The Friday Night Club - A Novel of Artist Hilma af Klint and Her Creative Circle

Informationen zum Autor Sofia Lundberg is a journalist and former magazine editor. Lundberg is the shining new star of heartwarming—and heart-wrenching—Scandinavian fiction. She lives in Stockholm with her son. Alyson Richman is a USA Today and #1 international bestselling author. She is an accomplished painter and her novels combine her deep loves of art, historical research, and travel. She lives on Long Island with her husband and two children. M.J. Rose is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She grew up in New York City exploring the labyrinthine galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the dark tunnels and lush gardens of Central Park. Klappentext An International Bestseller While men have long been credited with producing the first abstract paintings, the true creator was actually a woman – Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, who was inspired by her mystic visions. Acclaimed authors Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, and M.J. Rose bring her story to life in this groundbreaking novel.   Early 1900s: The world belongs to men, and the art world in Stockholm, Sweden, is no different, until Hilma af Klint brings together a mysterious group of female painters and writers—Anna, Cornelia, Sigrid, and Mathilda—to form their own emotional and artistic support system.  The members of the Friday Night Club find themselves thrust into uncharted territory when Hilma and her best friend, Anna, begin dabbling in the occult, believing that through séances they can channel unseen spirits to help them achieve their potential as artists. “The Five,” as Hilma referred to them, was a group of immensely talented, fascinating women whose lives and work were cast into obscurity...until now.   The Present: Over a century later, an associate curator at the Guggenheim Museum, Eben Elliot, brings the Hilma af Klint show to New York where he uncovers questions about the Five and how the modern day art world is funded, which puts him in a precarious position both emotionally and professionally, as he witnesses how history can be manipulated.   The Friday Night Club is an illuminating historical novel that explores destiny, passion, and the threads that connect five women as they challenge artistic and societal traditions. Leseprobe Prologue October 1933 Island of Munsö, Sweden Anna lifted the last letter to the flame and watched as the delicate paper curled and disintegrated, the words evaporating into ash. She had spent the past several hours reading each of the letters, remembering every detail, every moment, that had been written. As the ebb and flow of their correspondence pulled her back in time, she felt the weight of her now old body fall away and the aches and pains of age disappear as her heart was once again filled with the memories of her youth with Hilma. Even with their hair white and their skin feathered with lines, the two maintained the distinct auras they had since they were young. Hilma exuded a palpable physical strength, while Anna appeared more ethereal, like breath or water—­a color you couldn’t quite detect but could still feel around you. Years of fragile health and bouts with asthma had made her refrain from any form of physical exertion, but her mind and spirit were as determined as her friend’s; they just worked in a different way. Only that afternoon, Hilma had instructed Anna to burn their old letters, while she continued to pack up her paintings and place into the wooden boxes all her sketchbooks and notebooks from the meetings from the Friday Night Club decades before. The place in Munsö was large enough to store everything, just to Hilma’s liking. Anna had built the structure on land granted to her by a family with close ties to her own, thus ensuring her friend had the space and stability to paint without worry. Anna had...

Report

"In their important novel, The Friday Night Club, co-authors Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, and M.J. Rose have unearthed the captivating story of the ground-breaking Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, arguably the world's first abstract artist who may well have inspired male painters like Wassily Kandinksy who typically receive credit for pioneering abstraction. This spell-binding exploration of the life and legacy of a long-forgotten woman and the circle of gifted friends who worked alongside her is a must-read." 
Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian

"The Friday Night Club has everything I love in a novel: art, history, secrets, mysteries, friendships and love along with a propulsive narrative. Kudos to Lundberg, Richman and Rose and many thanks to them for bringing Hilma af Klint to life and giving her the attention her art deserves."
B.A. Shapiro, New York Times bestseller of Metropolis and The Art Forger

"[A]bsorbing and unique historical fiction Highly recommended, and don t fail to google images of Hilma s art as you read.
Historical Novels Review

[A] bracing novel of female empowerment Using lively dialogue and an engaging narrative voice, authors Lundberg, Richman, and Rose paint an intriguing and feminist-centric portrayal of af Klint and her circle, women who were ahead of their time and unafraid to channel the voices of spirits they believed were guiding af Klint s work. A lively and illuminating reimagining of an artist whose name we shouldn t forget.
Kirkus

A fascinating look at the process behind af Klint s pioneering vision of abstract art A great choice for discussion that will inspire a deeper look at marginalized women artists.
Library Journal

Product details

• Authors: Sofia Lundberg, Alyson Richman, Richman Alyson, M J Rose, M.J. Rose
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 16.05.2023
• EAN: 9780593200490
• ISBN: 978-0-593-20049-0
• No. of pages: 318
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 202 mm x 20 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Historical / General, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Historical fiction, FICTION / Literary, Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, FICTION / Biographical & Autofiction