Thursday, August 17, 2017

The Muralist by B. A. Shapiro


Those of us who had read Shapiro's first book, the Art Forger, liked it better. We noted that the ending of The Muralist was a chapter too long and the writing/dialogue was pedantic - Eleanor Roosevelt wouldn't have spoken like that in the 40's. We noticed that Shapiro did not cite her sources and that bothered us when we wanted to know what was true or not. 

1. The Muralist exposes many facts about the situation in the United States before World War II, including the denial of visas to qualified refugees, the majority of the country’s opposition to entering the war, and the open discrimination against Jews. Did you find any of this surprising? In the wake of the Allies’ victory, how has history generally portrayed this prewar period in America? Do you think there are parallels to the United States in the twenty-first century?
- The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

2. The issue of refugees running from war and oppression is as current today as it was during World War II. What similarities and differences to do you see between nations’ responses today and those before World War II? What about in attitudes among U.S. citizens?
- We see the parallels in keeping out refugees from the United States

3. The author places Alizée, a fictional character, among the real-life artists who created the Abstract Expressionist movement in New York in the 1940s. How did living there at that time inform their art? What do you think makes Abstract Expressionism a quintessential American form?
- Abstract Expressionism is probably American, and so are the following:
- Musicals are also American art forms (antithesis of everything French)
- So is Jazz
- So is Tramp/Hobo art
- So is Quilting
- So is Tap dancing

4. Alizée and her friends are employed by the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program funded by the government to give work to artists. Do you think a government program like this could happen in today’s political climate? How are art and artists valued or supported differently in today's society?
- For some of us it was new information
- Most certainly this could and is happening today

5. In what ways might artistic talent and mental illness be linked? Did you see manifestations of a link in Alizée? How did that differ from the portrayals of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko?

6. Alizée wants to believe that art can change the world. Does art have the power to affect history? What are some examples that illustrate the transforming power of art?
- You can’t divorce art from culture
- You can’t divorce art from politics
- Art as a movie or song can put ideas out there and bring new ideas

7. Alizée does something illegal in the hopes of thwarting a greater wrong. Do you agree with what she does? Are there times when such decisions are justifiable? What was her state of mind when she made the decision?

8. How much do the times in which you live affect your individual life choices? How might Alizée’s life have been different if she had lived in the twenty-first century? Would her artistic dreams have been realized? How does Alizée’s artistic life compare with that of her grandniece Danielle?

9. When Danielle finds out the truth about what happened to her aunt, she seems able to become the artist she was meant to be. Why? Which was more important: finding the answer, or asking the question in the first place?
- For Danielle, it was find the answer
- For Alizée, it was asking the question

10. Were you surprised at how Alizée’s life turned out? Relieved? How do you think Alizée felt about it? How did her art define her life, even amid drastic change?
- The last chapter seemed unreal
- The book could have ended one chapter earlier

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Artists we discussed and/or who were in the book
MASS MoCA | Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
Helen Frankenthaler
Sol Lewitt
Artist Nick Cave Explores Racism and Police Brutality in his Massive...
Mark Rothko
Lee Krasner
Willem de Kooning
Jackson Pollock
Wassily Kandinsky
Piet Mondrian

“Text, Reader, Poem”
- It’s a different piece of art every time someone looks at it
- Art is only art when there is a viewer
- the art, the person who made it, and the person who is viewing it, all “read” it differently

Movies about Art (some we mentioned, some I researched)
Art School Confidential – 2006
World to Come – 2015
Woman in Gold – 2015
Mona Lisa Smile – 2003
Frida – 2002
Pollack – 2000
Mr Turner – 2014
Big Eyes – 2014
Tim’s Vermeer – 2013
Edvard Munch – 1974
Klimt – 2006
The Artist – 2011
Georgia O’Keefe – 2009
Marina Abramovich – 2012

Other movies we mentioned
Rhinoceros – becoming fascists