Good Reads / Community Library Notes
In the Full Light of the Sun
Claire Clark
Review by Priscilla Comen
In the Full Light of the Sun
Claire Clark
Review by Priscilla Comen
In the Full Light of the Sun, by Claire Clark, is the story of Julius, an art appraiser in Berlin in 1923. His wife, Luisa, has left him and taken his favorite Van Gogh painting. She had always hated it, but knew how to get to him. She also took their young son. Julius meets a young art dealer who brings him work to appraise. Sometimes he buys a sketch or two.
Author Clark describes well the inflation and unrest in Berlin during these years. Bank notes are produced in mass. Julius files for divorce based on adultery. The housekeeper had seen it all, as Julius tells his lawyer, Bohn. Author Clark writes as if this is a Van Gogh painting, trees are ”thick swirls of white and emerald green.” Desperate people are selling paintings on the street so they can eat, feed their families. Julius had written a biography of Van Gogh and author Clarke quotes letters from Vincent to his brother Theo. Julius and the young art dealer, Matthais, share a glass of champagne when the mark falls dramatically. Julius is no longer rich, but there is no more inflation. Everything is available: eggs, fruit, oranges, Christmas trees. He buys a Noah’s Ark for his son. Julius dreams of creating a community of artists, as did Van Gogh.
Matthais opens his own gallery nearby. When Julius goes to Cologne to see the painting, “Sunflowers,” he sees instead a horrible painting of a battlefield with mutilated corpses. He hates it and writes a column for his newspaper condemning the painting and the museum it is in.
Matthais tells Julius he has a lover. Julius says it’s all right. His column is criticized as being propaganda, and is denounced by other art critics. Matthais tells Julius not to give up his values. The young woman, Miss Eberhardt comes to see him and says she wants to study art in Berlin. She dances with Matthais, then with Julius. Do they make love? Julius says she, Emmeline, forced him. Matthais says Julius should write an apology to her. He’s afraid she’ll go to court and challenge Julius’ divorce.
Later, we find Emmeline and Anton in Berlin in 1927 in her messy apartment. Anton urges her to go to the opening of Van Gogh drawings at the new Rachmanch Gallery in the posh part of town. She sees Julius with his new wife. Emmeline had promised to stay away from him , and she has. Dora lives in Emmeline’s apartment house with her sick grandmother. She writes for a newspaper and she and Emmeline become friends. They go to the Zanzibar where women dance with women. Dora overhears talk of some fake Van Gogh drawings. She wants to write about this for her newspaper. But no one will talk to her about it. Emmeline draws sketches of Dora and her grandmother in her notebook in the style of Van Gogh. More of the Van Goghs appear to be forgeries. Matthais is in trouble, in the jail hospital. He won’t tell who his Russian contact was for the Van Goghs he has in his gallery. How did he know they were fakes? Experts said they were masterpieces. Books are being burned by Germans, Matthais’ lawyer is leaving the country with his family. How many Van Goghs in the Amsterdam gallery were fakes? , How many real?. Find this fascinating novel based on letters from Vincent to his brother Theo on the fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Author Clark describes well the inflation and unrest in Berlin during these years. Bank notes are produced in mass. Julius files for divorce based on adultery. The housekeeper had seen it all, as Julius tells his lawyer, Bohn. Author Clark writes as if this is a Van Gogh painting, trees are ”thick swirls of white and emerald green.” Desperate people are selling paintings on the street so they can eat, feed their families. Julius had written a biography of Van Gogh and author Clarke quotes letters from Vincent to his brother Theo. Julius and the young art dealer, Matthais, share a glass of champagne when the mark falls dramatically. Julius is no longer rich, but there is no more inflation. Everything is available: eggs, fruit, oranges, Christmas trees. He buys a Noah’s Ark for his son. Julius dreams of creating a community of artists, as did Van Gogh.
Matthais opens his own gallery nearby. When Julius goes to Cologne to see the painting, “Sunflowers,” he sees instead a horrible painting of a battlefield with mutilated corpses. He hates it and writes a column for his newspaper condemning the painting and the museum it is in.
Matthais tells Julius he has a lover. Julius says it’s all right. His column is criticized as being propaganda, and is denounced by other art critics. Matthais tells Julius not to give up his values. The young woman, Miss Eberhardt comes to see him and says she wants to study art in Berlin. She dances with Matthais, then with Julius. Do they make love? Julius says she, Emmeline, forced him. Matthais says Julius should write an apology to her. He’s afraid she’ll go to court and challenge Julius’ divorce.
Later, we find Emmeline and Anton in Berlin in 1927 in her messy apartment. Anton urges her to go to the opening of Van Gogh drawings at the new Rachmanch Gallery in the posh part of town. She sees Julius with his new wife. Emmeline had promised to stay away from him , and she has. Dora lives in Emmeline’s apartment house with her sick grandmother. She writes for a newspaper and she and Emmeline become friends. They go to the Zanzibar where women dance with women. Dora overhears talk of some fake Van Gogh drawings. She wants to write about this for her newspaper. But no one will talk to her about it. Emmeline draws sketches of Dora and her grandmother in her notebook in the style of Van Gogh. More of the Van Goghs appear to be forgeries. Matthais is in trouble, in the jail hospital. He won’t tell who his Russian contact was for the Van Goghs he has in his gallery. How did he know they were fakes? Experts said they were masterpieces. Books are being burned by Germans, Matthais’ lawyer is leaving the country with his family. How many Van Goghs in the Amsterdam gallery were fakes? , How many real?. Find this fascinating novel based on letters from Vincent to his brother Theo on the fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.