) starring Helen Mirren as MARIE ALTMANN, who campaigned against the Austrian government for the return to her family of her aunt Adele’s portrait that had been seized by the Nazis during World War II. 

While the film focuses principally on Marie’s successful campaign, the book delves more deeply into the biography of Klimt, the background of the aunt and niece (and their families), and the remarkable tale of the painting itself – all cast in the setting of the “glittering” fin-de-siècle Vienna, and against the drama of the Holocaust and its sorrowful aftermath. 

O’Connor’s story tells of “one of the world’s greatest art thefts: of all that was lost when one woman and an entire people were stripped of their identity, their dignity, and their lives.” 

Adele Bloch-Bauer was a wealthy Jewish society woman who lived before her time, stifled by the mores of her social status and gender -- but who found some measure of freedom in her studies, in her philanthropy, in her salons that gathered together intellectuals, musicians and artists, and in Klimt’s studio, where she posed for three paintings (two portraits in her name, and a third, depicting the Biblical Judith who slayed Holofernes). 

It is a perverse blessing that Adele died young, in 1925, at age 43. She was thus spared the fate that befell her Jewish family and friends during the terrible years of Nazi occupation. 

When Adele’s husband Ferdinand was expelled from Austria, he was forced to leave behind all of his assets, which of course included his Klimt collection and his wife’s portrait. Indeed, export of any art was banned to protect Austrian “patrimony.”

To obscure its provenance and Jewish connection, Adele’s  portrait was subsequently “reinvented” as Dame in Gold, and later still, as Portrait of a Lady with Gold Background. As O’Connor explains, “Adele’s identity disappeared with the stroke of a pen.” 

However, the restitution of the portrait to the Bloch-Bauer family in 2006  “reintroduced Gustav Klimt to the world,” and gave a name to the “lady in gold.” We would now know Adele Bloch-Bauer. 

Adele Bloch-Bauer I hangs today in the Neue Gallery in New York, the property of Ron Lauder, of the Estee Lauder family.  Adele Bloch-Bauer II is in a private collection. Judith is on display at the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.

The Lady in Gold, by Anne-Marie O’Connor. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. 

Reviewer’s note: This is an independent review that has not been solicited by either the author of this book or its publisher. No compensation has been awarded.

This is a well-timed biography of LADY MARGARET BEAUFORT whose name has become better recognized, thanks to her portrayal in recent TV series, The White Queen, The White Princess and The Spanish Princess -- none of which have portrayed her kindly. 

Historian Nicola Tallis serves to redeem Lady Margaret’s reputation with a well-researched overview of the life and times of this real person who played a central role in the 15thCentury’s tumultuous Wars of the Roses .   

Margaret navigated dangerous paths through the courts of England’s Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III, and her own son, Henry VII, with a level of political astuteness that is not usually attributed to a woman of that time period. Thanks to Tallis’ balanced treatment, Margaret emerges as a character far more complex than the cutout of a conniving political actor. 5 of 5 stars!

Uncrowned Queen: The Life of Margaret Beaufort, Mother of the Tudors, by Nicola Tallis. New York: Basic Books, 2020. 

Reviewer’s note: This is an independent review that has not been solicited by either the author of this book or its publisher. No compensation has been awarded.

#margaretbeaufort #redqueen #henryVII #warsoftherose

ELIZABETH WOODVILLE is best remembered as queen to England’s Edward II, as the mother of the fated “lost princes in the tower,” and as THE WHITE QUEEN in the popular TV series. Romantics love the story of Elizbeth’s first meeting with Edward under an oak tree, where he sought her favors, and being denied, married her soon after -- for love – and surely for lust. But along with the romantic legend come the darker stories of Elizabeth’s family, the Woodvilles, the “upstarts” from lesser ranks of society whose quick rise to power made them notorious – and heartily disliked by noble families of the time. 

Whoever, Elizabeth might have been as an individual, the stories of her family have blighted her own reputation for centuries. 

The late David Baldwin is a recognized historian who authored several books and contributed to a number of historical journals, most notably about the events and main characters in England’s Wars of the Roses. 

Details of Elizabeth’s life are relatively spare, but this biography is founded on extensive, credible research that depicts an Elizabeth who was possessed of good qualities and who practiced good works, who fulfilled her duties as queen, wife and mother, and who was certainly no more ambitious or avaricious than any other member of the ruling families of England.  Perhaps the book dispels much of the “bad press” she has earned over the centuries. Worth a read. 

Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower, by David Baldwin. Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: The History Press, 2010. 

Reviewer’s note: This is an independent review that has not been solicited by either the author of this book or its publisher. No compensation has been awarded.

#elizabethwoodville #edwardIV #princesinthetower #warsoftheroses #whitequeen

 If the Netflix series of the same name inspires you to read this book, that’s a good thing. But the book on its own is far richer in the telling of a girl who learns to play chess from the janitor of her school basement -- and goes on to win local, then national, and then international tournaments. Always playing against men in the games with the highest stakes. 

While this website focuses on powerful women in history, we simply cannot overlook the tale of the Chess Queen personified in the heroine, Beth.

The “Queen’s Gambit” is a classic chess move, one of the oldest and most popular—a move still played today. The objective of this gambit is to temporarily sacrifice a pawn to gain control of the center of the chess board, allowing more mobility and easy access to all parts of the board. And the center is the best position from which to attack.

While the King is the most important piece in the game of chess, it is the Queen who is most powerful, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally.  The queen is the only piece in a chess that represents a woman.

Beth IS the ultimate Chess Queen, moving her fingers across each chess board with lightning-fast precision, stunning her opponents with the sheer brilliance of her play. But what will happen when she goes up against the Russians, the masters of the game? 

The Queen’s Gambit offers up a great story, something of a mystery, something of a thriller, heavily infused with technical chess jargon, but never in sacrifice of rising tension leading to the final checkmate. This is just a satisfying book. 5 of 5 stars, for sure.

The Queen’s Gambit, by Walter Tevis. New York: Random House, 1983

Reviewer’s note: This is an independent review that has not been solicited by either the author of this book or its publisher. No compensation has been awarded.

#queensgambit #chessqueen #netflix