Synopses & Reviews
In 1907 Paris, when someone starts tearing the heads off avant-garde painters, Gertrude Stein and her brother, Leo, realize that they might be next on the killer's list. Enlisting the help of their closest friends and colleagues, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Erik Satie, Alice B. Toklas, and Guillaume Apollinaire, they set out to put a stop to the ghastly murders. Filled with danger, art history, and daring escapes, this is a wildly ingenious murder-mystery ride through the origins of modern art.
Nick Bertozzi is an award-winning cartoonist based in New York. In 1907 Paris, when someone starts tearing the heads off avant-garde painters, Gertrude Stein and her brother, Leo, realize that they might be next on the killer's list. Enlisting the help of their closest friends and colleagues, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Erik Satie, Alice B. Toklas, and Guillaume Apollinaire, they set out to put a stop to the ghastly murders. Filled with danger, art history, and daring escapes, this is a wildly ingenious murder-mystery ride through the origins of modern art. "In the Paris of 1907, a salon of later famous Modernistsincluding Gertrude Stein, Georges Braque, Erik Satie and their sawed-off, potty-mouthed, frequently naked, hilariously arrogant acquaintance Pablo Picassodiscover a stash of secret blue absinthe that allows its drinkers to travel inside paintings, which may hold the key to the demonic creature who's been dismembering avant-gardists. The setting is fertile territory for speculative historical in-jokes, bawdy and action-packed set piecesespecially artistic experimentation in the tradition of its protagonistsBertozzi plays it to the hilt . . ."
Publishers Weekly "A wild mixture of art history and mystery . . . His depiction of artistsPablo Picasso, Braque, Stein, Satie, and Appollinaire . . . is strange, humorous, and thrilling."
Jonathan Ames, author of Wake Up, Sir
"Full of ideas, gorgeous art, and deftly pace storytelling."James Sturm, author of The Golem's Mighty Swing
"A sly, sexy slant on Modernism and the Modernists who made it so."Paul Pope, author of Batman: Year 100
"Ambitious and fun. Bertozzi's artwork is gorgeous."Chester Brown, author of Louis Riel
"Whether this story serves as an introduction to this famous circle of friends or as an appendix to your knowledge of them, it is fun, very smooth, charming and goes down as easy as absinthe."Gary Panter, author of Jimbo in Purgatory "Bertozzi's long-awaited graphic novel has a brilliant, daffy premise executed with wit and flair. In the Paris of 1907, a salon of later famous Modernistsincluding Gertrude Stein, Georges Braque, Erik Satie and their sawed-off, potty-mouthed, frequently naked, hilariously arrogant acquaintance Pablo Picassodiscover a stash of secret blue absinthe that allows its drinkers to travel inside paintings, which may hold the key to the demonic creature who's been dismembering avant-gardists. The setting is fertile territory for speculative historical in-jokes, bawdy and action-packed set piecesespecially artistic experimentation in the tradition of its protagonistsBertozzi plays it to the hilt. His artwork is consistently vigorous, featuring rough, lusty brush strokes, an engaging duotone color scheme that changes from scene to scene, and hilarious mock French sound effects (someone being kicked is rendered 'QUIQUE'). But there's also a clever subtext to the book, about the historical moment at which a small group of associates reinvented art, music and literature by thinking intensely about how to represent space and time. Bertozzi dramatizes the origins of Cubism and its links to Gauguin's work, and even suggests how Picasso might have been influenced by comic strips, thus demonstrating the Stein salon's absolute devotion to advancing their art more strikingly than a 'real' history could."Publishers Weekly
Review
"Throughout the book, Picasso is a fireplug, always ready to smack Matisse in the face....There's something so winning about their friendship in The Salon...that you hardly need a luminous, absinthe-colored murder scene to enjoy it." John Hodgman, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Bertozzi separates his sturdy, spot-color chapters with stand-alone, delicate black-and-white mise en scenes. The characters are vividly depicted visually and verbally....In The Salon, Bertozzi has made what might have been a mere exercise in nostalgia into a new way of seeing." Chicago Sun-Times
Review
"As much as it wants to do anything else, The Salon wants to make you laugh....But underneath the veneer of hilarity and horror...Bertozzi also poses some significant questions about how comics has matured (and will mature) as an art form." Rebecca Porte, Rain Taxi (read the entire Rain Taxi review)
Synopsis
While in 1907 Paris developing the style that would become known as "Cubism," Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque chase bloodthirsty creatures come to life from famous paintings. Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas, Guillaume Apollinare, and Erik Satie join in the hunt for the madman at the center of the mystery: Paul Gaugin.
A fast-paced thrill-ride with an earthy tone that offers a pungent glimpse of pre-War Paris, The Salon deftly deconstructs the creative process, allowing the reader to enter the minds of two men who changed not only art, but the entire world.
About the Author
Nick Bertozzi has won two Harvey Awards and two Ignatz Awards, been nominated for an Eisner Award and another Ignatz, and has received a Xeric Grant.