The Artist Colony

July 1924. Sarah Cunningham, a young Modernist painter, arrives in Carmel-by-the-Sea from Paris to bury her older sister, Ada Belle. En route, she is shocked to learn that Ada Belle’s suspicious death is a suicide. But why kill herself? Her plein air paintings were famous and her upcoming exhibition of portraitures would bring her even wider recognition. Sarah puts her own artistic career on hold and, trailed by Ada Belle’s devoted dog, Albert, becomes a secret sleuth, a task made harder by the misogyny and racism she discovers in this seemingly idyllic locale. Part mystery, part historical fiction, this engrossing novel celebrates the artistic talents of early women painters, the deep bonds of sisterhood, the muse that is beautiful scenery, and the determination of one young woman to discover the truth, to protect an artistic legacy, and to give her sister the farewell she deserves.

When Coastal Living Magazine listed Rockport, Texas, among its "Top 10 Artists' Colonies"--grouping the Texas community with such destinations as Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, and Monhegan Island, Maine--eyebrows lifted in many parts of the country. But for those in the know, Rockport's inclusion represented the logical result of the area's unique land- and seascapes, its welcoming climate, and its tradition of providing a haven for creativity and individuality. The story begins with well-known portrait photographer Louis de Planque, who lived in Rockport in the late nineteenth century, and includes Annie Fulton Holden, who painted a portrait of the first governor of Texas that hung in the state Capitol until fire destroyed it in 1881. In the many decades since, a host of artists, art educators, and art historians have called the Rockport-Fulton area home, including contemporary and influential artists, instructors, and gallerists such as Herb Booth, Meredith Long, and Simon Michael, teacher of Dalhart Windberg. In The Story of the Rockport-Fulton Art Colony: How a Coastal Texas Town Became an Art Enclave, Kay Kronke Betz and Vickie Moon Merchant chronicle how this small Texas town, whose economy was based on fishing, shrimping, and tourism, became a major regional center for the visual arts. Generously illustrated throughout with full-color images of boats, bays, birds, and other hallmarks of this artistically rich community, this book is a visual and narrative treat for art lovers, conservationists, and historians alike.

For more than a century, Chicago's leading painters, sculptors, writers, actors, dancers and architects congregated together in close-knit artistic enclaves. After the Columbian Exposition, they set up shop in places like Lambert Tree Studios and the 57th Street Artist Colony. Nationally renowned figures like Theodore Dreiser, Margaret Anderson, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan became colleagues, confidants and neighbors. In the 1920s, Carl Sandburg, Emma Goldman, Ernest Hemingway, Ben Hecht, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Clarence Darrow transformed the speakeasies and bohemian bistros of Towertown into Chicago's Greenwich Village. In Old Town, Renaissance man Edgar Miller and progressive architect Andrew Rebori collaborated on the Frank Fisher Studios, one of the finest examples of Art Moderne architecture in the country. From Nellie Walker to Roger Ebert, Keith Stolte visits Chicago's ascendant artistic spirits in their chosen sanctuaries.

Art historian Alma M. Gilbert and garden historian Judith B. Tankard pay homage to Cornish, NH, with profiles of the artists who lived there and the gardens they designed.

It is often assumed that the verbal and visual languages of indigenous people had little influence upon the classification of scientific, legal, and artistic objects in the metropolises and museums of nineteenth-century colonial powers. However, as this book demonstrates, it is a fallacy that colonized locals merely collected material for interested colonizers. Through an analysis of particular language notations and drawings hidden in colonial documents and a reexamination of cross-cultural communication, the book writes biographies for five objects that exemplify the tensions of nineteenth century history.

Stunning and bountiful illustrations compliment the first in-depth examination of a magnificent region in California, whose mild climate, rich history, and simple lifestyle promoted the development of one of the nation's leading art colonies.

An artists’ colony is a false paradise for a frustrated writer in this “witty, knowing, and perceptive” novel from a Pulitzer Prize–winning author (The New Yorker). The mansion is called Illyria, but for the writers and artists who flock there each summer, it’s a Garden of Eden where every artistic curiosity is explored. Away from family, friends, and ordinary responsibilities, the creative spirit can flower, nurtured by the company of other artistic souls. Janet Belle Smith’s husband doesn’t understand why she can’t write at home—or really, for that matter, why she must write at all—but for Janet, the reason is clear: Only in Illyria can she be herself. But as the writer mingles with her fellow artists—including a Marxist novelist, a Beat poet, and a wild-man sculptor—she begins to fear that the “real” her isn’t who she expected, and Illyria is not the peaceful kingdom it appears to be. This creative paradise is rotting from the inside out, and if Janet doesn’t move quickly, she’ll be trapped in the rubble when the walls come tumbling down. From the National Book Award–shortlisted author of Foreign Affairs, this humorous story “goes down pleasantly, like a glass of lemonade” (The New York Times). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alison Lurie including rare images from the author’s collection.