Stories of Art and Artists

Stories of Art and Artists gathers two centuries of stories from around the world. From Nathaniel Hawthorne's oThe Artist of the Beautifulo and Albert Camus's oThe Artist at Worko to Bernard Malamud's oRembrandt's Hato and Aimee Bender's oThe Color Master,o the tales collected here range from haunting fables about the power of art to vivid portraits of those who create. Featured art forms include sculpture, pottery, architecture, miniatures, landscapes, portraits, and abstract painting, illumined in brilliant stories by such great writers as HonorU de Balzac, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Marguerite Yourcenar, John Berger, William Boyd, Doris Lessing, Valerie Martin, Julian Barnes, Orhan Pamuk, and A. S. Byatt. Writers have long been fascinated by the idea of artistic genius, the relationship between portraits and their subjects, the inspirational role of muses, and the effects on artists of ambition, failure, and success. Their dazzling literary evocations of the visual arts-using one art form to reflect on another-make Stories of Art and Artists an irresistible gift for lovers of art of all kinds.