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Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime
by Patricia Hampl
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Synopses & Reviews Just out of college, Patricia Hampl was mesmerized by a Matisse painting she saw in the Art Institute of Chicago: an aloof woman gazing at goldfish in a bowl, a mysterious Moroccan screen behind her. This woman seemed a welcome secular version of the nuns of Hampl’s girlhood, free and untouchable, a poster girl for twentieth-century feminism. In Blue Arabesque, Hampl explores the allure of that woman, immersed in leisure, so at odds with the increasing rush of the modern era. Her tantalizing meditation takes us to the Cote d’Azur and North Africa, from cloister to harem, pondering figures as diverse as Eugène Delacroix, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Katherine Mansfield. Returning always to Matisse and his obsessive portraits of languid women, Hampl discovers they were not decorative indulgences but surprising acts of integrity. Moving with the life force that Matisse sought in his work, Blue Arabesque is a dazzling tour de force. Review: "Much is left for the reader to consider and pursue after reading this joy-filled and intriguing book." (America, Nov 6 2006 ) Review: "Ultimately, Blue Arabesque isnt a memoir so much as it is a paean to the act of seeing, celebrating our capacity to be transformed by the truths art holds, recognizing them as holy...Patricia Hampls determination to occupy the space between the eye and its object and her success at articulating the mysterious transactions therein grants her authority among writers like Berger and Sontag, who not only sit and stare but see. Read Blue Arabesque and you too might mistake --or exchange — art museums for churches." (New York Times Book Review, Oct 29 2006 ) Review: "An artful, affecting memoir whose lessons arrive in a delicious whisper." (starred) (Kirkus, Aug 15 2006 ) Review: "It is Hampls insight and humor that make this gem worth consideration." (Library Journal, Sep 1 2006 ) Review: "It is Hampl's insight and humor that make this gem worth consideration." (Library Journal, Sep 1 2006 ) Review: "[A] sinuous meditation on artistic inspiration..." (A-, EW Pick) (Entertainment Weekly, Oct 19 2006 ) Review: "Ultimately, Blue Arabesque isn't a memoir so much as it is a paean to the act of seeing, celebrating our capacity to be transformed by the truths art holds, recognizing them as holy...Patricia Hampl's determination to occupy the space between the eye and its object and her success at articulating the mysterious transactions therein grants her authority among writers like Berger and Sontag, who not only sit and stare but see. Read 'Blue Arabesque' and you too might mistake --or exchange — art museums for churches." (New York Times Book Review, Oct 29 2006 ) Review: "Much is left for the reader to consider and pursue after reading this joy-filled and intriguing book." (America, Nov 6 2006 ) Review: "In her early poem Woman Before an Aquarium - yes, its about the painting - Hampl writes: A mature woman always wants to be a mermaid. Hampl achieves just such a metamorphosis here, swimming gracefully through the tricky currents of art and history, biography and memoir. Singing yet another beguiling verse of her careers lovely song." (The Plain Dealer, Nov 5 2006 ) Review: "Hampls memoirs of discovery are exhilarating...Hampl does with words what Matisse does with line and color." (Booklist (starred), Sep 15 2006 ) Review: "Blue Arabesque is part of a rich but underappreciated sub-genre of nonfiction, a hybrid of art crticism and memoir...Here Patricia Hampl is true to her belief that [a] painting must depict the act of seeing, not the object seen. She illuminates and distinguishes among the many ways we apprehend our surroundings — the gaze and the glimpse, seeing and sightseeing, the insolent leer and the clear-eyed observation. In so doing, she exercises precisely the visual discernment from which she once felt hopelessly alienated." (LA Times, Oct 22 2006 ) Synopsis: Just out of college, Patricia Hampl was mesmerized by a Matisse painting she saw in the Art Institute of Chicago: an aloof woman gazing at goldfish in a bowl, a mysterious Moroccan screen behind her. This woman seemed a welcome secular version of the nuns of Hampl's girlhood, free and untouchable, a poster girl for twentieth-century feminism. In "Blue Arabesque," Hampl explores the allure of that woman, immersed in leisure, so at odds with the increasing rush of the modern era. Her tantalizing meditation takes us to the Cote d'Azur and North Africa, from cloister to harem, pondering figures as diverse as Eugene Delacroix, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Katherine Mansfield. Returning always to Matisse and his obsessive portraits of languid women, Hampl discovers they were not decorative indulgences but surprising acts of integrity. Moving with the life force that Matisse sought in his work, "Blue Arabesque" is a dazzling tour de force.
About the Author PATRICIA HAMPL is the author of three memoirs: A Romantic Education, Virgin Time, and I Could Tell You Stories; and two collections of poetry. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other awards. She lives in St. Paul, where she is Regents Professor at the University of Minnesota.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780151015061
- Subtitle:
- A Search for the Sublime
- Author:
- Hampl, Patricia
- Publisher:
- Harcourt
- Subject:
- 20th century
- Subject:
- Criticism
- Subject:
- European
- Subject:
- Poets, American
- Subject:
- Personal Memoirs
- Subject:
- BIO026000
- Copyright:
- 2006
- Publication Date:
- November 2006
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 215
- Dimensions:
- 7.48x5.30x.85 in. .64 lbs.
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