Category: Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN-13: 9780143036104
Pub. Date: November 2005
Date Read: April 2008
In this collection of 17 short stories, author Vreeland turns to the lives of artists once again to explore the power of art in every day life.
While the subject matter are the painters and their great works of art, Vreeland shifts the focus onto the ordinary people. At the heart of these stories it is their interaction with the artists and/or the paintings that matters.
In the first story, Mimi with a Watering Can, for example, a young man, married and a father, wonders if there is more to life than working. The death of his father weighing on him, he wants to capture something of beauty in his life before it's too late. The story may be historical but the theme is universal.
Some of the stories are quite moving, such as the story of Cradle Song, about a young nursemaid who must be away from her own baby to earn money for the family. Or, perhaps my favorite in the collection, Crayon, 1955, in which a young girl is coming to terms with the fact that her grandfather is dying.
Whether she is employing historical or contemporary situations, Vreeland reminds the reader that not only did the artists touch the lives of others with their great works but with their words and actions. Just like anyone else they also had joys and misfortunes.
While it was pretty easy to figure out which famous paintings Vreeland was referencing in each story, I would have loved for the book to have inserts with the artwork. In any event you can find those on the author's web site. One thing that is sure, this book will make you want to go to a museum and spend some time enjoying art.