Writing

A Genre Within a Genre

 
The different genres of historical novels are as varied as in all fiction: we have thrillers, so-called bodice-ripper romances, detective tales, war-themed stories and American westerns. I think we have yet another one, smaller perhaps, but one that continues to increase in numbers — historical novels centered on artists from the past.

Of course, this genre has existed for a long time. I was introduced to characters that were artists when I first read Johnny Tremain (Paul Revere and Johnny were silversmiths) and later Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo and Lust for Life, about Vincent Van Gogh. So we have always loved reading about artists in times gone by.

Why do artists appeal to readers of historical fiction? There are a lot of reasons. The first one: artists, whether they are painters, writers, musicians, or sculptors illuminate the time in which they live. They have ways of showing those times and places uniquely through their mediums. They can see what others don’t, and yet they must make their ways in their societies both economically and politically.

When I wrote What the Painter Heard, I chose as my protagonist John Singleton Copley, the noted 18^thcentury painter because he was a “fly on the wall,” overhearing talk from American patriots and Loyalists alike. Copley was a poor boy and he painted supporters of both political sides during the lead up to the American Revolution. He was eager to please them, regardless of their politics. I pictured him painting away while his sitters forgot his presence behind his easel, while he overheard their worries and plans as the revolutionary conflict grew in intensity.

Another example of a similar tight situation for an artist is in Michelle Moran’s Madame Tussaud: The French Revolution. Madame Tussaud was the niece of the founder of the famous wax museum and was trained by him in the art of making wax images. She became a great friend of King Louis XVI’s sister, Elizabeth, who introduced her to court life. But after the overthrow of the monarchy in 1789, it was only Tussaud’s skill making models that saved her from the powers of the tribunal that came to power.
 
The fine artists who painted portraits before photography was invented had the power to show their subjects in historical context. These artists not only painted their subjects’ looks, but also depicted their status by painting their clothing and backgrounds, underscoring their power and wealth. Henry VIII will forever be remembered as an enormous monarch with his legs spread apart, cloaked in jewels and fine clothes, painted by Hans Holbein.  Holbein comes to life in Vanora Bennett’s Portrait of an Unknown Woman: A Novel. And in my book, I describe John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Paul Revere in workman’s clothes, holding a silver teapot of his own design. The thoughtful picture of Revere has become known outside of museums as an iconic portrait of American craftsmanship.
 
Women’s artistic endeavors are a common theme in modern historical novels. Often ignored in early historical fiction, nowadays readers are particularly interested in forgotten stories about the many women artists who worked tirelessly, some who were ignored. These novels portray women confronting the mores and restrictive conventions of their times, and show how they translated their ideas and visions into art. Susan Vreeland writes about Emily Carr in The Forest Lover, a painter who defied the confines of Victorian culture. Carr chose to paint untamed British Columbia with its indigenous people and wild forests before industrialization changed both forever. Set in pre-World War I, the story captures a unique artist as well as that time period in Canadian history.

There are many historical novels about artists that show non-Western cultures in addition to the familiar European and North American ones. The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein, takes place in early 20th-century China and is based on the life of a real artist from that period. The protagonist is a poor girl who is sold by her uncle into prostitution. The story passes through her role as a maid, her initiation into prostitution, and then on to her painting career. She confronts obstacles showing her work in China, and moves to Paris during the 1920s. Along the way we learn about the political movements in China before the Communist Revolution and the atmosphere of post World War I in France.

Learning about the craft part of an artistic life is also a pleasant feature of this genre. Technical details about how artists go about making their work fascinate us. While reading about how Michelangelo would pick out his own special stones from the marble quarries of Carrara in Irving Stone’sThe Agony and the Ecstasy, readers are transported to the beginnings of making a stone sculpture in the Renaissance. Not only did the artist pick the stone but he was active in its transportation to his studio miles away. Then only with the tools of hammer and chisel, he worked by candlelight to fashion his sculptures.

 
In much the same spirit, I researched how paint was applied to canvas in the 18^thcentury for What the Painter Heard. I learned so much about pigments and tools that were in existence at that time and the correspondences that went back and forth across the Atlantic spreading the word about fixatives, brushes and the like. It was an art history education.

I believe this genre has a lot more room to grow. I hope authors to come join me in enlarging our joy in more historical fiction of this kind.

Below are some names of some of the books I have read with the theme of artists of many persuasions in historical fiction. I am sure you can add some more:

What the Painter Heard: the Life and Times of John Singleton Copley  Emily Marks
Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution   Michelle Moran
The Girl with the Pearl Earring  Tracy Chevalier
The Painter from Shanghai  Jennifer Cody Epstein
Portrait of an Unknown Woman  Vanora Bennett
People of the Book  Geraldine Brooks
The Last Painting of Sara De Vos  Dominic Smith
The Agony and the Ecstasy and Lust for Life  Irving Stone
Sonata Mulattica. Rita Dove
The Gondola Maker and Madame Tussaud  Laura Morelli
The Last Nude  Ellis Avery
Rodin’s Lover  Heather Webb
Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Susan Vreeland
Loving Frank  Nancy Horan
The Painted Girls. Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Spoils of Avalon. Mary F. Burns
The Velveteen Daughter. Laurel Davis Huber

• What the Painter Heard, the Life and Times of John Singleton Copley by Emily Marks is now available on Amazon in digital form with hyperlinks to paintings and maps and a paperback version with printed links to the images on the internet.

My newest writing project is a big departure for me. Because I am interested in American history and the role of the artist in society I have written a historical novel about John Singleton Copley, the noted Boston painter who lived from 1738-1815. 

Copley was present at the beginnings of Boston's revolutionary fervor and painted all the patriots we have come to know from American history classes and the "founding fathers" of our government. He often asked his sitters to bring a friend to talk to while posing for him. What if he overheard conversations and became friends with many of them: Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren to name a few? This allowed me to imagine the scenes in the novel.

Copley did not take sides when he painted these notables; being a poor man who supported his mother, brother and later wife and children, he depended upon portrait painting for his living. He married for love, a young woman who was the daughter of a well-to-do tea merchant, Richard Clarke. When the Patriots dressed up as Indians and threw the tea overboard into Boston Harbor at the now famous Boston Tea Party, it was Clarke's consigned tea they destroyed.

Fearing for his livelihood, John Singleton Copley headed for London and then the continent to study his art in 1774. His wife and three children joined him in London 1 2/2 years later and there they remained. In London, Copley was drawn to paintings of current events as well as portraiture. He became friends with many ex-patriots and after the war concluded, he was an intimate of John Adams. His loyalty to America was still with him but he hid his feelings so as to paint English battles and English valor.

My story is one about the conflicts for an artist in his/her time. What does an artist do when he must make a living and his country goes to war? How can he keep growing artistically and yet keep his integrity? These questions give rise to dramatic situations for Copley in his life both in England and America.

The novel adheres to the real facts of Copley's life but I have added a character to bring dimension to the story. Susan is an abandoned child of overwhelmed immigrants from French Canada who Copley's family adopts. She is an artist who learns to paint from John Singleton Copley. Specializing his painting fans, she travels to Paris where she meets Thomas Jefferson. Becoming his copyist because of her fine handwriting, she travels back to America where she witnesses the early growing pains of the new American republic.

This story is perfect for those who love painting, want to know more about the early days of America's lead to war and afterwards until 1815, and those who just want a lively read.

The novel is called What the Painter Heard: The Life and Times of John Singleton Copley. It is now available through Amazon as a digital book. This can be read on a Kindle, smartphone, tablet or computer. The digital version has embedded links so the reader can click on them and be taken to the images mentioned on the web. It is also available as a paperback with the links printed inside. Besides Amazon, my novel is available in my local bookstore, Readers Books in Sonoma, CA.

Past Projects

Publications:
Thread Loves Paper, a self published book, 2012, Sonoma, CA
Making Fantasy Vests, a self-published book, 1983, Berkeley, CA
Ten Inlay Patterns, a knitting booklet, 1992, Berkeley, CA

 
Articles:
“Workshop Review: Exploring Himalyan Papers”, Nov 8, 2010 http://gbwnw.blogspot.com/
“Donna Seager: Patron Saint of the Artist Book”, Ampersand, Quarterly Journal of the Pacific Center for the Book Arts, Fall 2009, Vol. 26, #5
“Two-Color Knitting with One Color”, Threads Magazine, Dec. 1991-Jan. 1992, pp. 72-74
“Designing with a Photocopier”, Threads Magazine, November 1999, Number 55, pp.62-65