My Grandfather's Gallery

July 14, 2014
In this splendid memoir, journalist Sinclair, director of the French Huffington Post, explores a chapter of her family history colored by Vichy France and Nazi theft. From his elegant gallery at 21 rue La Boétie, Sinclair’s grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, became an apostle of modern art, tactfully promoting work by Lauren­cin, Matisse, Braque, Léger, and Picasso. (In 1939, Rosenberg helped organize Picasso’s first American retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.) Forced to flee France for New York in 1940 (with assistance from MoMA director Alfred Barr), Rosenberg’s Paris gallery was overtaken by the Germans, its collection seized and dispersed, and the building converted into the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question. Drifting back and forth in time, Sinclair’s narrative presents a complex picture of a sharp-eyed, industrious, and melancholy man. Some of the most vivid moments are devoted to Rosenberg’s personal and professional relationship with Picasso. The agreement between the two provided “Pic” (as Rosenberg affectionately called him) security and support while he advanced beyond Cubism. Long reluctant to engage the Rosenberg story, Sinclair calls attention to the difficulties of searching out the past and of grappling with what is found there. Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management.

July 1, 2014
French TV journalist Sinclair carefully accesses a wealth of family archives in her study of the biggest art dealer in Europe until World War II, her grandfather Paul Rosenberg (1881-1951).Rosenberg and his brother, Leonce, owned separate Parisian galleries; Paul concentrated on 19th-century French painters while his brother saw cubism as the culmination of all painting. It was Leonce who spotted the newest modern artists-in particular, Pablo Picasso. Eventually, in 1918, Paul took over as Picasso's agent. Rosenberg and Picasso were inseparable, Paul effectively orchestrating Picasso's career while Picasso established Paul's reputation. He hedged his bets by carrying traditional art in his gallery separate from his exclusive relationships with Picasso, Braque, Matisse and others. The author uses her grandfather's correspondence to paste together the story of their flight from Paris and the loss of more than 400 works of art to the Nazis when they took over his gallery. The building became the Gestapo-run Institute for the Study of Jewish and Ethno-Racial Questions; classical art was sequestered for "safe keeping" while the "degenerate" art of the modernists ("any art that...departed from the canon of what the Nazis considered traditional") was sold or burned. Sinclair's grandfather vociferously opposed the Nazi auction of the modern art, realizing that any profit the Reich received would "fall back on our heads [as] bombs." The Rosenbergs fled to New York in 1940, and Paul remained in the forefront of the art world until his return to Paris and the fight to recover his artwork.The book shows the birth of modern art midwifed by a man we'd like to know better. Did Sinclair feel a need to protect some family history? Even so, she offers an intriguing window into the art scene of the early to mid-1900s.

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September 1, 2014
Sinclair profiles her maternal grandfather, Paul Rosenberg, a prominent French art dealer whose clients were some of Europe's key modern artists: Gauguin, Matisse, Rodin, van Gogh, Renoir, and Picasso. The Rosenbergs were lucky to flee occupied France to America, but while they were absent, Rosenberg's gallery was raided and the paintings confiscated by the Reich authorities as part of a systematic looting of Jewish dealers and the art of wealthy familiesunder the Reich, modernist art was considered degenerate art. Sinclair pieces together her grandfather's journey through her own memories and Rosenberg's letters to artists and friends, uncovered in recently discovered archives (most entertaining is his correspondence with Picasso). Readers interested in WWII and art under fascism will find this a fascinating read. Sinclair's memoir contextualizes yet another aspect of this tumultuous time, though the narrative is somewhat disjointed; those looking for eloquence will find it in short supply.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)