{"product_id":"charlotte-salomon-life-or-theatre","title":"Charlotte Salomon. Life? or Theatre?","description":"When German artist Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943) handed her gouache series Life? or Theater? over to a friend, she beseeched him to “take good care of it, it is my entire life.” A few months later, the five-months pregnant Charlotte was picked up by a Gestapo truck, deported to Drancy, and then on to Auschwitz, where she died upon arrival at the age 26.The work Salomon left behind is, in a very real sense, her pièce de résistance – in her own words, “something wildly eccentric.” A cycle of nearly 1,300 autobiographical gouaches, it combines creative force with pioneering personal narrative into one shattering document of self-expression.Divided into three sections, the gouaches unveil a vivid self-portrait spanning across all facets of Charlotte's existence: from a complicated family life, marked by the suicides of nearly all female relatives; growing up in Berlin; her close relation to singing teacher Alfred Wolfsohn; the rise of the Nazis; to her exile to France in 1939. Throughout, the artist challenges these destructive forces by deploying playful pseudonyms and fantastical elements alongside emotional candor, remarkable observation, and a meticulous visual memory. Her film strip-like sequences are interspersed not only with words but also musical suggestions, making Life? or Theater? the storybook for a whole musical, years before the heyday of that genre.Without comparison, the gouaches are a triumph of personal truth and individual expression. Published here with a selection of the 450 most important pieces, Life? Or Theatre? is an unrivaled opus magnum from a great and ambitious artist, dark with her early death, but luminous with her precision, her lyricism, and her courage.\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 3836570777\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: LFV.3836570777.VG\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Very Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Benesch, Evelyn|Belinfante, Judith C. E.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: Book is in very good condition.  Clean with little to no signs of wear or markings highlights.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Books for Life","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46452044464325,"sku":"LFV.3836570777.VG","price":81.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0650\/2914\/4773\/files\/3836570777-0.jpg?v=1782408012","url":"https:\/\/www.booksforlife.store\/products\/charlotte-salomon-life-or-theatre","provider":"Books for Life","version":"1.0","type":"link"}