Girl in White

by Sue Hubbard

Girl in White began its kindle life with a free give-away period and is now only £1.53 on Kindle at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-in-White...


It is Germany, 1933. A young musician, Mathilde, finds herself pregnant by her famous violinist lover, a Jew, who has been forced to flee Berlin with his American wife. Devastated at his loss she takes a trip out to a remote village on the north German moors where she was born, to find solace in the memory of her mother, who died only days after her birth. There she beings to unravel the life of the remarkable Paula Modersohn Becker: a young woman who defied tradition to become a painter.

“a tour du force: masterly, moving; Hubbard goes where few dare go, and succeeds. You are the less for not reading it.”
Fay Weldon

Genres: Fiction, Art, Germany

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Sue Hubbard is a freelance art critic, novelist and poet. Twice winner of the London Writers competition she was the Poetry Society’s first-ever Public Art Poet. She was also commissioned by the Arts Council and the BFI to create London’s biggest art poem that leads from Waterloo to the IMAX. Her latest collection Ghost Station was published by Salt Publishing in 2004. Depth of Field, her first novel, was published in 2000. John Berger called it a “remarkable first novel.” Sue is a regular contributor to The Independent and The New Statesman where she writes on contemporary art. In 2006 she was awarded a major Arts Council Literary Award.

Reviews

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

A quiet and introspective story that follows the life of Paula Modersohn-Becker, her desire to be recognized and acknowledged as an artist, a desire which created some conflict in her life, especially in her eventual marriage. There were few, if any, female artists who received recognition in those days, days when they were expected to mold their lives around their husband’s needs. But Paula could never see herself in that role, all she wanted, needed, was to be able to create what she envisioned. Art was her way of connecting to something beyond just a pretty painting, she wanted it to stir the soul, to become a part of the way the viewer saw the world. A world that was changing, as it also shares the rising of the Third Reich.

Sue Hubbard’s access to her diaries were helpful in sharing Modersohn-Becker’s life. They added a glimpse of her life, her thoughts, frustrations and desires to this story, adding more authenticity, but it also allows us to see her spirit, which seems indomitable, despite the hardships she endured as she seeks to realize her dream of being recognized as an artist in her own right, a trailblazer of modern art. It is of note that she was denounced by the Nazis who labeled her as ‘degenerate’ after her death.


Pub Date: 29 Aug 2023


Many thanks for the ARC provided by ONE / Pushkin, Steerforth Press

[Joana da Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this was such a good experience. It took me longer than usual but that is only because this book is written in a way that demands you to slow down. And don't we all need to? I underlined so many passages and truly felt my heart wrapped in a warm embrace throughout the entire book. A good rec for the art and poetry lovers!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely slow burn of a book. I usually read fiction quickly but like most poetry this book refused to be hurried. It is rich with details about Paula Modersohn-Becker and her life as an artist. It feels at times like a series of paintings that you could step into and the locations of Paris and particularly Worpswede are vividly portrayed. It also deals with the contemporary dilemmas of how as a woman you can make your way in the world as an artist and the competing demands of family and duty are ever present.

The voices in the book alternate between that of Mathilde, Paula’s daughter in a fictionalised form and Paula, who died shortly after her daughter was born. Sue Hubbard manages to pull off the trick of making it seem as though their stories are unfolding in the present as you read, rather than in the past. Clearly the book is underpinned by an immense amount of research but you don’t feel the weight of it in the writing.

As the John Berger quote on the back cover says it is a ‘haunting book’.

[Bronwen Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an imagined account of Paula Modersohn-Becker, a German expressionist painter, who lived in the artist's community of Worpswede, but who also spent time in Paris. Sadly Becker died at the age of 31 soon after giving birth to a daughter.
Sue Hubbard is an art critic, poet and writer. She brings her poet's eye, as well as her knowledge of art history, to this account of Becker. Part of the book is narrated by Becker's daughter, Matilde. The rest, written in the third person POV, is Paula's story.
I thought this was a wonderful book, which deserves to be more widely known. Women's lives have changed since the late 19th century but many women will relate to the story of Paula's life as she struggles between her duties to family, and later her husband, and as she tries to make her way in the art world. Hubbard brings Paula vividly to life - her friendship with Clara, a sculptor, her marriage to Otto Modersohn (another artist), her close relationship with the poet Rilke, how she is conflicted with the need to work and the need to be a 'good' person - a mother, confidante and wife.

[Eve Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how this book spoke of the simplicity and beauty of every day life

[Liz Goodacre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this very much, a biography written as a compelling fiction, not an easy task and occasionally clumsy when having to describe what Paula is thinking and feeling, but happy too overlook that for the sake of the format. I bought the book at the Making Modernosm exhibition at Tate Modern where I first discovered Moderhson Becker's art.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vivid, sensuous and emotional novelistic biography of German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker who, I confess, I'd never heard of. Nevertheless This account of her efforts to become known as a noteworthy artist, in a world which found it hard to acknowledge women could be considered so, was absorbing, educational and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Taryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof… that writing

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first 3/4 of this book very prosaic, and it felt superficial, despite constantly describing how the protagonist(s) were feeling. The sections on Paula in the last 1/4 built up quite a bit of emotional power and I really enjoyed reading them. I could have totally forgone Mathilde’s story; it just didnt grab me, and I felt a little turned off by it, in fact. I’ve been fascinated by the artwork of Paula Modesohn-Becker for a few years now so was excited to discover this fictionalized account of her life. I am glad that I now know more about her and gained familiarity with how she often felt, as the book incorporates much from her journals and letters. But an artist who was so passionately committed to expressing the “raw truth” and was so driven towards modern innovation deserves a less conventional “safe” style of book, I feel.

[Anne Goodwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fictionalised account of the life of a German impressionist painter in the 1900s, battling misogyny to stay true to her art. Would have made a lovely novella but, at 300 plus pages, it dragged.