by William M. Weyman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 20, 2013
A touching, atmospheric painter’s tribute.
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Weyman’s pleasant debut memoir celebrates the legacy of his artistic mentor, German painter and lithographer Leo Marchutz (1903–1976).
In 1972, Weyman and other acolytes of Marchutz helped open the Marchutz School of art education in Aix-en-Provence, France. In this book, the author offers a tribute to his former teacher. Marchutz received formal education only through age 13; an autodidact thereafter, he took inspiration from nature and museum artworks. Despite the artist’s Jewish background, half of his artistic subjects drew on New Testament imagery, and late in life, he confessed to being “Catholic at heart,” claiming that “without religion there is no art.” The book includes reproductions of Marchutz’s pencil sketches—ephemeral strokes depicting the Annunciation or Aix’s main street—as well as watercolor homages to the French artist Paul Cézanne. Marchutz, the author writes, prized above all the “integrity of the whole”: balancing nature and art, tradition and modernity, individuality and universalism. In 1930, he settled in France, in a house that had often been a subject of Cézanne’s paintings; he hid from the Nazis in its henhouse. He later used his expertise to help the police recover some stolen Cézannes. When Atlanta native Weyman arrived in Aix in 1961 for his junior year of college abroad, Marchutz became his teacher and surrogate father, imparting his love for Cézanne and his doctrines of artistic integrity in weekly feedback sessions. Living in rural France required some adjustment, Weyman writes, but he enjoyed exploring local scenery and engaging in art tourism in Paris and Italy. He eventually became Marchutz’s assistant and one evening saw a “phantasmagoric image” of Cézanne at Marchutz’s house, which he took as confirmation of his artistic vocation. Long after Cézanne’s and Marchutz’s deaths, their spirits remained influential; indeed, Weyman at times describes Marchutz as almost a Jesus-like guru, once referring to a student as a “convert to Leo.” Marchutz, he writes, taught that true originality flowed when the artist, Zen-like, put aside the self while searching for light. This book makes clear that that light and transcendence infused his paintings and his life and could not fail to influence his students. His was an ignoble, unceremonious end (reflected in this book’s abrupt ending), but Weyman offers a belated, engaging eulogy.
A touching, atmospheric painter’s tribute.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482555707
Page Count: 180
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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