Wreck
Géricault's Raft And The Art Of Being Lost At Sea
Tom De Freston
"Artist Tom de Freston has long had an obsession with Gericault's painting The Raft of the Medusa, and the troubling story behind its creation. The monumental canvas, which hangs in the Louvre, depicts a 19th century tragedy in which 150 people were abandoned on a reaft when the ship Medusa was wrecked on shallow ground. Only 15 survived. In his studio, de Freston began explori...
Synopsis
"Artist Tom de Freston has long had an obsession with Gericault's painting The Raft of the Medusa, and the troubling story behind its creation. The monumental canvas, which hangs in the Louvre, depicts a 19th century tragedy in which 150 people were abandoned on a reaft when the ship Medusa was wrecked on shallow ground. Only 15 survived. In his studio, de Freston began exploring what it takes to create art at the limits of human experience. Making an artwork with a Syrian writer blinded by a bombing, he found that The Raft's depiction of pain and suffering -- and Géricuault's awful life story -- powerfully resonated, while also offering a passage out of the dark waters of his own traumatic family history. Written in spellbinding, visceral prose, Wreck opens a window onto the magnetic frisson that runs between a past masterpiece and contemporary artistic endeavours, asking powerful questions about how we might translate fear and suffering into art, and the value of depicting the darkest horrors. It is both a uniquely personal reckoning that delves inside the making of an artwork and a thrilling introduction to a singular new voice in non-fiction."-
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