The Lady in Gold

The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer'

By: Anne-Marie O'Connor

Narrated by: Coleen Marlo

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

"The Lady in Gold", a portrait considered an unforgettable masterpiece, one of the 20th century's most recognizable paintings, made headlines all over the world when Ronald Lauder bought it for $135 million a century after Klimt, the most famous Austrian painter of his time, completed the society portrait.

Anne-Marie O'Connor, writer for the Washington Post, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, tells the galvanizing story of the Lady in Gold, Adele Bloch-Bauer, a dazzling Viennese Jewish society figure; daughter of the head of one of the largest banks in the Hapsburg Empire, head of the Oriental Railway, whose Orient Express went from Berlin to Constantinople; wife of Ferdinand Bauer, sugar-beet baron.

The Bloch-Bauers were art patrons, and Adele herself was considered a rebel of fin de siècle Vienna (she wanted to be educated, a notion considered “degenerate” in a society that believed women being out in the world went against their feminine "nature"). The author describes how Adele inspired the portrait and how Klimt made more than a hundred sketches of her - simple pencil drawings on thin manila paper.

And O'Connor writes of Klimt himself, son of a failed gold engraver, shunned by arts bureaucrats, called an artistic heretic in his time, a genius in ours. She writes of the Nazis confiscating the portrait of Adele from the Bloch-Bauers' grand palais; of the Austrian government putting the painting on display, stripping Adele's Jewish surname from it so that no clues to her identity (nor any hint of her Jewish origins) would be revealed. Nazi officials called the painting, "The Lady in Gold" and proudly exhibited it in Vienna's Baroque Belvedere Palace, consecrated in the 1930s as a Nazi institution.

The author writes of the painting, inspired by the Byzantine mosaics Klimt had studied in Italy, with their exotic symbols and swirls, the subject an idol in a golden shrine. We see how, 60 years after it was stolen by the Nazis, the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer became the subject of a decade-long litigation between the Austrian government and the Bloch-Bauer heirs, how and why the U.S. Supreme Court became involved in the case, and how the Court's decision had profound ramifications in the art world.

In this book listeners will find riveting social history; an illuminating and haunting look at turn-of-the-century Vienna; a brilliant portrait of the evolution of a painter; a masterfully told tale of suspense. And at the heart of it, The Lady in Gold - the shimmering painting, and its equally irresistible subject, the fate of each forever intertwined.

©2012 Anne-Marie O'Connor (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"O'Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice." ( Booklist)

Narrator

Sloooooow down. The reading is so fast-paced in many areas, it sounds almost like a TV commercial disclaimer.

Klimt Admirer

I enjoyed learning so much about this famous painting, the tragedy of this Austrian family and the famous artist who created this work.

To the Victors the Spoils

Where does The Lady in Gold rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Up there, definitely.

What did you like best about this story?

This was many stories and introduced new information in an interesting layering and interleaving of private and historical events well. I also learned WWII facts about Austria that is not the usual fare one comes across in the 'proverbial history book' of the holocaust and the Nazi era. The secret life of this family's heirlooms reminded me of The Hare with the Amber Eyes and made me regard my own family's belongings in a different light. Things are so important when they mark our losses.

What does Coleen Marlo bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

No doubt audio book narrators love a great story, and it was evident in this recording. Or maybe that's just the art of narrating--we hear the reader's sustained interest as we discover the story along with them. I suppose in this performance the fact that the narrator did not seem to be reading separate stories and kept the story unified helped connect you to the narrative line, or lines, as there were many different shifts in time and place. Coleen Marlo has a superb range and such a rich voice capable of subtle nuances of tone. I like how she does mens' voices.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really.

Any additional comments?

I found that the narrator fleshed out the females in this story so well that you almost felt you were at their tables, salons, in their landscapes and drawing rooms, and court rooms.

Great book; disappointing performance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

No, I wouldn't. The story itself is compelling, but the woman reading it made so many glaring pronunciation errors that I started listening with gritted teeth.

What did you like best about this story?

I love reading true stories, and learning more about Adele, Marie, and the artist Gustav Klimt was fascinating. I had already seen the movie, but the book is far more comprehensive and covers a longer period of time.

What didn’t you like about Coleen Marlo’s performance?

I realize she is an English speaker, not a German speaker. But honestly----shouldn't she have realized that certain words MUST be correctly pronounced in a book that takes place in Austria primarily during WWII??? For example, she pronounced the revised title of the painting as DAME (as is "There is Nothing a Dame...") in Gold when it should have been pronounced Da'me (rhymes with comma)---the German word for lady. Anschluss was repeatedly pronounced something like Anchlusch, the German Reich was pronounced both Rike and Reek, the word Deutsch (German) was even garbled and came out more like Dutch, etc. Really, it was horribly annoying listening to her botch so many words that were important and critical to the story. Oddly enough, at one point when she read the items on a French menu, her French was flawless. It is unfortunate no editors worked with her prior to the taping to bring her up to speed on German pronunciation. Although the story was interesting, her performance negatively affected my experience. I'll be careful to never listen to a book narrated by Coleen Mario again.

Any additional comments?

No---but thank you for providing the opportunity for me to vent. I have been terribly agitated since I started listening to this book. My other Audible experiences have been outstanding, so this came as a huge disappointment.

Distracting narration / fascinating story

What didn’t you like about Coleen Marlo’s performance?

I don't know that the problem was with Marlo's performance per se. I may be wrong, but to me it felt like they sped up the audio just slightly. Her talking was so FAST. I felt like I was having a difficult time processing all the information and kept looking for a way to slow down the audio on my iPhone. For some reason the option was there to speed up the audio, but not slow it down. This book was so jam packed with details, dates, names, interesting histories, but I would have appreciated a slower speaking speed. I had the feeling that it was sped up in editing because I can't imagine how the narrator could speak that fast. I wonder if they were trying to make the audio book a more manageable length. Anyway, if you choose this book, and it is a great read, take it slow and maybe invest in a paper copy of the book so you can flip back and forth and try to remember who is who.

Was The Lady in Gold worth the listening time?

So the story is fascinating. I enjoyed learning all the details about the families in Austria and the history of Klimt. This read a bit like a jam packed text book and certainly not at all like a novel. Once I got over that expectation, I began to enjoy and tried to absorb as much of the details as possible. It was very hard to keep track of all the people and would be helpful if some kind of family tree illustration was included with the audio book.

Fascinating tale of art and war

I really enjoyed this book. Was very informative, offering a nice blend of perspectives. I recommend anybody who listens to this book keep a notepad to jot down names and relationships as it gets complicated throughout the book. The narration was OK. Unfortunately it sounded like they try to speed up the narration… There was something rather digitized about the narrators voice. I did get used to it though

History never forgotten

This book was captivating. The world was mad and what would they not do for art? I could not put this down and enjoyed immensely hearing about the history from a family's perspective.

Great, thought provoking story. But terrible narration.

This is a fascinating and important story but I’d strongly recommend you buy the book and read it instead of listening to this audible version. Terrible—the narrator’s voice, choice of what to emphasize and too-fast reading speed. ( I tried slowing it down but 75% was too slow).
The first section of the book is very interesting, as we learn about Klimt, Adele and early 1900s Vienna. Quite powerful is the section about the arrival of the Nazis, their horrific actions and the reaction of the Viennese, both the Jews and others. The book slows down when it goes off into too many short vignettes about people who, while interesting, don’t all seem relevant to the main story. But it finishes with a great thought-provoking discussion about how justice is best served, cultural vs individual guilt and the power and value of art. Well worth reading—and discussing with others.

Amazing writing, research & story!

Where does The Lady in Gold rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The best

What did you like best about this story?

It covered so much - the Jewish origins & experience in Vienna, the Viennese artists' involvement in the contemporary art movements of the 20th century, the varied experiences of the different families before, during & even after the Nazi times, & finally the detailed legal issues that brought "The Lady in Gold" portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer to the United States.

Which scene was your favorite?

Impossible to single out any one - all so rich in "you are there" details.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was wonderful to dwell in for a whole week to not miss a word.

Any additional comments?

Having seen the 5 Klimt paintings at the Neue Galerie when they were first exhibited in New York & knowing some of the background, I found the book very special.

Odd irony to the title

I'm sure the title of the book has more people reading it, but it is ironic that the fact that the model was Adele Block-Bauer was intentionally obscured by history, and is then perpetuated by the title of this book, I enjoyed reading about Klimt and his contemporaries, and the struggles of the Bloch-Bauer relatives who never gave up to uphold their rights. It's a sad story about injustices in the world, set against the amazing artwork of Klimt.