Stories of Art and Artists

by Diana Secker Tesdell (Editor)

Stories of Art and Artists gathers two centuries of classic stories from around the world. From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Artist of the Beautiful” and Albert Camus’s “The Artist at Work” to Bernard Malamud’s “Rembrandt’s Hat” and Aimee Bender’s “The Color Master,” the tales collected here range from haunting fables about the power of art to vivid portraits of those who create.

Writers have long been fascinated by the idea of artistic genius, the relationship between portraits and their subjects, the inspirational role of muses, and the effects on artists of ambition, failure, and success. Art forms featured in these pages include sculpture, pottery, architecture, miniatures, landscapes, portraits, and abstract painting, illumined in brilliant stories by such great writers as Honoré de Balzac, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Marguerite Yourcenar, John Berger, William Boyd, Doris Lessing, Valerie Martin, Julian Barnes, Orhan Pamuk, and A. S. Byatt.  Their dazzling literary evocations of the visual arts—using one art form to reflect on another—make Stories of Art and Artists an irresistible gift for lovers of art of all kinds.

Genres: Short Stories, Art, Fiction, Anthologies

400 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[tee]

'oh, mabuse! oh, my master!' cried the strange speaker, 'thou art a thief! thou hast carried away the secret of life with thee!'

a gift to have held this book in my hands! even if i didn't like a couple stories, i deeply enjoyed the way they were told.
favorites: stories by john berger, nathaniel hawthorne, honoré de balzac, aimee bender, orhan pamuk & rebecca lee

[Grace]

I bought this randomly one day at a gift shop of a local museum. I didn't touch it for weeks and then once I began to read I couldn't stop. All the stories are lovely and whenever I'm feeling down I read it to feel a little comforted.

[josé almeida]

curiosa colectânea de contos, dedicada a exemplificar o fascínio que a arte e a actividade criadora sempre exerceram sobre os escritores. alguns dos contos são clássicos, outros acabaram por ser uma boa surpresa. nomes incluídos: kafka, camus, barnes, hesse, balzac, yourcenar, berger, lessing, hawthorne, pamuk, byatt, malamud, bender, martin, boyd.

[Skyler]

I picked up this book in a bookstore quite a few months ago, almost gasping out loud when I saw it. As an artist and an art history lover this book immediately spoke to me, so naturally I had to bring it home with me. And I'm so glad that I did.

This book might be one of my favourite books now. I'm not necessarily talking about the stories themselves - as there were quite a few which I didn't like - but the selection of stories was beautiful and varied, yet still came together beautifully through the common theme of art. There were longer stories, shorter stories, stories about painting, stories about ceramics... everything. The authors were varied too, with the original publishing dates spanning over several centuries. Overall, a beautiful selection of stories.

(My rating per story, with the heart indicating I want to read more by that author)

1. How Wang-Fo Was Saved — Marguerite Yourcenar |
2. The Oval Portrait — Edgar Allan Poe |
3. A Portrait — Guy de Maupassant | ⭑⭑⭑1/2 (♡)
4. The Red-Haired Girl — Penelope Fitzgerald | ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2 ♡
5. The Real Thing — Henry James | ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
6. The Limner — Julian Barnes | ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
7. Varengeville — William Boyd | ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2 ♡
8. A Brush — John Berger | ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
9. Two Potters — Doris Lessing | ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2 ♡
10. A Lamia in the Cévennes — A. S. Byatt | ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
11. Rembrandt’s Hat — Bernard Malamud | ⭑⭑⭑⭑ (♡)
12. Jonas, or The Artist at Work — Albert Camus | ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
13. The Painter — Hermann Hesse | ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
14. The Artist of the Beautiful — Nathaniel Hawthorne | ⭑⭑⭑1/2
15. A Hunger Artist — Franz Kafka | ⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
16. The Unknown Masterpiece — Honoré de Balzac | ⭑⭑1/2
17. His Blue Period — Valerie Martin | ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
18. Fialta — Rebecca Lee | ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ ♡
19. The Color Master — Aimee Bender | ⭑
20. I Am Red — Orhan Pamuk | ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2 ♡

[Matt]

Maybe not to expect too much from these short stories but many were very inspiring about being creative, living that way, even if they are of a certain cosy gentrified area at times. Very easy to read & enjoyable.

[Jenny]

Introduced me to writers I really wanted to have read by now like Kafka and Camus (The Artist at Work is brilliant). A mixed bag overall though.

52 book challenge - a short story collection

[Joyce Meijs]

Some stories I did love, however some were not particularly tickling my fancy.

[Anhelina Hiryliuk]

I only liked ~15% of the book that was on the back. I got really tired of crazy and poor artists and almost gave up. If I were to start reading this book again, I would start from the end.

[Ineke]

Mooie verhalen over kunst en kunstenaars met thema’s als werkelijkheid en verbeelding, het verlangen om te willen creëren, liefde in kunstenaarskringen. Een bloemlezing uit de wereldliteratuur.

[Barbara]

If these are the artists that create art, I'm leaving this club. Or maybe the fault is in the writers. I'll leave that club, too. This was torture to wade through; such a mixed bag.