№ 20 reading list | Lee Krasner exhibition

I am sitting on the patio, under an awning, taking in the spring, the scent of purple and white lilacs from a corner of the garden. One by one, book podcasts are playing on the tablet. Let's take a look at the reading list. Last year a new translation, by poet Michael Hofmann, of the classic Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin was published by New York Review Books. I like their book design and have added many of their titles to my wish list. I never read the old translation and therefore, have no comparison. It's set in the underworld of Berlin, the Weimer Republic in the 1920s, and the book starts when Franz Biberkopf - shall we say the colourful? - is released from prison, determined to turn his life around. The other book I bought for the list is The Years by Annie Ernaux, which I mentioned in my last entry. The others are from the library.

№ 20 reading list:
1  The Years  by Annie Ernaux
2  Berlin Alexanderplatz  by Alfred Döblin
3  The Wife  by Meg Wolitzer
4  The Mexican Night  by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
5  The Garden Party  by Katherine Mansfield
6  It All Adds Up  by Saul Bellow
7  The Diary of Anaïs Nin 1931-1934 

Translated by: 1) The Years: Alison L. Strayer; 2) Berlin Alexanderplatz: Michael Hofmann

It has been years since I read a volume of Anaïs Nin's diaries and it felt soothing somehow to pick up the one on the list, which starts in 1931. For a long time, I have been meaning to read stories by Katherine Mansfield, having been introduced to her work through Virginia Woolf's diaries and letters. The short story collection The Garden Party starts well and the writing style already appeals to me. Mansfield was only 34 when she died and one can only imagine what she could have accomplished as a writer.

Lee Krasner, Desert Moon, 1955

This summer I wouldn't mind taking a cultural trip to London, to see the exhibition Lee Krasner: Living Colour in the art gallery of the Barbican Centre, which opens on 30 May. Lee Krasner (1908–1984) was an American artist, born in Brooklyn; a pioneer of abstract expressionism. The catalogue says that her 'energetic work reflects the spirit of possibility in post-war New York' and the exhibition 'tells the story of a formidable artist, whose importance has too often been eclipsed by her marriage to Jackson Pollock.'

This is the first major presentation of Lee Krasner's art in Europe for more than 50 years, organised by the Barbican Centre, London in collaboration with these museums: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern and Guggenheim Bilbao. Coinciding with the exhibition is the Thames & Hudson publication of Lee Krasner: Living Colour by Eleanor Nairne.

In October, here in Germany, we can enjoy the art of Lee Krasner when the exhibition opens in the museum Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.

Artist Lee Krasner in her studio

Lee Krasner, Palingenesis, 1971

top image by me | Lee Krasner paintings via Barbican Centre: 1) LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 2) Kasmin Gallery, NY | Krasner in her studio: Kasmin Gallery via Artsy. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

Mood board for spring

In a perfect world. No, let's go with better, perfection is boring. In a better world I'm sitting in a rattan chair on the patio, feeling the warmth of the sun through the awning. On the table is a stack of books; notebooks next to my cup of coffee and the French press. Supporting my back, a thick, soft cushion with a cover made of any of the patterned textiles in my image above, which I call: My spring mood board with Annie Ernaux and Schuyler Samperton Textiles.

In reality I'm indoors. That harsh light of early spring still lingers and even though buds have bloomed, promising, sunny days suddenly turned colder (today we had hail). Waiting for spring is not my forte. The good news is that one of my current reads, Annie Ernaux's memoir The Years, translated from French by Alison L Strayer, has been shortlisted for The Man Booker International Prize. Apart from being smitten with my copy, a Fitzcarraldo Editions publication, the narrative voice, written in the third person, intrigues me. I don't remember having read a memoir in the third person. It covers the years 1941 to 2006 'told through the lens of memory, impressions past and present, photos, books, songs, radio, television, advertising, and news headlines.' I haven't finished it yet, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. It's rewarding when a book one has wanted to read not only lives up to its expectations but exceeds them.

Magnolia in bloom, Antwerp 2011

We lived in Antwerp when I shot the blooming magnolia above. I cherish the photo - it was my first Belgian spring and I still remember the street corner - but it no longer appears on my old blog. An album connected to it seems to have vanished, which is why I decided to create a new link for the blog, with a slightly different layout. I haven't changed the blog name: I still note down my ideas for blog entries over lunch and latte.

Back to the textiles: Schuyler Samperton Textiles is an American brand my readers should recognise. Schuyler is one of my favourite textile designers. On the blog I have featured many designs from her growing collection. I have been waiting for spring to show you the two designs in my top image. Eden is the design at the top: The pale pink fabric is Eden/Sweet Pea, the pale green is Eden/Meadow. Shalimar is the floral fabric with the white background. The sample with the tag is Shalimar/Mist, a blue and green pattern. Shalimar/Cielo is the blue one. All these are 100% linen fabrics.

Dora Carrington, Farm at Watendlath, 1921

The green palette in the painting Farm at Watendlath by artist Dora Carrington fits my spring mood. In 1921 she spent a summer holiday in the Lake District. The little I know about her life is from the film Carrington (1995), which focuses on her relationship with writer Lytton Strachey, and from descriptions in the volumes I have read of Virginia Woolf's diaries. At first she doesn't seem to have made a favourable impression on Woolf, but in August 1920 the tone in her diary is different: 'Carrington is ardent, robust, scatterbrained, appreciative, a very humble disciple, but with enough character to prevent insipidity' (Vol. 2).

I will be back soon with a new reading list.

images by me | Dora Carrington art via Tate

№ 19 reading list: a debut novel

Look at me, managing to share a reading list in February! I'm particularly excited about one book on the list, The Parisian, a debut novel by young author Isabella Hammad. It's a spring release from publisher Jonathan Cape and let me tell you, the first chapters are promising. Moving on to another Black History Month: since 1976 it has been celebrated in the US in February and I'm showing my support with If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. The Brits celebrate it in October and Baldwin was also on the reading list I shared then (№ 16). He's a favourite of mine. The film by director Barry Jenkins based on the novel has hardly escaped Baldwin fans. He got an Oscar nomination for the screenplay and Regina King for supporting role. Tomorrow we will know if they won.

№ 19 reading list:
1  The Parisian  by Isabella Hammad
2  Orientalism  by Edward W. Said
3  If Beale Street Could Talk  by James Baldwin
4  The Ghost Writer  by Philip Roth
5  Women and Writing  by Virginia Woolf

London-born Isabella Hammad won the 2018 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, for the short story Mr. Can'aan, featured in the literary magazine The Paris Review. April sees the release of her first novel, The Parisian. The lovely people at publisher Jonathan Cape (an imprint of Vintage) sent me a proof copy of this historical fiction. The following description is from the press release: 'As the First World War shatters families, destroys friendships and kills lovers, a young Palestinian dreamer sets out to find himself.' The dreamer is Midhat Kamal, an Arab we meet on the first page: He's aboard a ship taking him from the port of Alexandria to Marseille, where he arrives in October 1914.

Author Zadie Smith highly praises The Parisian in a blurb on the back cover, describing it as 'a sublime reading experience: delicate, restrained, surpassingly intelligent, uncommonly poised and truly beautiful' and further adding:

It is realism in the tradition of Flaubert and Stendhal - everything that happens feels not so much imagined as ordained. That this remarkable historical epic should be the debut of a writer in her twenties seems impossible, yet it's true. Isabella Hammad is an enormous talent and her book is a wonder.

The Parisian
By Isabella Hammad
Jonathan Cape
Hardcover, 576 pages
Buy here


My last reading list was Japanese and naturally these past weeks have been characterised by Japanese culture. Peonies do not bloom until spring/summer, yet I'm going to end with this piece of art by Hokusai and give Japanese literature a rest, for now.

Katsushika Hokusai, Canary and peony, 1834, Guimet Museum, Paris via WikiArt