Review: The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock

Title: The Paper Garden
Series: N/A
Author: Molly Peacock
Genre: Biography, Art   
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Received: From Publicist for Review
Release Date: October 2010
Pages: 416
Rating:


What is it About?
Poignant  memoir on artist Mary Granville Pendarves Delany and her life parallels to author Molly Peacock.

My Thoughts:

The title of this book is The Paper Garden : An Artist Begins Her Life’s Work At 72.  I want to state for those, like me, who had never hear of the artist Mary Granville Pendarves Delany technically she did not become an artist at 72 which is the impression I gathered from the title.  So just in case you thought the same that would be false.  She studied early on in life with art but the craft of Mosaic collage is what she know for starting especially depicting flowers in way no one had done before.  The works she did create where great in number and in detail from age 72 and on.

The book jumps back and forth between the artist, author and work of art.  Making layers of complex parallels.  Both artist and author had the blueprints of what would bring them together young in life.  Mary learned her art studied early in life.  She also had a love of gardens.  Molly had a love for art, writing and somehow always finding Mrs. Delany popping up in her life.

The book in some ways... well I hate to use the word dry but that is what I come up with.  I guess a better way to describe it would be so intelligent it goes over my head at some points.  That does not mean I did not like reading or enjoy it. It just means that well... I skimmed a lot.  When I do not understand something I tend to shake my head a smile, so I feel I did that with this book but I also feel I grasped the essence of it.  I think I did anyway.  
Each chapter had a way of becoming it’s own work of art as it worked in the parallel of the art the and the lives of the artists. I can see how some say this was like a collage about collage but very high class, which what Mary Delany was part of.  I think those with a higher understanding of words and art will enjoy this book maybe even love it.  I have to take it down a notch for going over my head though but still I learned things.


Website:

Author Molly Peacock’s Official Website
http://www.mollypeacock.org/