This is not about Peter Mandelson and his memoirs; I wouldn’t dare to write about power games here, but since I mentioned it, I might as well plug the current major exhibition called Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art.
The reason for choosing this title is that I remembered an interesting line from The Third Man (1949) in which Orson Welles says as a criminal on the run: In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed - they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love and five hundred years of
democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!
If you’ve never seen the film, you can watch the extract here, or - if you have a valid reader pass - you can come and read the script, @ BL X.989/29277.
Of course, you might say that modern art (or any art) is not an interest of yours; in this case, please go to Wikipedia’s list of famous Swiss people and pick an area in which you have an expertise or interest. Roger Federer? Martina Hingis? Henri Nestlé? Ferdinand de Saussure?
However, famous Swiss men and women are only one side of this story. For some, the dominance of German and Austrian culture has led to belittling Switzerland as the "smaller German" brother (of course disregarding the rich contributions by French and Italian Eidgenossen). Let me blow a final fanfare for all-things Swiss. The last bugle call, at the last post.
[CG]
The reason for choosing this title is that I remembered an interesting line from The Third Man (1949) in which Orson Welles says as a criminal on the run: In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed - they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love and five hundred years of
If you’ve never seen the film, you can watch the extract here, or - if you have a valid reader pass - you can come and read the script, @ BL X.989/29277.
(Photo by iamaruntimeerror ; some rights reserved)
In my last post for this blog as German-Swiss curator, I do wonder what people think about Switzerland. Surely Welles was wrong - not least because the cuckoo clock was most probably first made in the Black Forest (you can follow that lead, if interested, by looking at: Kochmann, Karl. Black forest clockmaker and the cuckoo clock [1987 ed.] ([Concord, Calif.] : Antique Clocks Publishing, 1987.) , @ BL (B) PK 51). So the cuckoo clock is not the "only" invention of note from Switzerland (apart from 500 years of democracy). There are so many significant contributions from this country of the Alps that I could write a very long post here.
However, it is clear that for those who don’t know, say, Paul Klee, they will not be convinced that either he or Switzerland are important to this world. Therefore, to them, he would not feature as an innovative Swiss person. When I went to Bern last December (a short break whilst going to see family in Germany anyway; no worries, no public money was used for this), I went to the Zentrum Paul Klee. This Centre is in two ways extraordinary: a modern yet pleasant building which progressively combines exhibition, research and outreach in three seamlessly connected buildings, and a thorough as well as edutaining and scholarly engagement with Klee’s work. Some people might argue, but one could say that Klee was the third man (after Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc) in the almanac Der Blaue Reiter (for a pamphlet suggesting this, see BL MFE 48 *1741* 1.003.003 DSC).Of course, you might say that modern art (or any art) is not an interest of yours; in this case, please go to Wikipedia’s list of famous Swiss people and pick an area in which you have an expertise or interest. Roger Federer? Martina Hingis? Henri Nestlé? Ferdinand de Saussure?
However, famous Swiss men and women are only one side of this story. For some, the dominance of German and Austrian culture has led to belittling Switzerland as the "smaller German" brother (of course disregarding the rich contributions by French and Italian Eidgenossen). Let me blow a final fanfare for all-things Swiss. The last bugle call, at the last post.
[CG]
Look forward to seeing a CUL blog from you soon!
And Welles also messed up with his Swiss history. The place was hardly peaceful from the Swabian Wars onwards (but then, where was?)
Posted by: Matthew Shaw | 26 July 2010 at 03:30 PM
Clemens, I can't let your last DACH blog - and last day at the BL - go by without saying "merci vielmals", not only for being the blogfather of DACH but being such a great colleague. We'll do out best to keep the Swiss flag flying here and to keep on blogging! Vill Glöck wunschi dir in Cambridge.
Posted by: Susan Reed | 30 July 2010 at 11:40 AM
To MS:
Thanks for you lines and help with this blog (of course also the cheering for and linking to it!). I will see what CUL wants me to do during my working hours (from 9th August).
To Susan:
Thank you for this. Whereas I must be one of the few adult men in this world who has _not_ seen the Godfather film(s?), I really like the idea of being the blogfather of DACH. :-)
I have all the confidence in you knowing of and being interested in all things Swiss (you definitely know more than I could ever manage to learn about CH!) - where I'm not so confident is that with all the work you have to do, you will have much time for things from German-speaking Switzerland; there was more than enough work in the Section whilst I was still working there. How all that can be done with 1 FTE member of staff is beyond me.
I also enjoyed working with you, and wish you all the best for the future.
Posted by: cg | 02 August 2010 at 11:46 AM