BOOK REVIEW: The Modern Art Invasion: Picasso, Duchamp, and the 1913 Armory Show That Scandalized America by Elizabeth Lunday

I know next to nothing about art/art history. But I became intrigued by a reference to the 1913 Armory Show and wanted to learn more about it. Modern Art had been dribbling across the Atlantic from Paris to New York thanks to a few intrepid collectors and artists. Yet the U.S. was mostly isolated from European influences: impressionism, cubism, fauvism, etc. It took the determination of a small group of artists who were dissatisfied with the grip held over American art by the ultra-conservative National Academy of Design to break that grip. They decided to put together an art show that encouraged young American artists and exposed the U.S. to new ways of thinking about art. The Armory Show took America (or at least New York) by storm.

The Modern Art Invasion: Picasso, Duchamp, and the 1913 Armory Show That Scandalized America by Elizabeth Lunday is a quick-paced introduction to twentieth-century art history. Focusing on the personalities of the organizers and their detractors, the author gives a concise (and a bit whirlwind) tour through art of the time. Not long after the show closed in the U.S., Europe was engulfed by war. Yet the impulse to create new art, to challenge assumptions about art, to question even what constitutes art, survived the war and came surging back when it ended. 

This is a fascinating and informative book with an extensive bibliography for those who want to delve deeper. Highly recommended!

BOOK REVIEW: In France Profound: The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People by T. D. Allman

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

So who doesn’t want to buy a centuries-old mansion on a picturesque hilltop in the south of France, fix it up, befriend your neighbors, and spend years soaking up the culture and history of the region? Also, eat the food and drink the wine? T.D. Allman, an award-winning American foreign correspondent, did just that. And then, when he realized he was now the most senior resident in Lauzerte, he wrote a memoir-like history of the town, the region, his house, and his place in it.

In France Profound: The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People is an engrossing history of France Profonde, the southern part of France geographically distant from the capital, culturally distinct, and yet never quite able to escape Paris’ influence.

The timeline proceeds mostly chronologically from the Middle Ages to the present. Allman gives emphasis to history-changing people and events–those that are important to the story he’s telling. He centers the tale on what was formerly known as the province of Quercy, but is now the department of Lot and part of the department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It’s fascinating to see the history of France unfolding from the perspective of this off-the-beaten-track part of the country. Most interesting to me were the chapters on Count Raymond VI and Count Raymond VII of Toulouse and the Albigensian Crusade. Allman’s agnostic view of the various religious wars makes a case for their pointlessness. But the long history of the region’s involvement in all the successive wars showed the importance of the area in all major European conflicts.

The author uses his 800-year-old house as a metaphor for the timelessness and the changes of the area. Initially, the town was isolated and known for its beautiful medieval appearance. Allman points out that the medieval touches were recent, which is disillusioning. But the geography and culture of the region were more resistant to change and to fashion. I think I was as sorrowful as he was to watch the life of the town move down the mountain (in order to provide for more convenient car parks) and suffer the influx of chain stores and fast food places. 

Looking up the author when I finished the book, I was sad to see he died in May. This book was published posthumously. But what an incredibly full life he led!

For fans of memoir, French history, and France in general, this book is recommended. It’s a bit lengthy and I found some of the digressions slow-going, but overall, it’s a beautiful book.

BOOK REVIEW: The Captain's Old Love by Mary Lancaster

The Captain’s Old Love by Mary Lancaster is a lovely regency romance by one of my go-to historical romance authors.

Captain Sir Julius Vale has just retired from the Royal Navy in order to care for his younger siblings after the death of his father. (There are a lot of them!) Julius has lost an eye and injured his leg in the war against France, but he would still be sailing in spite of these maladies if not for his obligations at home. The familial solicitousness is not all one-sided. His siblings are equally worried about him. They want to see him happy. They want to see him married. But Julius is not looking for a wife. Years ago, he was jilted by a lady he loved desperately. He has never gotten over her, and he carries a grudge.

Antonia Temple is the lady. Julius has the misfortune (or good fortune?) of coming across her at the first ball he attends back in Blackhaven (the town where his home and family are located.) She is as stunned to see him as he is to see her. And she gives every appearance of being as hurt and as resentful.

Who jilted whom?

Julius and Antonia are delightfully level-headed and quick to seek out the truth rather than wallowing in self-pity and anger. They might be able to find their way back to one another if they can hold onto a tenuous trust. But whoever was responsible for their earlier estrangement is still determined to keep them apart. And tenuous trust might not be enough.

The hero and heroine make this an entertaining read. The villain is a bit over the top, but needs to be if he’s going to be able to drive a wedge between a pair so right for one another. This is book 1 in the One Night in Blackhaven series, and I have book 2 queued up on my kindle!