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Fine arts biography
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&“In recreating The American Woodsman, as Audubon so delighted to characterize himself, it is with the hope that I shall…
let him speak for himself, and set him wandering again in the printed pages as he did, a century and more ago, through the magnolia forests of his beloved Louisiana.&” —Stanley Clisby Arthur, from the Prologue John James Audubon was one of the greatest artists and naturalists of all time. For many years a biographical screen consisting of a heterogeneous combination of fact, fancy, and misrepresentation obscured the real Audubon. Some of the contributions to this shroud were penned by loving but misguided relatives who, through domestic partiality when writing about him, colored his life misleadingly. His own account of himself and his affairs, which was never completed and was generously edited before being given to the public, is manifestly not four-square with fact . . . for Audubon had a romantic imagination which defeats verification. This detailed biography provides an extensive look into the background of a man variously described as a dandy, an unkempt wanderer, and a gifted artist. Above all, it is clear that John James Audubon was a man of many talents, revealed here in his own words.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, European travel and geography
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Learn about the fascinating career of surrealist Salvador Dalí from his early life in Spain through his public life as an…
internationally famous artist in this exciting addition to the #1 New York Times Best-Selling series.Most famous for his surrealist painting The Persistence of Memory and its melting clocks, Salvador Dalí combined his dreamlike ideas with his excellent technical skills to become one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. Beyond painting, Dalí pursued the arts in many other mediums including sculpture, film, fashion, photography, architecture, and more. He was friends with many of his famous contemporaries, including Picasso, Bunuel, Miro, and Duchamp. Learn about the sometimes-shy man with the instantly recognizable upturned mustache in this book for young readers that details the life of one of modern art's most celebrated figures.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, United States history
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A biography of the artist examining his complex relationship with the American West and how he expressed his imagination.Frederic Remington…
and the West sheds new light on the remarkably complicated and much misunderstood career of Frederic Remington. This study of the complex relationship between Remington and the American West focuses on the artist&’s imagination and how it expressed itself. Ben Merchant Vorpahl considers all the dimensions of Remington&’s extensive work, from journalism to fiction, sculpture, and painting. He traces the events of Remington&’s life and makes extensive use of literary and art criticism and nineteenth-century American social, cultural, and military history in interpreting his work.Vorpahl reveals Remington as a talented, sensitive, and sometimes neurotic American whose work reflects with peculiar force the excitement and distress of the period between the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. Remington was not a &“western&” artist in the conventional sense; neither was he a historian: he lacked the historian&’s breadth of vision and discipline, expressing himself not through analysis but through synthesis. Vorpahl shows that, even while Remington catered to the sometimes maudlin, sometimes jingoistic tastes of his public and his editors—his resourceful imagination was at work devising a far more demanding and worthwhile design—a composite work, executed in prose, pictures, and bronze. This body of work, as the author demonstrates, demands to be regarded as an interrelated whole. Here guilt, shame, and personal failure are honestly articulated, and death itself is confronted as the artist&’s chief subject. Because Remington was so prolific a painter, sculptor, illustrator, and writer, and because his subjects, techniques, and media were so apparently diverse, the deeper continuity of his work had not previously been recognized. This study is a major contribution to our understanding of an important American artist. In addition, Vorpahl illuminates the interplay between history, artistic consciousness, and the development of America&’s sense of itself during Remington&’s lifetime.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, World War II
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A riveting story of how dueling ambitions and the power of prodigy made America the cultural center of the world—and…
Picasso the most famous artist alive—in the shadow of World War II&“[Eakin] has mastered this material. . . . The book soars.&”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors&’ Choice)ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Vanity Fair, The New York Times Book Review, The New YorkerIn January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture?The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., a cultural visionary who, at the age of twenty-seven, became the director of New York&’s new Museum of Modern Art.Barr and Quinn&’s shared goal would be thwarted in the years to come—by popular hostility, by the Depression, by Parisian intrigues, and by Picasso himself. It would take Hitler&’s campaign against Jews and modern art, and Barr&’s fraught alliance with Paul Rosenberg, Picasso&’s persecuted dealer, to get Picasso&’s most important paintings out of Europe. Mounted in the shadow of war, the groundbreaking exhibition Picasso: Forty Years of His Art would launch Picasso in America, define MoMA as we know it, and shift the focus of the art world from Paris to New York.Picasso&’s War is the never-before-told story about how a single exhibition, a decade in the making, irrevocably changed American taste, and in doing so saved dozens of the twentieth century&’s most enduring artworks from the Nazis. Through a deft combination of new scholarship and vivid storytelling, Hugh Eakin shows how two men and their obsession with Picasso changed the art world forever.
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Fine arts biography, Biography, LGBTQ+ biography, Journals and memoirs
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In this memoir, the renowned visual artist chronicles his life and career, as well as what is important to him…
and what inspires his art. Kaffe Fassett has led an extraordinary life and is a captivating storyteller with a vivid memory. Born in 1937, he spent much of his youth in Big Sur, California, where his parents bought a cabin from Orson Welles and transformed it into the world-famous Nepenthe restaurant, a gathering place for artists and bohemians. After attending a boarding school run by the disciples of Krishnamurti, an Indian guru, he studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, then traveled to England, where he made his home. After an inspiring trip to Inverness, Scotland, Fassett began designing knitwear for Bill Gibb, and then the Missonis, Vogue magazine, and private clients like Lauren Bacall and Barbra Streisand, and, in the process, revolutionized the handknitting world with his explosive use of color. Further explorations led him to needlepoint, mosaics, rugmaking, tapestries, yarn and fabric design, costume and set design, and quilting. Now in his seventies, Fassett continues to produce new work and to travel worldwide to teach and lecture. In this intimate autobiography, Fassett shares rich, detailed stories about his lifelong creative journey as well as hundreds of glorious photos taken along the way.Praise for Dreaming in Color &“Lavishly illustrated with photographs from his life and work and dishing on everyone from Dustin Hoffman to Princess Margaret, Dreaming in Color describes a charmed life filled with creativity, big personalities, travels, and not a little serendipity.&” —Vogue Knitting &“A feast for the eyes.&” —Shelf-Awareness &“[Fassett] is a legend in the knitting world for his exquisitely colorful, highly patterned designs. . . . Kaffe Fassett is to color what Julia Child was to French cooking.&” —Knitter&’s Review
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Fine arts biography, Biography, Women biography, True crime
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Decades after her brutal attack by the notorious serial killer, an artist tells her story of survival and recovery in…
this uplifting memoir.Mo Lea was a young art student in Leeds when her life was changed forever by a deadly assault. On October 25th, 1980, serial killer Peter Sutcliffe attacked her with a hammer and stabbed her with a screwdriver. Surviving with a fractured skull and PTSD, Mo spent years wrestling with a morbid narrative that cast her as a victim. Now Mo offers a fresh perspective on her life, sharing valuable insight into her successful recovery process. While art had always been important to her, it became a vital outlet for exploring her pain, her anger, and her ultimate triumph over them. Drawing a meticulous portrait of Sutcliffe, she then found catharsis in tearing it to bits—ripping up the Ripper.In candid words and stirring illustrations, Mo reclaims her own story, telling of her journey from tragic despair to calmness and acceptance.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, Women biography
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Discover the life of Frida Kahlo—a story about strength, creativity, and never giving up for kids ages 6 to 9…
Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous and celebrated artists who has ever lived. Before she made history with her beautiful paintings and brave spirit, she went through a life-changing accident that would have made many people want to give up. Instead, Frida fought to overcome her setbacks and follow her passions. In this Frida Kahlo children's book, you'll explore how Frida went from being a young girl from a small Mexican town to an artist who is beloved all around the world. The Story of Frida Kahlo includes: A fun quiz—Test your knowledge of Frida's life with a short quiz that covers the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of her story. Word definitions—Discover easy-to-understand explanations of some of the more advanced words and ideas inside the book. Her lasting legacy—Learn about how Frida inspired the world with her unique and colorful paintings, as well as her strength of character. How will Frida's creativity and can-do attitude inspire you?
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Fine arts biography, Psychology
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The Legacy of Edith Kramer presents a unique exploration into the life and work of the groundbreaking artist and art…
therapist. This edited volume examines the artist’s personal and cultural history prior to relocating to the United States as well as the later years when she worked as an artist, art therapist, and teacher as she developed her theoretical understanding of art therapy. Kramer’s solutions to creating a meaningful artist’s life run throughout the chapters within this book, and provide the reader with a sense of what is possible. Written by an international group of contributors, this informative new text offers a multifaceted view of Edith Kramer that will be appreciated by current and future art therapists looking to better understand Kramer’s exceptional mind and contributions to the field.
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Fine arts biography, LGBTQ+ biography, Women biography
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Diana Souhami&’s critically acclaimed biography of lesbian painter Hannah Gluckstein—the woman, the artist, the legend To her family, Hannah Gluckstein…
was known as Hig. To Edith Shackleton Heald, the journalist with whom she lived for almost forty years, she was Dearest Grub. And to the art world, she was simply Gluck. She was born in 1895 into a life of privilege. Her family had founded J. Lyons & Co., a vast catering empire. From the beginning Gluck was a rebel. At a time when only men wore trousers, she scandalized society with her masculine clothing—though she always dressed with style and turned androgyny into high fashion. Her affairs with high-profile women shocked her conservative family, even while she achieved fame as an artist. During the 1920s and thirties, Gluck&’s paintings—portraits, flowers, and landscapes, presented in frames designed and patented by her—were the toast of the town. At the height of her success, when wounded in love, her own obsessions caused her to fade for decades from the public eye, but then, at nearly eighty, her return to the spotlight ensured her immortality.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, European history, History
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A &“meticulously researched and deftly written biography&” of the woman behind the famed wax museums, and their origins in the…
era of the French Revolution (Midwest Book Review). Madame Marie Tussaud is known worldwide for the chain of wax museums she started over two hundred years ago. Less known is that her original wax models were often of the famous and infamous people she personally knew during and after the French Revolution. These were people like Voltaire, Robespierre, and Napoleon—people who changed the world. Even more, the wax figures were depicted in scenes drawn from the horrors she experienced during the reign of terror in Paris during her early adult years. This book shows how the traumatic and cataclysmic experiences of Madame Tussaud&’s early life became part of her legacy. She created a succession of scenes in wax, telling events as she personally experienced them. Her wax sculptures were visceral. She made them herself, at times from the living person&’s head and at other times from the recently guillotined head of a former houseguest. As a result, people were drawn to her wax displays because they were the most intense way of experiencing those events themselves. This is the story not only of a unique artist, but of how one of history&’s bloodiest events influenced her life and work.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, LGBTQ+ biography
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Autobiographical stories and drawings by the artist and AIDS activist featured in the new documentary by Chris McKim. For…
most of his life, David Wojnarowicz considered himself the ultimate outsider and a true invisible man. &“I&’m a blank spot in a hectic civilization,&” he writes in this fierce and unforgettable collection of four blistering autobiographical pieces, illustrated with his own arresting ink drawings. Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in New York City at the age of thirty-seven, left behind a body of work that was staggering in its variety and originality. Painter, writer, photographer, performance artist, and filmmaker, he made an indelible mark on virtually every stage of the national arts scene. Yet nowhere does his anger, love, or compassion show itself as strongly as in his writing, which earned a Lambda Literary Award and prompted critics to call him the Jack Kerouac of his generation. The horrors of Wojnarowicz&’s past inform his literature—his years spent as a child prostitute and living homeless on the New York streets, his outspoken, very public battle against the disease that would eventually take his life, and the entrenched government bureaucracy that sat by and did nothing. The world as seen through Wojnarowicz&’s eyes in these four masterful short works is stark, cruel, and cold—and yet gloriously alive, ennobled by surprising acts of heartrending humanity. Memories That Smell Like Gasoline is a celebration of sorts: of sex, of love, of art, and of having truly lived.
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Fine arts biography, Environment, Travelogues
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This memoir of a year on a virtually uninhabited Scottish island, including illustrations of flora and fauna, is &“the next…
best thing to being there&” (Scotland on Sunday).Wild Island depicts a year in the life of Oronsay, a remote Scottish island that is farmed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and follows artist Jane Smith as she attempts to portray the interactions of wildlife, farm animals, and a small number of human inhabitants. A humorous, first-hand, personal view of island life, both human and otherwise, the book is illustrated with Smith&’s vibrant and acutely observed sketches, paintings, and prints. She invites us into her world as she delves into such questions as: What does it feel like to sit in a bog all day? Where are a bird's knees? And why do I always wind up covered in acrylic paint? Musing on encounters with creatures from otters to oil beetles, conservation management, and the tides, winds, and ferries that affect each journey to and from the island, Smith offers a beautiful portrait of a special place—and shares the ridiculous things that happen when living on a remote island, cut off from the rest of the world.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography
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Through Edgar Degas’s beloved paintings, drawings, and sculptures, Susan Goldman Rubin conveys the wonder and excitement of the ballet world.…
Degas is one of the most celebrated painters of the impressionist movement, and his ballerina paintings are among the most favorite of his fans. In his artwork, Degas captures every moment, from the relentless hours of practice to the glamour of appearing on stage, revealing a dancer’s journey from novice to prima ballerina. Observing young students, Degas drew their poses again and again, determined to achieve perfection. The book includes a brief biography of his entire life, endnotes, bibliography, where to see his paintings, and an index.
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Fine arts biography, Women biography, History
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This is the story of women caught up in thetumultuous art scene of the early twentiethcentury, some famous and others…
lost totime.By 1910 the patina of the belle poquewas wearing thin in London. Artists wereon the hunt for modern women who couldhold them in thrall. A chance encounter onthe street could turn an artless child intoan artists model, and a model into a muse.Most were accidental beauties, plucked fromobscurity to pose in the great art schoolsand studios. Many returned home to livesthat were desperately challenging almostall were anonymous.Meet them now. Sit with them in theCaf Royal amid the wives and mistressesof Londons most provocative artists. Peekbehind the brushstrokes and chisel cuts atwomen whose identities are some of arthistorys most enduring secrets. Drawing ona rich mlange of historical and anecdotalrecords and a primary source, this isstorytelling that sweeps up the reader inthe cultural tides that raced across Londonin the Edwardian, Great War and interwarperiods.A highlight of the book is a reveal of theAvico siblings, a family of models whosefaces can be found in paint and bronze andstone today. Their lives and contributionshave been cloaked in a century of silence.Now, illuminated by family photos and oralhistories from the daughter of one of themodels, the Avico story is finally told.
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Fine arts biography, Literature biography, Arts and entertainment
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The fascinating story behind the nineteenth-century artist who illustrated Poe’s classic poem—and the rediscovery of the drawings decades later.One of…
the most popular poems in the English language, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” has thrilled generations of readers. In 1882, the Anglo-American artist James Carling decided to produce the definitive series of illustrations for the poem. Carling’s bizarre images explore the darkest recesses of Poe’s masterpiece, its hidden symbolism, and its strange beauty. Although the series remained unpublished at the time of the artist’s early death in 1887, the drawings reemerged fifty years later, when they entered the collection of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond. There they lined the blood-red walls of a Raven Room dedicated to their display. For the first time, Poe historian Christopher P. Semtner reproduces the entire series—and tells the story behind these haunting works.
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Fine arts biography, Hobbies and crafts, War
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&“Brings Ough&’s life and work beautifully to light in a volume rich in photographs, drawings, technical detail and personality.&”—Schopenhauer&’s Workshop…
Norman Ough is considered by many as simply the greatest ship modeler of the twentieth century and his exquisite drawings and meticulous models have come to be regarded as masterpieces of draughtsmanship, workmanship and realism; more than technically accomplished ship models, they are truly works of art. This new book is both a tribute to his lonely genius and a practical treatise for model shipwrights. Ough lived most of his adult life far from the sea in a flat high above the Charing Cross Road in London, where his frugal existence and total absorption in his work led to hospitalization on at least two occasions; he was an eccentric in the truest sense but he also became one of the most sought-after masters of his craft. Earl Mountbatten had him model the ships he had served on; his model of HMS Queen Elizabeth was presented to Earl Beatty; film production companies commissioned models for effects in several films. Incorporating many of his original articles from Model Maker Magazine, his detailed line drawings now kept in the Brunel Institute, and photographs of his models held in museums and at Mountbatten&’s house, this book presents an inspiring panorama of perhaps the most perfect warship models ever made. &“An amazing, almost intimidating view of the method, modelling, drawings, and a life of a builder so obsessed with his work that some may say he was a man who went down with his ships.&”—FineScale Modeler
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, Psychology
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A &“fascinating, poignant&” biography of the WWII veteran who, while confined to an asylum, became one of the great outsider…
artists of modern times (The Scotsman). In September 1939, groups of horsemen in battledress cantered down a broad, grassy plain on the western edge of Europe. The young men of the Western Isles of Scotland were going to war again. They included a tall, shy twenty-four-year-old named Angus MacPhee. Angus returned from war alive but in chronic mental pain, and was referred to the asylum in Inverness, where he spent the next fifty years of his life. During his time at Craig Dunain Hospital, he retreated into his own silent world, and did not speak again until shortly before his death. But &“the quiet big man,&” as he was known, spent his time creating a huge number of objects out of woven grass, sheep&’s wool, and beach leaves—mostly clothes, caps, and hats—which he then let decay or deliberately burned. Only after an art therapist discovered his miraculous creations were some of them preserved for posterity. And only then did Angus MacPhee come home to South Uist, where he died a year later. The Silent Weaver is a rich, moving and enthralling exploration of mental health, the creative process, human frailty, and ancient traditions.
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography, United States history
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&“A superb study of what a stellar group of architects accomplished in the Iowa locale, not to mention the vision…
of the locals&” (Universitas). In the early 1900s, Frank Lloyd Wright transformed a small midwestern prairie community into one of the world&’s most important architectural destinations. Mason City, Iowa, became home to his City National Bank and Park Inn—the last surviving Wright hotel. In addition, his prototype Stockman House helped launch the Prairie School architectural style. Soon after, architect Walter Burley Griffin followed in Wright&’s footsteps, designing a cluster of Prairie School homes in the Rock Crest/Rock Glen neighborhood. Design historian Roy Behrens leads the way through Mason City&’s historic development from the Industrial Revolution to the modern era of Frank Lloyd Wright. Includes photos &“A fine job of showcasing Wright&’s work in Mason City while incorporating some of Wright&’s personal (and scandalous!) history with the evolution of this north central Iowa town.&” —The Poetry of Sight
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Arts and entertainment, Fine arts biography
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&“A rich array of perspectives on the creative work of the eccentric immigrant laborer who created one of the most…
mysterious landmarks of Los Angeles.&” —Donna Gabaccia, Professor of History, University of Minnesota The Watts Towers, wondrous objects of art and architecture, were created over the course of three decades by a determined, single-minded artist, Sabato Rodia, an Italian immigrant laborer who wanted to do &“something big.&” Now a National Historic Landmark and internationally renowned destination, the Watts Towers in Los Angeles are both a personal artistic expression and a collective symbol of Nuestro Pueblo—Our Town/Our People. Featuring fresh and innovative examinations, Sabato Rodia&’s Towers in Watts revisits the man and his towers. In 1919, Rodia purchased a triangular plot of land in a multiethnic, working-class, semi-rural district. He set to work on an unusual building project in his own yard. By night, Rodia dreamed and excogitated, and by day he built. He experimented with form, color, texture, cement mixtures, and construction techniques. He built, tore down, and rebuilt. As an artist completely possessed by his work, he was often derided as an incomprehensible crazy man. Providing a multifaceted, holistic understanding of Rodia, the towers, and the cultural/social/physical environment within which the towers and their maker can be understood, this book compiles essays from twenty authors, offering perspectives from the arts, the communities involved in the preservation and interpretation of the towers, and the academy. Most of the contributions originated at two interdisciplinary conferences held in Los Angeles and in Italy, and the collection as a whole is a well-rounded tribute to one man&’s tenacious labor of love.A portion of royalties will go to support the work of the Watts Towers Arts Center.
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Fine arts biography, LGBTQ+ biography
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“An example of how two men could—precariously and passionately—live together and love each other in the America of the 1930s…
and 1940s.” —Colm Tóibín, New York Times-bestselling author of The MagicianAfter a chance meeting aboard the ocean liner Paris in 1924, Harvard University scholar and activist F. O. Matthiessen and artist Russell Cheney fell in love, and remained inseparable until Cheney’s death in 1945. During the intervening years, the men traveled throughout Europe and the United States, achieving great professional success while contending with serious personal challenges, including addiction, chronic disease, and severe depression.Situating the couple’s private correspondence alongside other sources, Scott Bane tells the remarkable story of their relationship in the context of shifting social dynamics in the United States. From the vantage point of the present day, with marriage equality enacted into law, Bane provides a window into the realities faced by same-sex couples in the early twentieth century, as they maintained relationships in the face of overt discrimination and the absence of legal protections.“A nuanced exploration of a marriage, one characterized by great joy but also buffeted by tremendous conflict (societal, financial, and health-related).” —R. Tripp Evans, author of Grant Wood: A Life“A smart, sensitive study of a gay couple…extremely readable.” —Gay & Lesbian Review“An arresting account of how a same-sex relationship endured.” —Library Journal