The muralist : a novel

Resource Information

The work The muralist : a novel represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Evanston Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Audio, Nonmusical, Sounds, Music.

Label

The muralist : a novel

Title remainder

a novel

Statement of responsibility

B. A. Shapiro

Creator

• Shapiro, Barbara A., 1951-

Contributor

• Sands, Xe
• hoopla digital

Author

• Shapiro, Barbara A., 1951-

Narrator

• Sands, Xe

Subject

• New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
• Artists -- New York (State) | New York -- 20th century -- Fiction
• Missing persons -- Fiction

Genre

• Fiction

Language

eng

Summary

Alizě 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 seventy 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 readers 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 Alizě 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?

Accompanying matter

technical information on music

Cataloging source

Midwest

Dewey number

813/.54

Form of composition

not applicable

Format of music

not applicable

Literary text for sound recordings

fiction

PerformerNote

Read by Xe Sands

Target audience

adult

Transposition and arrangement

not applicable