The
author discovered a work of the realist artist, Émile Friant,
in the French film, "I've Loved You So Long," where he first
saw the painting, La Douleur. He was so impressed by this painting
that he decided to do research on the artist. This led him to the
realization that very little had been written about Émile Friant.
Much research had to be done on his life and his paintings.
This novel can be seen
as a companion work to Beaupré's recent publication on Van
Gogh. Both are based on the historical and esthetic facts surrounding
the lives of the two artists, Van Gogh in Arles and Friant in the
Alsace-Lorraine region, as well as Paris. The novel incorporates the
following elements: Friant's many paintings well described, the Parisian
ateliers, photography as a tool for painting, the Grand Salon, the
literary life of Friant's times, the 1889 World's Fair, and the close
relationship with the best French actor of his day, Bernard Coquelin,
and the Franco-Prussian War as well as WWI.
Moreover, as a novel, we
encounter a seduction scene on the part of a young woman, a difficult
friendship with an Italian man who tries to teach the artist the notion
of sensuousness, the struggle with the concept of infinity on the
part of the creative self in Émile Friant, and a professional
relationship with the artist, John Singer Sargent.
The setting is Nancy in
the Lorraine region of France, as well as Paris, the fine arts center
of the world in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
ISBN: 978-1-60594-480-7
Paperback
Format: 5 x 8 in - 378 pages
Language: English
Published by Llumina
Press.
Reviews
are also available.
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Last updated:
August 3, 2011
