Francesca Wade

2 months ago | the-tls.co.uk | Francesca Wade |Sophie Pinkham |Henri Astier

In February 1939, Tirzah Garwood was summoned to visit Oliver Simon, director of the Curwen Press, a small publisher that had elevated book design to a fine art form. When she reached the offices in London from her home in Essex – after lugging her suitcase down Oxford Street – Garwood, who was pregnant, was disgruntled to find that Simon wanted her to provide him with some marbled papers, for no financial recompense beyond “honour and glory”.

Feb 8, 2024 | thenation.com | Francesca Wade

Culture / Books & the Arts / A new biography examines how the novelist chose to make her life, as well as her fiction and art, outside the conventions of the marriage plot. Ad PolicyIn an anonymously published essay, “Silly Novels by Lady Novelists,” George Eliot set out her objections to “mind-and-millinery” novels: those books featuring dazzling heroines—eloquent, accomplished, almost godly—who set off into the world solely in pursuit of an amiable husband.

Feb 3, 2024 | yahoo.com | Francesca Wade

In 1903, Gertrude Stein went to Paris, she would later claim, to kill the 19th century. Her ­weapons: a Blickensderfer type­writer, a supply of softcover notebooks, and a resolute belief that she was creating literature of ground­breaking importance.

Jan 22, 2024 | traceysinclair.substack.com | Francesca Wade |Tracey Sinclair

Hello, and welcome to my Substack. Once again publication dates are a little erratic - I’m in client deadline season, so do excuse the fact that this might be coming on different days for the next few weeks. Gotta pay the bills, after all…[Image description: Cross-stitch: there is no art without risk]While the start of the year can be a bit dead for big shows, it offers plenty of chances to see up and coming talent or new work, often pretty cheaply.

Nov 22, 2023 | metmuseum.org | Francesca Wade

The converted piano factory at 13 rue Ravignan was an unlikely site for the birth of modern art and literature. Picasso’s studio lay within a labyrinthine wooden building perched on the top of Montmartre hill in a notorious neighborhood popular with students, artists, and anarchists—a horse-drawn omnibus ride and a steep walk from Gertrude Stein’s home at 27 rue de Fleurus.