Carolyn Kay – författare

In this new study of art in fin-de-siècle Hamburg, Carolyn Kay examines the career of the city's art gallery director, Alfred Lichtwark, one of Imperial Germany's most influential museum directors and a renowned cultural critic. A champion of modern art, Lichtwark stirred controversy among the city's bourgeoisie by commissioning contemporary German paintings for the Kunsthalle by secession artists and supporting the formation of an independent art movement in Hamburg influenced by French impressionism. Drawing on an extensive amount of archival research, and combining both historical and art historical approaches, Kay examines Lichtwark's cultural politics, their effect on the Hamburg bourgeoisie, and the subsequent changes to the cultural scene in Hamburg.Kay focuses her study on two modern art scandals in Hamburg and shows that Lichtwark faced strong public resistance in the 1890s, winning significant support from the city's bourgeoisie only after 1900. Lichtwark's struggle to gain acceptance for impressionism highlights conflicts within the city's middle class as to what constituted acceptable styles and subjects of German art, with opposition groups demanding a traditional and 'pure' German culture. The author also considers who within the Hamburg bourgeoisie supported Lichtwark, and why. Kay's local study of the debate over cultural modernism in Imperial Germany makes a significant contribution both to the study of modernism and to the history of German culture.

Sikevra–the word carries a variety of meanings to the fae: outlaw, bane, traitor, hated beast. There is no being in the Hidden Lands more reviled or more disgusting. Sikevra are banished and exiled forever. The gods themselves state that their souls are destroyed upon death with no hope of salvation in the afterlife. Princess Galessel is sikevra. It doesn’t matter that she committed no crime or had done nothing to deserve the marks she bears; she is now loathed by the very people she is trying to save. Can Galessel and her loyal friend, Clove, save the fae living in Ashelon before someone can collect the bounty on her head? Can she foil Queen Victoria’s scheme to invade the Hidden Lands? And if that weren’t enough, the Hammer Guardians have returned to slay as many of the fae folk as they can get their hands on…starting with Galessel and Clove.

Tensions are high in the Hidden Lands. A rogue tribe of elves, the Svellvega, are recruiting their fae brethren and preparing for war, but a bigger threat looms. Murik, the ruthless pirate who maimed Galessel, is hellbent on destroying the Hidden Lands, one genocide at a time. In this third and final installment of Galessel's tale, Galessel is still sikevra - an outcast. She and her erstwhile companions: Navarre, the swordsman; Clove, her faun best friend; Morgan, the sharp-shooter; Samga, the archer; and Eirsal, the sylph, race throughout the Hidden Lands to try to stop Murik and his Hammer Guardian allies. Will Galessel and her friends be able to save the Hidden Lands? Or will magic and the fae fade from the world forever?

In this new study of art in fin-de-siècle Hamburg, Carolyn Kay examines the career of the city's art gallery director, Alfred Lichtwark, one of Imperial Germany's most influential museum directors and a renowned cultural critic. A champion of modern art, Lichtwark stirred controversy among the city's bourgeoisie by commissioning contemporary German paintings for the Kunsthalle by secession artists and supporting the formation of an independent art movement in Hamburg influenced by French impressionism. Drawing on an extensive amount of archival research, and combining both historical and art historical approaches, Kay examines Lichtwark's cultural politics, their effect on the Hamburg bourgeoisie, and the subsequent changes to the cultural scene in Hamburg.Kay focuses her study on two modern art scandals in Hamburg and shows that Lichtwark faced strong public resistance in the 1890s, winning significant support from the city's bourgeoisie only after 1900. Lichtwark's struggle to gain acceptance for impressionism highlights conflicts within the city's middle class as to what constituted acceptable styles and subjects of German art, with opposition groups demanding a traditional and 'pure' German culture. The author also considers who within the Hamburg bourgeoisie supported Lichtwark, and why. Kay's local study of the debate over cultural modernism in Imperial Germany makes a significant contribution both to the study of modernism and to the history of German culture.