Muralist, by B. A. Shapiro
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Muralist, by B. A. Shapiro
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Alizée Benoit, an American painter working for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), vanishes in New York City in 1940 amid personal and political turmoil. No one knows what happened to her. Not her Jewish family living in German-occupied France. Not her artistic patron and political compatriot, Eleanor Roosevelt. Not her close-knit group of friends, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Lee Krasner. And, some 70 years later, not her great-niece, Danielle Abrams, who, while working at Christie's auction house, uncovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind recently found works by those now famous abstract expressionist artists. Do they hold answers to the questions surrounding her missing aunt?
Entwining the lives of both historical and fictional characters and moving between the past and the present, The Muralist plunges listeners into the divisiveness of prewar politics and the largely forgotten plight of European refugees refused entrance to the United States. It captures both the inner workings of today's New York art scene and the beginnings of the vibrant and quintessentially American school of abstract expressionism.
B. A. Shapiro is a master at telling a gripping story while exploring provocative themes. In Alizée and Danielle, she has created two unforgettable women, artists both, who compel us to ask, What happens when luminous talent collides with inexorable historical forces? Does great art have the power to change the world? And to what lengths should a person go to thwart evil?
Muralist, by B. A. Shapiro- Amazon Sales Rank: #1222 in Audible
- Published on: 2015-11-03
- Released on: 2015-11-03
- Format: Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Running time: 549 minutes
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Most helpful customer reviews
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful. Very ambitious book... By Jill Meyer B.A. Shapiro's novel, "The Muralist", tries to be many things. Is it an historical mystery, a look at the art world in the late 1930s and WW2 years, an intimate look at two generations who come to terms with the losses in the Holocaust, or all of the above? Shapiro writes in two periods of time and goes back and forth between the two. Some authors can carry it off, but I thought it was confusingly done here.The story of the muralist is the tale of a young French-American artist, Alizee Benoit, involved in the Abstract Impressionism movement in New York. She's gaining recognition as an artist and works and lives with other artists. Her lover is Mark Rothko and her closest friend is Lee Krasner. (B.A. Shapiro combines both real and fictional characters in her book). But Alizee is also trying to get her Jewish relatives from France and Germany. A subplot is the voyage of the refugee ship St Louis which was turned away from docking in Cuba and the United States and the on-going anti-Jewish policies of the Roosevelt administration. But she has a friend in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, an admirer of her art work. Then Alizee disappears, never to be seen again.The other part of the back and forth is set in 2015. The lead character is Danielle, who is Alizee's great niece. She's works for Christie's auction house and is trying to trace her great aunt from her disappearance during the war. She has a few art clues to help her in her search. The problem with the book is that B.A. Shapiro tries to do too much. There are so many characters and plot points that the reader can get lost. While I appreciated the effort, I wish she had done a bit less.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful. A Non-Starter By gvilleguy39 I was enthralled by and found very interesting "The Art Thief" by B.A. Shapiro. But "The Muralist" was a huge disappointment. The book started off slow.I kept reading on the theory that it would pick up, but it never did. The characters were basically one dimensional and never fully developed except perhaps for the primary imaginary character Alizee, but that is a gift. Shapiro's interjection of an imaginary artist who supposedly shaped the careers of Mark Rothko ,Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and the American school of Abstract Expressionist, not to mention being friends with and influencing Eleanor Roosevelt, was totally unbelievable. This book was, unfortunately, just boring, boring, boring.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful. A poignant exploration of morality, resourcefulness and imagination By Bookreporter The art world --- one of temperamental artists, sharp-eyed critics, sophisticated gallery owners and dusty museum archives --- is a rich setting for a novel. Whether this view of the art world is accurate may be beside the point as it is a culture that is foreign and intriguing to many readers. In her latest book, THE MURALIST, B. A. Shapiro appeals to just those readers in telling a tale of a passionate and brilliant young artist caught in the political maelstrom of the early 1940s in the US and Europe. This perspective is connected to that of another woman in the art world, decades later, trying to solve a mystery that happens to be very personal indeed.It is 1939, and Alizée Benoit, a Jewish American artist of French descent, is working on mural projects for the WPA along with artists like Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Her life in the art world, surrounded by so many talented painters, is one of hard work, poor living conditions and late night discussions about Abstract Expressionism over drinks. But Alizée, who lived with her beloved family in France for seven years after the deaths of her parents, is filled with sorrow and a sense of loss that she rarely shares with even her closest friends. When she gets word from her family in Arles that the Nazis have begun to make things beyond difficult and dangerous for them and all the Jews across Europe, Alizée begins to work at finding ways to bring them to America.Alizée’s job at the WPA brings her into contact with Eleanor Roosevelt, who soon becomes a fan of her work and an important patron. Her desperation to rescue her family, tempered somewhat by her affair with Rothko, both inspires her to paint in bold new ways and to put herself in dangerous situations to effect change at home and abroad. As her art evolves and her activism increases, her friends grow more and more afraid for her mental health. She eventually agrees to a voluntary commitment at a psychiatric hospital but then is never heard from again.Seventy years later, Alizée's great niece, Danielle Abrams, is working at an auction house and finds some hidden canvases that she believes were painted by her aunt. Having grown up mesmerized by the story of her great-aunt's talent and disappearance, Dani becomes ever more obsessed with finding out what really happened to her in December 1940 and proving that she had a major impact on the work and style of the American Abstract Expressionists. Connecting family legend with art history and examples of paintings and murals, Dani travels from New York to France in search of her aunt and in hopes of establishing her legacy. Confronted at every turn with the devastation of the Holocaust and the realities of the creative life in the US, Dani's journey remains one of hope and family.Shapiro takes great liberties with the lives of American artists like Rothko, Krasner and Jackson in order to tell her story. However, THE MURALIST is evocative of life creatively and fervently lived, if not of accurate details of time and place. It is unfortunate that she succumbs to typecasting Alizée as the unstable artist, though her references for that type are quite clear. The language, especially in the sections that Dani narrates, is very casual, sometimes jarringly so, but the novel flows nicely between the protagonists, highlighting the differences and the similarities found between them and the worlds they inhabit. THE MURALIST is a poignant exploration of morality, resourcefulness and imagination.Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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