Schmitz, Caroline

PERSONAL:

Born in Germany.

CAREER:

Writer and art critic.

WRITINGS:

(With David R.L. Litchfield) The Thyssen Art Macabre, Quartet Books (London, England), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Caroline Schmitz is a German-born writer and art critic. Schmitz assisted English writer and documentary filmmaker David R.L. Litchfield in writing The Thyssen Art Macabre. Published in 2006, it is her first book publication. The book looks into the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, holders of one of Europe's richest industrialist fortunes. Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza spent a large amount of his money on amassing an impressive art collection. Although the baron and his fifth wife encouraged the authors to write the book, the account takes a highly critical tone against the family, painting Hans Heinrich as a spendthrift and womanizer and his children and numerous wives in similarly critical lights.

Reviewing the book in Apollo, Michael Hall noted Litchfield and Schmitz's "thoroughness," however, found that "it is disappointing that the book is so weak in dealing with the reason that most people outside Germany have heard of the Thyssens, their art collection, founded by Heinrich in the 1930s and enormously expanded by Heini." Hall concluded his review by suggesting: "Perhaps the Thyssen-Bornemiszas do deserve all the mockery and contempt they get in this book, but with a greater sense of balance and a willingness to take seriously their art collecting and patronage, it would have been a more persuasive indictment."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Apollo, June 1, 2007, Michael Hall, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre, p. 110.

Economist, March 3, 2007, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre, p. 88.

Independent (London, England), October 7, 2007, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre.

Spectator, March 24, 2007, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre.

Telegraph (London, England), February 11, 2007, Richard Davenport-Hines, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre.

Times (London, England), April 11, 2007, Angus Trumble, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre.

Times Literary Supplement, April 13, 2007, Angus Trumble, review of The Thyssen Art Macabre, p. 3.

ONLINE

First Post,http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/ (April 24, 2008), review of The Thyssen Art Macabre.

TMFB,http://www.tailormadeforbusiness.net/ (April 24, 2008), review of The Thyssen Art Macabre.