The Art of the Affair: An Illustrated History of Love Sex and Artistic Influence

About this book

A vibrantly illustrated chain of entanglements (romantic and otherwise) between some of our best-loved writers and artists of the twentieth century--fascinating scandalous and surprising. Poet Robert Lowell died of a heart attack clutching a portrait of his lover Caroline Blackwood painted by her ex-husband Lucian Freud. Lowell was on his way to see his own ex-wife Elizabeth Hardwick who was a longtime friend of Mary McCarthy. McCarthy left the father of her child to marry Edmund Wilson who had encouraged her writing and had also brought critical attention to the fiction of Anas Nin . . . whom he later bedded. And so it goes the long chain of love affections and artistic influences among writers musicians and artists that weaves its way through the The Art of the Affair--from Frida Kahlo to Colette to Hemingway to Dali; from Coco Chanel to Stravinsky to Miles Davis to Orson Welles. Scrupulously researched but playfully prurient cleverly designed and colorfully illustrated its the perfect gift for your literary lover--and the perfect read for any good-natured gossip-monger.