Download or read book Portraits In Fiction written by A S Byatt and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-10-22 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Portraits seem the opposite of fiction, fixed in time and space, not running with the curve of a story or a life. Yet since the birth of the novel, writers have been fascinated by portraits as icons, as motifs, as images of character and evocations of past time. A. S. Byatt delves into the complex relations between portraits and characters, and between portraits and novels as whole works of art. Her authors range from Henry James to Iris Murdoch, her artists from Holbein to Botticelli, Manet to the present day. She looks at the way writers use portraits to conjure up the past, as in Ford Madox Ford's The Fifth Queen and Virginia Woolf's Orlando. She explores their erotic use, the idea of painting as a sexual act, full of danger. And she examines the creation of fictional portrait painters by writers like Balzac and Zola, whose writing was closely linked, in different ways to the art of Cézanne. A portrait can defy the process of age but its very stillness can also seem like death. Art can be a murderer. And sometimes, as in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh, a portrait can itself become the victim of Gothic rage.
Download or read book The Portrait and the Book written by Megan Walsh and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benjamin Franklin's portraits and colonial printing -- Phillis Wheatley and the durability of the author portrait -- Nationalist portraiture, magazines, and political books -- Picturing the seduction heroine in the U.S -- Gothic portraiture in Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland and Ormond
Download or read book Monster Portraits written by Sofia Samatar and published by Rose Metal Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An uncanny and imaginative autobiography of otherness, it offers the fictional record of a writer in the realms of the fantastic shot through with the memories of a pair of Somali-American children growing up in the 1980s. Operating under the sign of two—texts and drawings, brother and sister, black and white, extraordinary and everyday —Monster Portraits multiplies, disintegrates, and blends, inviting the reader to find the danger in the banal, the beautiful in the grotesque. Accumulating into a breathless journey and groundbreaking study, these brief fictions and sketches claim the monster as a fragmentary vastness: not the sum but the derangement of its parts."--Amazon.com.
Download or read book Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction written by Kamilla Elliott and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examples from British writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries show how portraits became a new mode of identity for the middle class. Traditionally, kings and rulers were featured on stamps and money, the titled and affluent commissioned busts and portraits, and criminals and missing persons appeared on wanted posters. British writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, reworked ideas about portraiture to promote the value and agendas of the ordinary middle classes. According to Kamilla Elliott, our current practices of “picture identification” (driver’s licenses, passports, and so on) are rooted in these late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century debates. Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction examines ways writers such as Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and C. R. Maturin as well as artists, historians, politicians, and periodical authors dealt with changes in how social identities were understood and valued in British culture—specifically, who was represented by portraits and how they were represented as they vied for social power. Elliott investigates multiple aspects of picture identification: its politics, epistemologies, semiotics, and aesthetics, and the desires and phobias that it produces. Her extensive research not only covers Gothic literature’s best-known and most studied texts but also engages with more than 100 Gothic works in total, expanding knowledge of first-wave Gothic fiction as well as opening new windows into familiar work.
Download or read book The Book of Portraiture written by Steve Tomasula and published by F2c. This book was released on 2006 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Book of Portraiture "is a postmodern epic in writing and images. A desert nomad struggles at the close of the ancient world to inscribe himself into life, and centuries later a Renaissance artist attempts to overcome his lowly origins by painting nobility. Throughout Steve Tomasula's arresting tour de force, human beings seek to become what they are by representing it. An early twentieth-century psychoanalyst in search of a cure for sexual neurosis discovers the reflection of his own yearning in a female client, and an accidental community of twenty-first century image-makers connects the pixels to bring their group portrait into focus. Across a canvas that spans centuries, the several narrators of this novel look through the lens of their own time and portray objects of desire in paint, dreams, photography, electronic data, and genetic code. Together their portraits comprise a collage of styles and habits of mind. "The Book of Portraiture" is a novel about the irrepressible impulse to picture ourselves, and how, through this picturing, we continually re-create what it means to be human. "Once again, Steve Tomasula has fabricated an incisive and sly commentary on art's way of being in the world, and the manner in which it intersects, and conflicts, with our perceptions. Virtuosic in its execution, and sublime in its discernment, "The Book of Portraiture" is an able continuation of Tomasula's ongoing project to redraw the boundaries of contemporary fiction."--Christopher Sorrentino "Tomasula's five interlocking chapters cross continents and centuries and aesthetic sensibilities to build to a dazzling and dizzying whole. "The Book of Portraiture" is one of those rare books that manage to be at once emotionally and theoretically satisfying."--Brian Evenson "Think of Swift, Groddeck, Lautreamont, and George Carlin conversing together in a large wastebin--up to their chins in 21st century sweepings--and you will begin to have an idea of Tomasula's very funny, very smart and downright scary epic vision."--Rikki Ducornet Steve Tomasula is the author of the acclaimed novels IN & OZ "(Ministry of Whimsy)" and "VAS: An Opera in Flatland." Among the venues where his short fiction has appeared are "McSweeney's" and "The Iowa Review, " where he received the distinguished Iowa Prize. His writings on body art and culture have appeared in "Leonardo" and numerous arts journals.
Download or read book Portraits written by Cynthia Freeman and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-08-27 with total page 929 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York’s Lower East Side to San Francisco, four generations of an immigrant family in America come to life in this New York Times–bestselling saga. In an act of great courage and will, Esther Sandsonitsky leaves her abusive new husband and tiny village on the border between Poland and Germany for the more welcoming shores of the United States. When she makes her way through the throng at Ellis Island, the world is on the threshold of a new century. But Esther is on her own quest: to capture a piece of the American dream for her children, including Jacob, the son she was forced to leave behind. Portraits tells an indelible story of the struggles and sacrifices of a family—and a people—searching for a place to belong.
Download or read book Portraits of a Few of the People I ve Made Cry written by Christine Sneed and published by Univ of Massachusetts Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories that explore the tragicomic aspects of romantic love.
Download or read book Partial Portraits written by Henry James and published by . This book was released on 1888 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents--Emerson; The Life of George Eliot; Daniel Deronda: A Conversation; Anthony Trollope; Robert Louis Stevenson; Miss Woolson; Alphonse Daudet; Guy de Maupassant; Ivan Turgenieff; George du Maurier; The Art of Fiction.
Download or read book The Night Portrait written by Laura Morelli and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: USA Today Bestseller "This is a truly original novel that has earned its place among my favorite works of historical fiction."--Jennifer Robson, USA Today bestselling author of The Gown An exciting, dual-timeline historical novel about the creation of one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings, Portrait of a Lady with an Ermine, and the woman who fought to save it from Nazi destruction during World War II. Milan, 1492: When a 16-year old beauty becomes the mistress of the Duke of Milan, she must fight for her place in the palace—and against those who want her out. Soon, she finds herself sitting before Leonardo da Vinci, who wants to ensure his own place in the ducal palace by painting his most ambitious portrait to date. Munich, World War II: After a modest conservator unwittingly places a priceless Italian Renaissance portrait into the hands of a high-ranking Nazi leader, she risks her life to recover it, working with an American soldier, part of the famed Monuments Men team, to get it back. Two women, separated by 500 years, are swept up in the tide of history as one painting stands at the center of their quests for their own destinies.
Download or read book The Whispering House written by Elizabeth Brooks and published by Tin House Books. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Eerie and addictive. . . . Like Wuthering Heights, The Whispering House is a melancholy novel, its characters filled with dark longings." — The New York Times Book Review From the acclaimed author of The Orphan of Salt Winds It was like holding a couple of jigsaw pieces in my palm, knowing there was a whole picture to be made, if I could only find the rest. Freya Lyell is struggling to move on from her sister Stella’s death five years ago. Visiting the bewitching Byrne Hall, only a few miles from the scene of the tragedy, she discovers a portrait of Stella—a portrait she had no idea existed, in a house Stella never set foot in. Or so she thought. Driven to find out more about her sister’s secrets, Freya is drawn into the world of Byrne Hall and its owners: charismatic artist Cory and his sinister, watchful mother. But as Freya lingers in this mysterious, centuries-old house, her relationship with Cory crosses the line into obsession and the darkness behind the locked doors of the estate threatens to spill out. In prose as lush and atmospheric as Byrne Hall itself, Elizabeth Brooks weaves a simmering, propulsive tale of art, sisterhood, and all-consuming love: the ways it can lead us toward tenderness, nostalgia, and longing, as well as shocking acts of violence.
Download or read book Portrait of a Thief written by Grace D. Li and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize Named a New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2022 Named A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by *Marie Claire* *Washington Post* *Vulture* *NBC News* *Buzzfeed* *Veranda* *PopSugar* *Paste* *The Millions* *Bustle* *Crimereads* Goodreads* *Bookbub* *Boston.com* and more! "The thefts are engaging and surprising, and the narrative brims with international intrigue. Li, however, has delivered more than a straight thriller here, especially in the parts that depict the despair Will and his pals feel at being displaced, overlooked, underestimated, and discriminated against. This is as much a novel as a reckoning." —New York Times Book Review Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they've cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down. Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they've dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted attempt to take back what colonialism has stolen. Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary critique of the lingering effects of colonialism.
Download or read book Original Sisters written by Anita Kunz and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the internationally acclaimed artist, a stunning collection of portraits of ground-breaking women—Joan of Arc, Josephine Baker, Greta Thunberg, Misty Copeland, and many more history-making women whose names have been forgotten and are finally being brought to light. • With a Foreword by Roxane Gay. “This book, as a whole, offers the reader possibility and promise … You will be introduced to many of these women for the first time, because history is rarely kind to women until it is forced to be. You will learn about artists and activists, rulers and rebels.” —Roxane Gay, from the Foreword Original Sisters was born from the COVID-19 quarantine. In early March 2020, locked down in her home-studio in Toronto and longing for inspiration, artist Anita Kunz started researching women on the Internet. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she soon found an array of astonishing people who had done amazing things—some of whom she had heard of, but most of whom she had not. And then she began to paint their pictures and write down their stories. The result is a jaw-dropping feat of historic and artistic research. The wide variety of lives, occupations, time periods, and achievements is absolutely mind-bending. From Joan of Arc to Josephine Baker, from Hippolyta to Greta Thunberg, from Anne Frank to Misty Copeland: these women made and changed history. But there are just as many whom you’ve never heard of, who were never recognized in their lifetimes, whose achievements need to be brought to light. They include the anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl, who was executed at age twenty-one by the Third Reich, and Alice Ball, a young African American scientist who discovered a treatment for leprosy but died tragically before she could receive credit for it. This is not only a breathtaking art book. Original Sisters also recounts a secret history that must be told so that it is a secret no more.
Download or read book The Portrait s Subject written by Sarah Blackwood and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Between the invention of photography in 1839 and the end of the nineteenth century, portraiture became one of the most popular and common art forms in the United States. ... images of human surfaces became understood as expressions of human depth during this era. Combining visual theory, literary close reading, and in-depth archival research, Blackwood examines portraiture's changing symbolic and aesthetic practices, from daguerreotype to X-ray. Considering painting, photography, illustration, and other visual forms alongside literary and cultural representations of portrait making and viewing, Blackwood argues that portraiture was a provocative art form used by writers, artists, and early psychologists to imagine selfhood as hidden, deep, and in need of revelation, ideas that were then taken up by the developing discipline of psychology"--
Download or read book Portrait in Sepia written by Isabel Allende and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sequel to Daughter of Fortune, New York Times bestselling author, Isabel Allende, continues her magic with this spellbinding family saga set against war and economic hardship. Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that erases from her mind all recollection of the first five years of her life. Raised by her ambitious grandmother, the regal and commanding Paulina del Valle, she grows up in a privileged environment, free of the limitations that circumscribe the lives of women at that time, but tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal at the hands of the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she decides to explore the mystery of her past. Portrait in Sepia is an extraordinary achievement: richly detailed, epic in scope, intimate in its probing of human character, and thrilling in the way it illuminates the complexity of family ties.
Download or read book Portrait Painting in Watercolor written by Charles Reid and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guides the reader through a complete, step-by-step tour of the watercolor materials and methods needed to create expressive, masterful portraits.
Download or read book Self Portrait with Boy written by Rachel Lyon and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-09-12 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rachel Lyon's first novel – soon to be made into a major motion picture starring Zoë Kravitz and Thomasin McKenzie Lu Rile is a relentlessly focused young photographer struggling to make ends meet. Working three jobs, and worrying that the crumbling warehouse she lives in is being sold to developers, she is at a point of desperation. Until, by pure chance, Lu discovers she’s captured a tragedy in the background of a self portrait; a boy falling to his death. The photograph turns out to be the best work of art she’s ever made. It’s an image that could change her life – if she lets it. Set in early 90s Brooklyn on the brink of gentrification, Self-Portrait with Boy is a provocative commentary about the emotional dues that must be paid on the road to success. ‘Beautifully imagined and flawlessly executed’ Joyce Carol Oates ‘A sparkling debut’ New York Times Book Review
Download or read book Portraits written by John Berger and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2015-10-05 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Berger, one of the world's most celebrated storytellers and writers on art, tells a personal history of art from the prehistoric paintings of the Chauvet caves to 21st century conceptual artists. Berger presents entirely new ways of thinking about artists both canonized and obscure, from Rembrandt to Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock to Picasso. Throughout, Berger maintains the essential connection between politics, art and the wider study of culture. The result is an illuminating walk through many centuries of visual culture, from one of the contemporary world's most incisive critical voices.
