ARTSMunich, Germany
IN THE HELL OF GEMÜTLICHKEIT
Until 30 September
The brilliant title of this oddly satisfying
exhibition was taken from Carl Spitteler’s
1906 novel Imago, which satirised a society
that purported to be broad-minded but was
in fact stuffy. The curators, however, insist
that although the portraits and interiors aren’t
modernism, some of the depictions of everyday
life pave the way to it.
FAIRSLondon, England
THE GROSVENOR HOUSE ART & ANTIQUES FAIR
12-18 June
www.grosvenorfair.co.uk
Bringing together 85 of the world’s leading
art and antiques dealers who offer for sale
a wide range of antiques, the fair is perhaps
best known for its high quality jewellery and
watches. The event will take place in the Great
Room of the famous London Hotel.
AUCTIONSAmsterdam
THE GROSVENOR HOUSE
On 1 April 2008
www.christies.com
Christie’s sold the most valuable art object
ever to appear at a Dutch auction. A pair
of Bleau Globes, from the collection of
the Princes of Liechtenstein, was sold to a
European dealer for €793,850. A further 462
lots were offered at the auction, of which 95%
was sold, for €5,375,773, more than doubling
the expected sale total.
BOOKS
The Bin Ladens
The Story of a Family and its Fortune
By Steve Coll
€35, ISBN 1594201641
The Washington Post was spot on: change
the names and locations, and this superbly
researched book begins like a familiar American
saga. An illiterate youth arrives in a land of
opportunity from his impoverished homeland
and, through hard work and ambition, becomes
rich and powerful. He gains properties, planes,
cars and women and passes these extravagant
tastes on to his sons. He is, literally, one of the
architects of his adopted Saudi Arabia, while
his heirs amass huge chunks of the America
upon which his son, Osama, ultimately declared
war – financing malls, prisons, an airport, even
Hollywood movies. This is a book about a family
whose personal history is intertwined with global
events. For instance, Osama turned 21 in 1979,
the year of the Iranian revolution, which ignited
the region’s religious militancy. In soliciting
US help to safeguard their position, the Sauds
planted the seeds of anti-Americanism in young
Osama. The Bin Ladens helped finance Afghan
resistance against the Soviets but Osama was
soon arming the mujaheddin, and founded
al-Qaeda following the Soviet withdrawal in
1988. Without getting bogged down with 9/11
conspiracies, Coll details much wider-reaching
dynamics; the relationship between the Bin
Ladens and Saudi Arabia and the House of
Saud’s relationship with the US and other
nattions in an axis of mutual convenience. Coll
suggests Bin Laden’s relationship with his own
family is now mostly warm, although 9/11 has
forced his siblings to distance themselves.
Ultimately this is a story of an immigrant family
torn between Saudi Arabia’s puritanism and
America’s temptations. The Bin Ladens have
glided between sheikhs and presidents but if
this were a Hollywood movie you would know by
the second reel it would not end happily. BF
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