Muses: Writers, Artists, and Their Inspirations
Featuring Lauren Alwan, Marilyne Bertoncini, Todd Anderson, Zheng Min, Layla Benitez-James, Constantin Severin, Amitava Kumar, Ximena Gómez, and Jennifer Wong with inspirations by David Hockney, Rembrandt, Todd Anderson, Ghislaine Lejard, Wassily Kandinsky, Amitava Kumar, Andrew Wyeth, and Holly Wilson, plus a reading list of books on artists and their worlds.
About the cover:
Holly Wilson
Girl in the Red Dress
2019, 60 x 29.75 x 1 5/8 in.,
oils and cold wax on birch panel
“Masks are multi-layered elements in my work. Simultaneously, they reference traditional Delaware and Cherokee stories that my mother told me as a child and symbolize transformation and obfuscation.”
—Holly Wilson (hollywilson.com)
-
Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash In your white vest and blue flip-flops, you wandered about in the fierce sun, a can of black paint in your hand. We read your family history on lamp-post... -
Jennifer Wong is a poet, critic, and translator based in the UK. Her first two poetry collections, Summer Cicadas (2006) and Goldfish (2013), were published by Chameleon Press i... -
Ai Weiwei 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir Trans. Allan H. Barr Crown Publishing Group Barbara Bloemink Florine Stettheimer: A Biography... -
Andrew Wyeth, Cranberries (1966), Collotype, 45.7 x 30.5 cm When I pushed the door there was no one in the room. In the background, an open window and a disquieting afternoon light... -
Amitava Kumar, The Heart of the City / A Cemetery / of Grief. Inspired by Naveen Kishore’s poem “Kashmiriyat” in his new collection, Knotted Grief. Amitava Kumar—author,... -
Wassily Kandinsky, Composition #218 (Two Ovals) (1919), Oil on Canvas, 107 × 89 cm, Saint Petersburg, The Russian Museum I glimpsed the oases of childhood with gingerbread houses and... -
André Leon Talley, [email protected] of Vogue backstage at Tuleh | Courtesy of Glam Media / Flickr. A poet traces fashion editor André Leon Talley’s influence on her work and life. On January 19, 2... -
Workshop of Rembrandt van Rijn, Young Woman at an Open Half-Door (1645), oil on canvas, 102.5 x 85.1 cm, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago / CC0 Pub... -
Todd Anderson, I-165 Deep Field Basecamp, Allan Hills, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Detail shot, 15 in. x 35 in., 10 runs, 18 colors, reductive woodcut with watercolor and pencil ... -
Ghislaine Lejard, l’ombre (2020), 6.5 x 7.5 cm, torn paper glued on cardboard / Reproduced by permission of the artist I tame shadows each day I descend further into their world and... -
Lauren Alwan’s copy of Pictures, by David Hockney, edited by Nikos Stangos (Harry N. Abrams, 1979) A writer recalls how David Hockney inspired her, first as an art student and later as a w...
May 2022
Muses—a special section showcasing writers, artists, and their inspirations, with cover art by Holly Wilson—headlines the May/June 2022 issue of World Literature Today, the 400th issue in the magazine’s 95-year history. Other highlights include poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and fiction and a wealth of new titles reviewed including new work by Victoria Chang, Louise Glück, and Alain Mabanckou.
