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Artists and Lovers, Freedom and War
by Anna Thomasson
A story of friendship, love, and the pursuit of art—including Pablo Picasso, Lee Miller, Paul Éluard, and Man Ray—set against the precarious backdrop of the late 1930s, World War II, and its aftermath.
Late summer 1937. Europe is inching toward war. In the South of France a group of friends picnic in a secluded clearing. The women have peeled down their dresses to their waists. Shoes have been cast aside. A couple kiss playfully while the others look on, laughing. The moment is captured in a now-iconic image by photographer Lee Miller.
Some of the friends—the dancer Ady Fidelin, the poet Paul Éluard and his wife Nusch, the Surrealists Man Ray and Roland Penrose—are well-known, others less so. They are spending the summer at the Hôtel Vaste Horizon in Mougins with fellow artists Dora Maar, Eileen Agar, and Pablo Picasso.
In this evocative setting, biographer Anna Thomasson traces the group's individual and intertwined lives through the photographs they took, the art they made, and the poems and letters they wrote. From the heady, fertile weeks of creativity, sex, and collaboration of that Mediterranean summer through the tumultuous years that followed, this is the story of rebellious lives and the redemptive power of art.
"British biographer Thomasson creates a vibrant portrait of an international group of artists, as well as their lovers and friends, who lived and worked in France just before and during World War II. As she creates capsule biographies of each individual, Thomasson explores themes of friendship and creativity, love, and desire. Structuring her book as a 'collage,' she juxtaposes biographical fragments, letters, and descriptions to create the portrait of an age in which artists ardently believed that 'acts of creativity were a powerful weapon in the fight for freedom.' A vivid cultural history." —Kirkus Reviews
"Thomasson convincingly draws out the destabilizing effects of wartime on artists' lives and work, offering insights into the interplay between art, life, and political uncertainty during a volatile age." —Publishers Weekly
"History in which deep ocean currents flow through individual lives. A compelling read." ―Michael Bird, author of This Is Tomorrow: Twentieth-Century Britain and its Artists
"At once intimate and expansive, A Vast Horizon layers real upon surreal to build a fascinating portrait of art, war and life." ―Clare Mulley, author of Agent Zo
This information about A Vast Horizon was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Anna Thomasson gained a master of philosophy in biography at the University of Buckingham and her thesis was shortlisted for the Daily Mail Biographers' Club Prize. Her first book, A Curious Friendship, was published to major acclaim in Britain. She lives in London.
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