The Writer's Brush: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture by Writers

by Donald Friedman

"The itch to make dark marks on paper is shared by many writers and artists," begins John Updike in his essay in The Writer's Brush , and this stunning collection will amaze lovers of the literary and fine arts alike. Author Donald Friedman has gathered 400 paintings, drawings, and scultpure--many from private collections, never before published--by more than 200 of the world's most famous writers, including 13 Nobel laureates.

The result is astounding. Whether viewing the beautiful landscapes that Hermann Hesse credited with saving his life, the manuscript sketches that Fyodor Dostoevsky made of his characters, or the can-can dancers secretly drawn by Joseph Conrad, readers of The Writer's Brush will gain new insights into the lives and minds of their favorite writers and the nature of the creative process itself.

Accompanying the artwork are fascinating biographies that provide little-known details of the writers' lives in the visual arts and offer the writers' own observations on their art and the relationships they saw between word and image. While written for a broad audience, The Writer's Brush is also an essential reference work, with alphabetical and chronological listings of its subjects and an extensive bibliography.

As Friedman notes in his introduction, for many of the writers anthologized here, a coin toss could have determined whether to spend the day standing in a smock or seated with a pen. The Writer's Brush brings together for the first time--in one unique, affordable volume--both worlds of these writers in the definitive work of the writer-artist.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Writing

480 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2007

About the author

Sometime trial attorney and perennial procrastinator, presently novelist, short story writer, and essayist, I’m the author of the multiply translated The Writer’s Brush, Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture by Writers, which The New York Times Sunday Book Review described as “sparkling audaciously on every page,” and which the American Libraries Association called “a grand feat of research and interpretation.” My first novel, The Hand Before the Eye, black comic and shot through with religious themes—praised by Publishers Weekly for “its impassioned finale of spiritual redemption,” was a Vanity Fair Hot Type Recommendation. You’re My Dawg, Dog: A Lexicon of Dog Terms for People, has brought pleasure equally to dog and word lovers.

I was born in Philip Roth’s neighborhood, the Weequahic section of Newark, New Jersey, but did most of my growing up in suburban South Orange. There, at ten, I enrolled in private art classes and began oil painting which continued through high school.

At Washington University, St. Louis, where, apart from occasional cartoon contributions to the college paper and private sketching, my art career came to an end, and my creative impulses were mainly expressed in fiction writing. It was then that I sensed a connection between the urge to draw and paint and to write, but had no idea what it could be. When I ran across a reference to D. H. Lawrence’s paintings it made an impression; as did a book of Henry Miller’s watercolors that someone gave me not long after.

In the years that followed graduation, after I’d gotten my J.D. from Rutgers Law School and an L.L.M. from New York University Law School, had started practicing law, married and raised two children, I continued to make notes about writers who were artists from which The Writer’s Brush eventuated. I also began to study fiction writing and to write in the early morning before going to work. Now I have three novels under my belt and a fourth in the works.

Reviews

[Hannah Garden]

I “read” this the same way my little brother “read” my Archie comics—by looking at every picture. If you look very closely and thoughtfully at each picture it’s the same, it’s reading.

Anyway this book is very good and VERY beautiful.

[Tammy Marie Jacintho · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book explores writers in the visual arts. It is a breathtaking book! Donald Friedman, William Gass and John Updike study 200 famous writers and their brilliant visual works. The art of Baudelaire, Pearl S. Buck, the Bronte Sisters, Hart Crane, Winston Churchill, e.e. cummings, Ferlinghetti, Kafka, D.H Lawrence, Marianne Moore, Sylvia Plath, Alexander Pushkin, George Sands, Wallace Stevens, Mark Twain, John Updike, William Carlos Williams, Dylan Thomas, and W.B. Yeats are but a few of the extraordinary artists covered in this book. The art oftentimes illuminates the writing; sometimes, it throws you off balance. But it is a great resource to further explore, the inner landscape of writers, writers you have come to cherish. I found this book inspiring.

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When I was a child, I covered my walls with poems—sheets and sheets... Two of my walls were covered in paper—paper with words all over them. My closet, which was a big closet, was covered—floor to ceiling—with drawings. Of course, I only put the good ones up... I wanted my accomplishment to be before me, leading me out of the house where I lived.

Even today, I find it difficult to choose between my two loves. It would seem a staggering number of artists and writers have the same problem. Or is it a gift? This book proves: where there is a mind and an eye the hand must follow. Oftentimes, the creative impulse cannot be satisfied with one medium.

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reichhaltig, enzyklopädisch und schön bebildert. Ich habe einiges gelernt. Leider sind die Texte ziemlich schablonenhaft.

[Sherry (sethurner) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a large book, heavy, lavishly illustrated. In it the author gives biographies of writers who painted, drew, or sculpted, and especially discusses their thought on the connections between the written word and images created in art. This is a tremendous reference book, one I'm rationing out to about thirty pages a day. I find myself being surprised at familiar poets and novelists who also made art (Enid Bagnold, Elizabeth Bishop, William Faulkner), and delighted to discover writers whom I did not know (Russell Edson, Carol Emshwiller).

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous 'directory' of legendary writers who were also, artists. A short bio of each writer is included--as well as their experiences with art and writing. Some of their artistic works are included as well. Used for my undergrad senior thesis on the relationship of literature and art for the Bronte sisters and it was quite useful not only with my formation of my thesis, but also with its citations, in leading me on to more research.

[Elizabeth Scott Tervo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Chase-Foster recommended this book recently. It’s excellent! It’s very interesting to see that many well-known writers also created very nice visual art, and to think about how their literary and visual efforts are alike or not alike. I especially enjoyed seeing GK Chesterton’s illustrations for The Man who was Thursday, and Thurber’s illustrations.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book -- loved seeing amazing authors who are also talented artists -- pen and ink drawings by Victor Hugo; Bronte sisters Charlotte & Emily watercolors and pencil drawings; and so many more. Cover art of this book by Sylvia Plath entitled Two Women Reading.

[Anna Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Nonfiction book!

[Maria Azpiroz · Rating 4 out of 5]

La versión en español es muy buena pero aclara es abreviada. Son 200 obras y no 400. No lo sabía o habría encargado versión en inglés.