Vreeland, Susan

Average customer rating:

A grand vision and description of Impressionist Paris
Wonderful -- I felt like I was there
A tale of the French Impressionist group
Thank you for the beautiful art!
Absolutely delicious "Luncheon"

Luncheon of the Boating Party
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670038547
Release Date: 2007-05-03

Book Description

<B>Bestselling author Susan Vreeland returns with a vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world</B> <BR><BR> Instantly recognizable, Auguste Renoir's masterpiece depicts a gathering of his real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine near Paris. A wealthy painter, an art collector, an Italian journalist, a war hero, a celebrated actress, and Renoir's future wife, among others, share this moment of la vie moderne, a time when social constraints were loosening and Paris was healing after the Franco-Prussian War. Parisians were bursting with a desire for pleasure and a yearning to create something extraordinary out of life. Renoir shared these urges and took on this most challenging project at a time of personal crises in art and love, all the while facing issues of loyalty and the diverging styles that were tearing apart the Impressionist group. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models and using settings in Paris and on the Seine, Vreeland illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, she paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs in a brilliant portrait of her own.

Customer Reviews:

A grand vision and description of Impressionist Paris.......2007-06-07

Art is one of those oddly subjective things. Everyone looks at it quite literally and where one person can find extreme beauty and emotion, another will just shrug and go eh. That's both the curse and the joy of art, that everyone certainly has an opinion on it, and it's more likely than not that everyone is going to disagree about something about it. One of the greatest disagreements about art, and how it was created occured in Paris, in the last half of the nineteenth century. and it would change painting forever.

One of those rebellious artists is the protagonist of this novel, Auguste Renoir. He's struggling to make ends meet, always in debt it seems, to the supplier of his canvas and paints, to Camille who runs the eatery where he takes many of his meals, to his friends. Obligations are all around him, and he fights to keep himself going, always looking for inspiration. He is part of the artistic revolution known as the Impressionists, that broke away from the rigid Academic style and the critics of the Salon and took the heretical notion that art could be of the instant and didn't need to be executed in a staged, realistic fashion.

Now it looks as though the Impressionist movement is starting to break up -- two major factions have formed, with Edgar Degas and his followers saying that art needs to show the seedier side of reality, and others trying to stay with the original ideas. Some have died in the terrible days of the Franco-Prussian War and the Communard that followed afterwards, and even after a decade, the scars are still there in a slowly recovering Paris.

A popular way of escaping is to go out to one of the suburbs on the Seine, and go boating. Here, nearly all classes are equal, with the stuffy bourgoisie clinging to their frock coats and top hats, workers and artisans alike down to their undershirts and taking to the water to enjoy a summer's day. A restaurant has sprung up on a small island, and it is here that Renoir comes up with his idea of a grand canvas to get him the recognition -- and fortune -- that he craves from the Salon.

The problem is -- how is he going to get his funds, his models and his supplies all together? Some people he has already decided on, from his friend, Gustave the collector, Alphonse and Alphonsine who work in the restaurant, Angele the bawdy and Antonio the journalist, all of them vibrant and alive, but Auguste is after more. He assembles his models, luring them with the promise of excellent lunches and fees on Sundays on the Seine.

But, not everything is going too well. One model refuses to sit still, and creates continual chaos in her wake, another is locked in a tenuous relationship with her lover over the question of marriage, others get tangled up in outside problems, and soon enough, it looks as though the painting is never going to get finished in time before the summer light runs out.

Vreeland creates a vibrant world here that is alive with colour and humour. But to balance that she's wise enough to include some of the darker side of reality -- poverty is a real fear, the treatment of women, illiteracy, and the memories of a city that was nearly destroyed and is only starting to really recover. Her ability to create characters that have distinct voices and styles is very evident here, and I felt as though I was an eavesdropper throughout, and enjoying myself every step of the way.

Best of all, she goes into some of the internal struggle that everyone who seeks to make a living by using their creativity goes through. Do you go on and paint what you want to, or do you give in to the pressures to sacrifice and give up so that you can keep a roof over your head and food on the table? She explored this problem beautifully, and as someone who has had to go through this, it's spot on.

For anyone who has ever looked at the Impressionist movement and wondered what in the world were they getting at, this is a book to be nibbled and savoured. There are plenty of ideas to take in, moments to laugh over, times to cringe, and quite a few to sigh, and cry out over. In the grand, beautiful vision of Le dejeneur des canontiers, Renoir gives a moment in time, and boldly invites the viewer in, and Vreeland does the same for the reader.

There are two inserts of colour reproductions of Renoir's paintings, mostly of those mentioned in the text, which gives just the right touch to help the reader along, and an author's note at the end takes some of the more unlikely aspects and provides a surprise or two.

Summing up, this is a grand summer read, and worth the effort. By the third chapter I was definately hooked, and did not want this story to end. This novel is going on my keeper shelves, and I suspect in a year or two, I am going to take it down and give it a re-reading. So go on, find a spot to relax, pack up your own dejeneur and enjoy this one. Both artists and nonartists I think will enjoy this one.

Happy recommended, with five bold slashing stars.

Wonderful -- I felt like I was there.......2007-06-05

This is the story of Renoir's famous painting 'Luncheon of the Boating Party,' a work completed on the balcony of the restaurant Maison Fournaise, just outside of Paris. Combining historical fact with Ms. Vreeland's vivid imagination we learn how the painting came into existence and how the models were chosen and gathered, as well as a sense of the time and place. The models' identities are largely based on historical fact, but as with all works of historical fiction the author uses her colorful imagination in guessing their conversations, relationships and emotions. At the beginning of the story, Auguste Renoir is struggling even to cover the costs of purchasing several tubes of paint, but by the time the painting is finished the reader gets a sense that Luncheon represents a fortunate turning point in his career.

There is something compelling about an author bringing to life the story of a work of art. The characters become familiar and spark curiosity about who they were, the location becomes a real place one could visit, and the art itself becomes an intimate friend. Susan Vreeland first piqued my interest with her biographical historical fiction, 'The Passion of Artemisia.' Her background in and her passion for fine art is clearly a prerequisite in producing a story like this. The descriptions of the colors, clothing and food I can only describe as "delicious" and nearly caused me to feel that I was actually there among them.

One suggestion: Print a color copy of the painting to reference as you read. Otherwise you'll be flipping to look at the cover approximately 3,496 times.

A tale of the French Impressionist group.......2007-05-30

In previous novels, Susan Vreeland has brought artists as diverse as Jan Vermeer, Emily Carr and Artemisia Gentileschi to life in the pages of her novels, often focusing on the fictional circumstances surrounding their masterworks. Now Vreeland turns her attention to Impressionist master Pierre Auguste Renoir and the genesis of his most famous work, which depicts a group of 14 merrymakers enjoying lunch on the banks of the Seine outside Paris.

At the novel's opening, Renoir is frustrated; the Impressionist group seems to be dividing against itself, conflicted over the question of whether to exhibit paintings in the more establishment-sanctioned Salon. What's more, Renoir is outraged by an essay written by critic Emile Zola, who writes, "Despite their [the Impressionists'] struggle, they have not reached their goal; they remain inferior to what they undertake; they stammer without being able to find words."

Renoir, convinced that he is the one to prove Zola wrong and finally get a major Impressionist work shown at the Salon, sets about to paint a picture that will define la vie moderne (modern life): young people, enjoying leisure time at a riverside cafe. He envisions a monumental painting that will combine portraiture, group dynamics and still life in a composition that is both an homage to classical masters and a vision for the future of painting.

But for Renoir, realizing his vision will hardly be simple. There's the matter of assembling an appropriate group of models, which include country folk, fellow artists, writers and a former mistress or two. There's the fact that Renoir's right arm is in a cast following a bicycling accident. And there's the eternal problems of time and money, both of which might run out before Renoir has been able to capture the elusive quality of summer light on the Seine.

Vreeland's writing here is as engaging as ever, particularly when she broadens her scope to focus on the various figures in the painting, revealing their own stories and connections even as she focuses primarily on Renoir's own vision and motivation. The scenes that take place during each Sunday's modeling sessions are particularly delightful, as these young Parisians engage in witty, bawdy banter while Renoir attempts to capture their frivolity and spirit with his brush.

Vreeland's portrayal of Renoir himself is a fascinating character study. She plays with his reputation as a philanderer, giving his well-known affection for his models substance and depth even as the easily influenced painter falls hard for his newest models: "A painter of women was what he wanted to be known as, but that meant having a steady stream of models to inspire him, to make his pulse pound with the urgency to paint what he saw, what he felt in his body, what he wanted to touch."

Readers familiar with Renoir's work and that of his fellow Impressionists will glean the most from Vreeland's latest novel, and will likely pick up on many of her allusions to other artistic works (some of which are reproduced in color plates). But even readers new to Renoir's life and work will come away from LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY with a great appreciation for these complex, accomplished group portraits --- both Renoir's and Vreeland's.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Thank you for the beautiful art!.......2007-05-11

This was like reading a painting! What a delightful book! Such descriptive colors, you could almost smell the food. The emotions behind creating this masterpiece were described so well; the characters believable; the art world they are in presented so intelligently. Yet, it doesn't get too intense. Susan Vreeland is always generous with her research. There's even more on her website. I learn so much when I read her books and always enjoy the stories.

Absolutely delicious "Luncheon".......2007-05-07

I've just spent most of my weekend devouring Luncheon of the Boating Party, and I've emerged feeling well satisfied and more than a little nostalgic. This is definitely my new favorite among Susan Vreeland's books, as sparkling as Renoir's colors and tasty as any of the meals described at the Maison Fournaise. Very well researched, but the research never gets in the way--it goes down easy. Vreeland's creativity in illuminating the personalities of Renoir and his models means I won't look at the painting the same way again. Merci!

Average customer rating:

wonderful
Taking a trip back in time ...
A beautiful and well told tale
Easy, entertaining read
A Vermeer through time...

Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014029628X
Release Date: 2000-10-03

Amazon.com

There are only 35 known Vermeers extant in the world today. In Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland posits the existence of a 36th. The story begins at a private boys' academy in Pennsylvania where, in the wake of a faculty member's unexpected death, math teacher Cornelius Engelbrecht makes a surprising revelation to one of his colleagues. He has, he claims, an authentic Vermeer painting, "a most extraordinary painting in which a young girl wearing a short blue smock over a rust-colored skirt sat in profile at a table by an open window." His colleague, an art teacher, is skeptical and though the technique and subject matter are persuasively Vermeer-like, Engelbrecht can offer no hard evidence--no appraisal, no papers--to support his claim. He says only that his father, "who always had a quick eye for fine art, picked it up, let us say, at an advantageous moment." Eventually it is revealed that Engelbrecht's father was a Nazi in charge of rounding up Dutch Jews for deportation and that the picture was looted from one doomed family's home: <blockquote> That's when I saw that painting, behind his head. All blues and yellows and reddish brown, as translucent as lacquer. It had to be a Dutch master. Just then a private found a little kid covered with tablecloths behind some dishes in a sideboard cabinet. We'd almost missed him. </blockquote> By the end of "Love Enough," this first of eight interrelated stories tracing the history of "Girl in Hyacinth Blue," the painting's fate at the hands of guilt-riddled Engelbrecht fils is in question. Unfortunately, there is no doubt about the probable destiny of the previous owners, the Vredenburg family of Rotterdam, who take center stage in the powerful "A Night Different From All Other Nights." Vreeland handles this tale with subtlety and restraint, setting it at Passover, the year before the looting, and choosing to focus on the adolescent Hannah Vredenburg's difficult passage into adulthood in the face of an uncertain future. In the next story, "Adagia," she moves even further into the past to sketch "how love builds itself unconsciously ... out of the momentous ordinary" in a tender portrait of a longtime marriage. Back and back Vreeland goes, back through other owners, other histories, to the very inception of the painting in the homely, everyday objects of the Vermeer household--a daughter's glass of milk, a son's shirt in need of buttons, a wife's beloved sewing basket--"the unacknowledged acts of women to hallow home." Girl in Hyacinth Blue ends with the painting's subject herself, Vermeer's daughter Magdalena, who first sends the portrait out into the world as payment for a family debt, then sees it again, years later at an auction. <blockquote> She thought of all the people in all the paintings she had seen that day, not just Father's, in all the paintings of the world, in fact. Their eyes, the particular turn of a head, their loneliness or suffering or grief was borrowed by an artist to be seen by other people throughout the years who would never see them face to face. People who would be that close to her, she thought, a matter of a few arms' lengths, looking, looking, and they would never know her. </blockquote> In this final passage, Susan Vreeland might be describing her own masterpiece as well as Vermeer's. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

This luminous story begins in the present day, when a professor invites a colleague to his home to see a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer--but why has he hidden this important work for so long? The reasons unfold in a series of events that trace the ownership of the painting back to World War II and Amsterdam, and still further back to the moment of the work's inspiration. As the painting moves through each owner's hands, what was long hidden quietly surfaces, illuminating poignant moments in multiple lives. Vreeland's characters remind us, through their love of this mysterious painting, how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts and what in our lives is singular and unforgettable.

Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the Christian Science Monitor, and the San Francisco Chronicle
Nominated for the Book Sense Book of the Year

Customer Reviews:

wonderful.......2007-06-13

A quiet, contemplative, and well-crafted series of stories that connect to form a complete experience of the nature of art. Very charming.

Taking a trip back in time ... .......2007-04-04

I love historical fiction because of books like this one... never ordinary... author Susan Vreeland tells the story that wants to be told... I wanted to read it backwards when I was done... to get all I missed... I still may! Especially recommended for artists!

A beautiful and well told tale.......2007-04-03

If you have time for only one book this season, make it this one. It is beautifully written and soothing to the mind and senses. The manner in which Vreeland tells this lovely tale is a new approach, one which works quite well. Reading Girl in Hyachinth Blue paints a picture in the mind as lovely as the art described in various chapters. This is a remarkable experience. Now go get the book and read it.

Easy, entertaining read.......2006-11-07

This simple story was easy and entertaining to read. It's art, it's art history and history in general. I liked the reverse timeline and having to think back to the last chapter read to see how this new chapter comes into play. I liked that each chapter was it's own story and even though the chapters were brief I felt I got to know the characters well. Being an artist and having studied art history I enjoyed the perspective of this book.

A Vermeer through time..........2006-08-04

A collection of short stories told in reverse chronological order and held together by the presence of one painting. The earlier vignettes, or the later chapters of the book, are captivating as the Dutch lowlands and windmills take center stage in Vreeland's narratives. Characters have short-lived moments in the book, but that is okay once it becomes clear that the central character is the painting. The book is not long and it is easy to complete in a short time. An enjoyable result from reading the book, is that I found myself constantly looking at objects that have been around for a while, old coins, old buildings, and reflecting about the connections and stories these objects could tell about earlier times and people that have long departed. I found the book worthy of recommending to my middle school age kid, so it is fine for young teenagers.

Average customer rating:

Disappointing portrayal of an artist.
a story with a realistic feel!
A painter loving to work
The Forest Lover
ENJOYED EVERY PAGE OF THIS ONE

The Forest Lover
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

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Luncheon of the Boating Party

ASIN: 0143034308
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Amazon.com

Novelist Susan Vreeland has made a career of fictionalizing the lives of artists and of particular paintings, like Artemisia Gentileschi¹s magnificent Judith in The Passion of Artemisia. In her third novel, The Forest Lover, Vreeland's subject is the courageous Canadian painter Emily Carr, who traveled through native villages and wilderness of British Columbia in the early 1900s, often alone, on a quest to paint totem poles and other artifacts before the indigenous traditions died out and the poles were destroyed or sold. Vreeland's Carr is deeply respectful of the people she meets, and is rewarded with their trust and their stories. She brings the same sensitivity with her to Paris to see the new art, is exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, and returns to Vancouver in 1912 with a style so direct, and colors so expressive, that a conservative local reviewer dubs her a wild beast, literally, a Fauve. Vreeland's strength is in the tacks of emotion during dialogue, and in her nimble, exact prose. As she depicts her, Carr is an endearing and believable balance of sensitivity and determination‹an artist of life as well as a remarkable painter. --Regina Marler

Book Description

In her acclaimed novels, Susan Vreeland has given us portraits of painting and life that are as dazzling as their artistic subjects. Now, in The Forest Lover, she traces the courageous life and career of Emily Carr, who—more than Georgia O'Keeffe or Frida Kahlo—blazed a path for modern women artists. Overcoming the confines of Victorian culture, Carr became a major force in modern art by capturing an untamed British Columbia and its indigenous peoples just before industrialization changed them forever. From illegal potlatches in tribal communities to artists' studios in pre-World War I Paris, Vreeland tells her story with gusto and suspense, giving us a glorious novel that will appeal to lovers of art, native cultures, and lush historical fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing portrayal of an artist........2007-05-16

The Forest Lover follows real life Canadian artist Emily Carr who finds inspiration in native art and French impressionists. Vreeland, who doesn't understand how race and gender affect visual representation, creates a character that is well intentioned, yet racist. The Forest Lover audiobook sounds like bad TV, where every Indian possesses magical powers and serves as a bridge between the spirit world for the white protagonists. Reader Karen White's Tonto-esque voices make the native characters sound like dumb children stuttering "Me Tarzan, You Jane!" Even more bizarre is White's over the top French accent used to portray Emily's romantic interest. White's reading sounds like Emily is being seduced by Pepe LePew. Sexualized, native drumbeats make the sex scenes even more ridiculous. Since much of the novel takes place in Paris, the listener is continually distracted by White's clichéd and unintentionally humorous French accent. There is something almost doubly offensive about racism disguised as the story of a progressive feminist heroine.

a story with a realistic feel!.......2007-02-21

I have read The Forest Lover three times and I can still smell the fresh paint on the canvas, feel the weather conditions that she encountered, and feel all of the emotions that she shared with her friends and her enemies. This book opens all of your senses and wisks you away from this crazy world. I have found this novel to be one of her finest works.

A painter loving to work.......2006-10-24

I would have been pleased with THE FOREST LOVER if all it had done was introduce me to painter Emily Carr. Happily, this book has even more to offer the reader.

I find it astonishing that Emily Carr is not more widely known outside her native Canada, given her remarkable, often adventurous life. Her career spanned the early decades of the 20th Century, as she worked to paint the dense landscapes, vanishing cultures and totems of the Pacific Northwest in an increasingly expressionistic style, defying convention at a time when "women's painting" was considered a genteel pastime.

Carr's lifelong effort to translate her sights and feelings to paper and canvas is at the heart of this book. This is not the sort of biographical novel that focuses on the artist's social and family life, avoiding the subject of creativity by having it magically occur offstage somewhere. Author Susan Vreeland effectively uses Carr's unpretentious voice to put her creative struggles into words, making them fun and interesting to read about.

There are other notable voices in this book. Vreeland develops distinct spoken styles for her characters, using them in seemingly naturalistic dialogue which express inner thoughts and feelings. One of the voices belongs to the tragic First Nations basket maker Sophie Frank, with whom Carr shares a fond but awkward friendship, fraught with misunderstandings across a cultural divide. Another prominent voice belongs to Harold Cook, the grown son of a missionary. As an abused child he is wrenched from the native culture he loves, and as a disturbed adult finds solace in Carr's work and companionship.

Initially, Emily Carr seems unwaveringly determined and focused, willing to face dangers, disapproval and isolation in order to pursue her art. I had every confidence that her career would follow an unbroken line. But when reading how a financially driven hiatus extended into years of self-doubt, I felt sad and anxious, realizing then just how much I had been drawn into the story.

Fortunately, just in time, Carr is surprised to find herself the object of tardy adulation, as Canada begins a cultural awakening. If this is the way things really happened, I am eager to find out. The novel lays no claim to strict factual accuracy. Never-the-less, there are many human truths found within.

The Forest Lover.......2006-07-25

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt like I was part of it.

ENJOYED EVERY PAGE OF THIS ONE.......2006-06-23

The author of this work, The Forest Lover, is truely an artist herself in that she gives us some of the best descriptive writing I have had the pleasure of reading in some time. Having traveled through this part of our world a number of times, I feel the author was pretty well grasp and convey the country into words, just as it is. Wonderful word pictures here. As an added bonus, the author herself, is not a bad historian and has been able to capture this age quite well, it's attitudes, good and bad. Being an artist myself (a complete rank amature), I enjoyed the story. The author is also quite strong in her character developement and has a wonderful syntax. She is obviously a natural story teller. Recommend this one highly.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Beginning, Disappointing Ending
Who's on trial?
A fun read especially for artist types
An inspiring woman I never knew existed
passion of artemesia

The Passion of Artemisia
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142001821
Release Date: 2002-12-31

Amazon.com

Like her bestselling debut, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland's second novel, The Passion of Artemisia, traces a particular painting through time: in this case, the post-Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi's violent masterpiece, "Judith." Although the novel purports to cover the life of the painter, the painting serves as a touchstone, foreshadowing Artemisia's rape by Agostino Tassi, an assistant in her father's painting studio in Rome; the well-documented (and humiliating) trial that followed; the early days of her hastily arranged marriage; and her eventual triumph as the first woman elected to the Accademia dell' Arte in Florence. Although Vreeland makes a bit free with her characters (which she admits in her introduction), attributing some decidedly modern attitudes to people who would not have thought that way at the time, her book is beautifully researched and rich with casual detail of clothing, interiors, and street life. She deftly works history and politics into the background of her canvas, keeping her focus on Artemisia and her family. Beyond the paintings Artemisia left behind, Vreeland's vision may be as close as we can come to understanding the anger and ambition that kept this talented woman at the doors of the Accademia, demanding entrance, in a time when respectable women rarely left their homes. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Recently rediscovered by art historians, and one of the few female post-Renaissance painters to achieve fame during her own era, Artemisia Gentileschi led a remarkably "modern" life. Susan Vreeland tells Artemisia's captivating story, beginning with her public humiliation in a rape trial at the age of eighteen, and continuing through her father's betrayal, her marriage of convenience, motherhood, and growing fame as an artist. Set against the glorious backdrops of Rome, Florence, Genoa, and Naples, inhabited by historical characters such as Galileo and Cosimo de' Medici II, and filled with rich details about life as a seventeenth-century painter, Vreeland creates an inspiring story about one woman's lifelong struggle to reconcile career and family, passion and genius.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Beginning, Disappointing Ending.......2007-05-24

This novel starts out wonderfully and I found it difficult to put it down. The language was beautiful and the story intriguing. Unfortunately, after about halfway through, the story began to decline. Each chapter took place in a different city, with an unsatisfying "briefing," and certain subplots were dropped without explanation. Near the end, Artemisia's speech became clichéd and tiring.

Aside from these complaints, I did enjoy the novel. I give it a B and if possible, I would give 3.5 stars.

Who's on trial? .......2007-05-19

In this well written novel, the author gives a good glimpse of Renaissance life in Italy and what life was like for this female painter who chose to work, support a daughter, and create art. The hardest part to read is when Artemisia is "put on trial" herself when she confronts her rapist.(I won't give away any other details.) This is also a poignant mother-daughter story.

A fun read especially for artist types.......2007-04-04

I enjoyed this book. I'll read anything by author Susan Vreeland, after having read a couple of her books and been drawn into her stories fully during that time. A good read.

An inspiring woman I never knew existed.......2007-02-27

In this work of historical fiction, susan Vreeland paints a vibrant portrait (pun intended) of the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, an actual 17th-century woman painter in Italy. Raped by her father's friend Agostino Tassi, who is also her painting tutor, Artemisia is humiliated and her reputation in ruins when Tassi is all but exonerated in the crime. To escape Rome and its cruelty, she arranges to marry Pietro Stiattesi, a Florentine painter. In Florence, Artemisia realizes success in her art, painting biblical figures from a uniquely feminine perspective, and becomes the first woman accepted into Florence's Accademia dell'Arte. However, from her jealous husband Pietro, who has not found equal success in his art, she earns only resentment.

This was a relatively quick read which inspired me to learn more about Artemisia and her contemporaries, and I look forward to trying more of Vreeland's historical works.

passion of artemesia.......2007-01-15

I had heard this was a good book, ...I found it at a library sale...and it is amazing. such colorful descriptions, and historic....full of emotion. loved it.

Average customer rating:

Captivating Portraits (possible spoilers)
Moments of intimate beauty
Sometimes good but mostly thin
Lukewarm at best
vivid

Life Studies: Stories
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Post-Impressionism | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Forest Lover
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ASIN: 0670031771
Release Date: 2004-12-16

Book Description

In Life Studies, Susan Vreeland has written a deeply moving, richly textured collection of stories that explore art through the eyes of ordinary people. Rather than focusing directly on great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists like Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, and Modigliani, Vreeland shifts her lens to those on the periphery—their lovers, servants, children, and neighbors—showing their personal stories as they play out against the artists' lives. Counterbalancing these historic stories are an equal number of contemporary tales in which her characters—a teacher, a construction worker, and an orphan—encounter art in meaningful, sometimes surprising ways.

When a disillusioned banker sees his daughter through the eyes of Renoir, his senses and zest for life are awakened. Morisot's wet nurse sacrifices her own child so another mother can paint. By modeling nude, a wife discovers her deeper, more compassionate self. In one enlightening summer, a young girl encounters Picasso and death. Together, the stories in Life Studies are a fascinating exploration of human frailty and resilience. These tales marvel at the lasting strength and meaning of art in our lives, revealing art's healing effect on the soul. Crafted with the skill of a master painter, Life Studies is a dazzling addition to Vreeland's outstanding body of work.

Customer Reviews:

Captivating Portraits (possible spoilers).......2007-01-12

Life Studies is a collection of short stories about art and artists by Susan Vreeland. I've read two of the stories so far and am in the middle of the third one.

All three stories show Vreeland to be a master at work as she deftly weaves together art history, human psychology, poignant metaphors and recurring motifs together with vivid descriptions of the French landscape and people. I was delighted at the "aha!" moment in each story has where it becomes clear which beloved artwork has been, is being or will be created.

I look forward to finishing the book, but highly recommend it based on what I have read so far.

Moments of intimate beauty.......2006-04-06

Susan Vreeland's first book, the exquisite "Girl in Hyacinth Blue," was told in a series of stories centering around one Vermeer painting. In this book she returns to the story form, this time concerning many artists instead of just one. It contains moments of real beauty and for those who love art, or grew up with artists as I did, quite real and memorable.

These are unusual stories in form and perception. Art and the artist are seen from an angle, often told from the perspective of a model or a child or a lover. It is as if you rounded a corner and bumped into Renoir's easel or noticed Cézanne across a country road talking to a friend. These artists touch you as they really lived, as rather ordinary people. The stories are sometimes as quiet as walk in the woods. But in the end you feel you have known the little boy who threw stones at Cézanne, or the tired banker who goes to a weekend gathering in Montmartre and finds, in a short conversation with the artist Renoir who lives upstairs, a new joy in his life.

Of the contemporary stories in the second half of the book, "Crayon," about a little girl and her dying artist grandfather is such a beautiful piece of writing.

This book is for any reader who would like to know what it was like to see one of these artists not as some sort of sexual athlete or superman but walking across the street quietly with his paint box in his hand.

Sometimes good but mostly thin.......2006-02-17

The state of literature currently: garbage. Put an emotional shell on a conclusion to have no conclusion, and you're a "genius" according to our esteemed literary rags and reviewers. This book has two high-quality stories, "Of These Stones" and "The Yellow Jacket," but they are more like children's stories than the great short stories of a F. Scott Fitzgerald or Flannery O'Connor. After you read those two, you may find yourself getting sleepy... the pattern repeats. The state of literature currently: garbage. This is garbage that has a few gilded peaks before lulling you into emotive but meaningless stupor.

Lukewarm at best.......2005-07-13

The writing is sentimental. It is often amateurish or stilted. Still, occasional flashes of brilliance.

vivid.......2005-04-04

Susan Vreeland is fast becoming one of my favorite living authors. Her ability to draw you quickly and seamlessly into a living moment is one of the best I have come across, and I was impressed and relieved to find that the details I found the most poignant in her historical fiction sketches were the ones she gave bibliographic references for at the end of the book. In addition, I found her web sight containing the art pieces referenced in her stories at the beginning of my reading, and it greatly enhanced my overall experience:

http://www.svreeland.com/ls-paintings.html

In general, I found this book absorbing and vivid, but educated and relatively free from sentimentality. She is able to change voices well from character to character, but not so abruptly and obviously that the book loses fluidity. These chapters, each dedicated to a human life affected by a particular work of art, were saturated with reality and living detail. Really beautifully done; I was sorry to see it end.

Average customer rating:

ORDINARY LIVES AFFECTED BY GREAT ART

Life Studies
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Penguin Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Forest Lover
Luncheon of the Boating Party
The Passion of Artemisia
The Birth of Venus: A Novel

ASIN: 0143057170

Customer Reviews:

ORDINARY LIVES AFFECTED BY GREAT ART.......2004-12-29

With "Girl Hyacinth Blue" and "The Passion of Artemisia" author Susan Vreeland has done much to resurrect the reading public's interest in the lives of great artists. In this intriguing collection of stories her focus is again on art, but rather than relating an artist's life she comes to her subject from a different angle - the secondary characters who were part of the artist's lives and how art can affect ordinary people, both positively and negatively.

Fans of van Gogh well know that one of his favorite models was the son of the postman in Arles. This relationship offers Vreeland the opportunity to give readers a view of the young lad's personal life and how he is reacting to the world around him at this stage in his life. We find a gardener employed by Monet emotionally shattered when the artist destroys his Water Lily paintings.

The use of the physical and emotional investment of ordinary people in the lives of the great Impressionists and Postimpressionists adds a rich texture to the idea of what art can mean.

Film, stage and television actress Karen White reads these stories with lyricism and depth of understanding. Those who heard her on the audio version of Vreeland's "The Forest Lover" know they're in for another treat.

- Gail Cooke

Average customer rating:

Precious Sight!
INDEPENDENCE
This book is about my grandmother and POP, it is wonderful.
This book is about my grandmother and POP it is wonderful.
It was very heart warming

What Love Sees: A Biographical Novel
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Thorndike Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0786206969

Customer Reviews:

Precious Sight!.......2002-05-24

Sight is one of those gifts a person takes for granted. I know I do, but after reading this book I don't think I ever will again. Jean loses her sight at the age of 12 and has so many things to overcome. Luckily for her, her parents didn't coddle her and made Jean do everything for herself that was possible. As the years go by she feels something is missing and after meeting Forest Holly, a man who also lost his sight, she knows that she needs to be married to him. This story takes in all the years from 1930 on through Jean and Forest's married life and all the challenges they face through lean years and the hardships of raising four children with little help. There were some hilarious parts, and some sad too.... This is truly a book that will make a person thankful for their sight and let you know that whatever adversities you may have to face, they can be overcome. A book I will recommend to everyone.

INDEPENDENCE.......2000-02-16

I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WAS GREAT AND VERY HEARTFELT IT SHOWS THAT EVEN IF TWO PEOPLE WHO ARE VISUALLY IMPAIRED THEY CAN STAND ON THEIR OWN.I WAS AMAZED HOW THEY RAISED FIVE CHILDREN .I HAVE A SEIZURE CONDITION SO I KNOW HOW IT IS TO BE LIMITED AND I STILL LIVE WITH MY MOTHER SO I CAN RELATE WITH HOW JEAN FELT WHEN HER FATHER KEPT TREATING HER LIKE A CHILD AND NOT LETTING HER TAKE A WALK INTO TOWN WITH HER SEEING EYE DOG OR WHEN SHE AND GORDON WANTED TO GET MARRIED.

This book is about my grandmother and POP, it is wonderful........1999-06-26

If you are looking for a true love story and true dedication in a marriage, this book is for you. My grandparents overcame their blindness had four children, and conqured everything themselves. My grandparents have given my such motivation, that I can do anything I set my mind to, they are the most wonderful people alive, besides my parents. This book is truly a wonderful book about love, hard times and good times, how they beat all of the odds.

This book is about my grandmother and POP it is wonderful........1999-06-26

This book is a great portriat of my family. They made this book into a movie on CBS, and if anyone has seen it, it really is thier life. My grandmother is doing great, my POP died awhile ago, but we still have this living memory of him. If you are looking for a true love story and a moral story this book is for you to read. If you need motivation this book is for you to read. Never think you can't do anything, because my grandparents did everything, their blindness did not stop them at all. They are actually going to be making sequal to the movie, which will involve more of my dad which I can't wait to see. This is a must buy book!!!!

It was very heart warming.......1999-06-14

It takes a very special kind of people to life a normal kind of life with these kind of obsticales. I give them all the credit that they deserve

Average customer rating:

Passion of Artemisia
Vreeland Susan
Manufacturer: Viking
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JWIKBK

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What English Teachers Want
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Royal Fireworks Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Study & Teaching | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0880922249

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GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE
Susan Vreeland
Manufacturer: Review Great Britain
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0747270260

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