WINNER OF THE FRANCO-BRITISH SOCIETY LITERARY AWARD 2020 'Art is a Tyrant recounts [Bonheur's] life with no little brio.' Michael Prodger, The Times Books of the Year 2020 'A diligently researched, beautifully produced and insistently sympathetic biography.' Kathryn Hughes, Guardian A new biography of the wildly unconventional 19th-century animal painter and gender equality pioneer Rosa Bonheur, from the author of the acclaimed Mistress of Paris and Renoir's Dancer. Rosa Bonheur was the very antithesis of the feminine ideal of 19th-century society. She was educated, she shunned traditional 'womanly' pursuits, she rejected marriage - and she wore trousers. But the society whose rules she spurned accepted her as one of their own, because of her genius for painting animals. She shared an intimate relationship with the eccentric, self-styled inventor Nathalie Micas, who nurtured the artist like a wife. Together Rosa, Nathalie and Nathalie's mother bought a chateau and with Rosa's menagerie of animals the trio became one of the most extraordinary households of the day. Catherine Hewitt's compelling new biography is an inspiring evocation of a life lived against the rules.

Hailed as one of the foremost painters of the nineteenth century, Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) lived to see her name become a household word. In a century that did its best to keep women “in their place,” she earned her own money, managed her own property, wore trousers, hunted, smoked, and lived in retreat with women companions in a château near Fontainebleau. Rosa Bonheur: The Artist’s (Auto)biography brings this extraordinary woman to life, blending Bonheur’s first-person account with the memoirs of Anna Klumpke, a young American artist who was Bonheur’s last companion and chosen portraitist. Klumpke recounts their first meeting, her growing affection for the much older Bonheur, and her decision to live with the artist. Bonheur’s account of her own life story, set within Klumpke’s narrative, sheds light on such currently compelling subjects as gender formation, governmental intervention in the arts, the social and legal regulation of dress codes, and the transgressive nature of same-sex relationships in a repressive society. “What a pleasure to have this essential document of art history available in an up-to-date translation. Anna Klumpke’s biography of Rosa Bonheur is, of course, not only an important art-historical document, but a major contribution to the social history of nineteenth-century France and a moving testimony to human attachment as well.” —Linda Nochlin “The remarkable life of Rosa Bonheur, one of the most highly decorated artists and certainly the best known female artist of her time in nineteenth-century France, is long overdue for further scrutiny.” — Therese Dolan, Temple University “... tells the fascinating, unconventional story of the famous 19th-century French artist. Written by Bonheur’s lover, American artist Anna Klumpke, with input from Bonheur herself, the biography effectively shows Bonheur’s devotion to the great loves of her life: her mother, her art, and her female companions.” — Washington Blade “A cigar-smoking, cross-dressing eccentric à la George Sand, Rosa Bonheur was one of the 19th century’s most popular artists... Drawing on her own meticulous journal entries as well as Bonheur’s letters, sketches, and diaries, Klumpke traces Bonheur’s trailblazing life and recounts how she met Bonheur, fell in love and became her official portraitist, companion and sole heir.” — Publishers Weekly “It is a treat to have Rosa Bonheur: The Artist’s (Auto)biography... available in English. Bonheur (1822-1899), a lesbian born in France, channeled her formidable talent into painting animals, lived a highly unconventional life, and received special permission to wear pants in public... This combination autobiography and biography, originally published in 1908, includes a vibrant introduction by the translator.” —Feminist Bookstore News “Each part of the story — translator’s, Klumpke’s, and Bonheur’s — is so engagingly written that reading it is like an adventure with an emphasis on the development and support of female creativity... Anna Klumpke poured her love into magnificent portraits of Bonheur and later into writing and managing Bonheur’s estate. Translator Gretchen van Slyke has rendered the original French into graceful, compelling prose. After finishing this book, my strongest emotion was gratitude for having been allowed to see so intimately into the lives of these productive, caring women.” — Lambda Book Report

Hunger drove her from home. Invasion from his. They are the last Ilmar, naked savages . . . Heroes. Discover a world with two moons and one Sea, where night and day can last forever and magic is inseparable from science. Journey to a place where cities wage wars for eons, religions are founded by time traveling historians, and heroes wear nothing but sky. Xandr is a recluse and a wanderer. Thelana, having lost her family to famine, survives in the slums as a thief. They are the last of the Ilmar, primitives shunned by society. But when a star falls from the heavens, only the secrets guarded by their people can save civilization from ruin. With the aid of Grimosse, an over-protective golem, and Emma, a young witch who talks to ravens, Xandr and Thelana must race to the frozen peaks of the Pewter Mountains before a second cataclysm reshapes their world. Nick Alimonos has been writing fantasy since he was six. He earned his English degree at the University of South Florida, where he minored in ancient history. Ages of Aenya is the first novel set in the world of Aenya. To learn more, please visit nickalimonos.com.

An NYRB Classics Original The first great twentieth-century novel of dictatorship, and the avowed inspiration for García Márquez’s The Autumn of the Patriarch and Roa Bastos’s I, the Supreme, Tyrant Banderas is a dark and dazzling portrayal of a mythical Latin American republic in the grip of a monster. Ramón del Valle-Inclán, one of the masters of Spanish modernism, combines the splintered points of view of a cubist painting with the campy excesses of 19th-century serial fiction to paint an astonishing picture of a ruthless tyrant facing armed revolt. It is the Day of the Dead, and revolution has broken out, creating mayhem from Baby Roach’s Cathouse to the Harris Circus to the deep jungle of Tico Maipú. Tyrant Banderas steps forth, assuring all that he is in favor of freedom of assembly and democratic opposition. Mean­while, his secret police lock up, torture, and execute students and Indian peasants in a sinister castle by the sea where even the sharks have tired of a diet of revolutionary flesh. Then the opposition strikes back. They besiege the dictator’s citadel, hoping to bring justice to a downtrodden, starving populace. Peter Bush’s new translation of Valle-Inclán’s seminal novel, the first into English since 1929, reveals a writer whose tragic sense of humor is as memorably grotesque and disturbing as Goya’s in his The Disasters of War.

Painter and sculptor Rosa Bonheur (1822–1899) led a highly nontraditional life, especially for a woman in the nineteenth century. She kept lions as pets, was awarded the Legion of Honor by Empress Eugénie, and befriended “Buffalo Bill” Cody. She became a painter at a time when women were often only reluctantly educated as artists. Her unconventional artistic work habits, including visiting slaughterhouses to sketch an animal’s anatomy and wearing men’s clothing to gain access to places like a horse fair, where women were not allowed, helped her become one of the most beloved female painters of her time. Among the artworks discussed are The Horse Fair and Ploughing in the Nivernais. Along with her life story are a list of museums that house her work, a bibliography, and an index.

"Brilliant, beautifully organized, exceedingly readable."—Philip Roth World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright’s insight into bad (and often mad) rulers. Examining the psyche—and psychoses—of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, and Coriolanus, Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the disasters visited upon the societies over which these characters rule. Tyrant shows that Shakespeare’s work remains vitally relevant today, not least in its probing of the unquenchable, narcissistic appetites of demagogues and the self-destructive willingness of collaborators who indulge them.

A wildly entertaining and surprisingly educational dive into art history as you've never seen it before, from the host of the beloved ArtCurious podcast We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know that Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed--or even murdered. Or how about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's most enduring legacies involves Caroline Kennedy's moldy birthday cake and a collection of toenail clippings? ArtCurious is a colorful look at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. Through these and other incredible, weird, and wonderful tales, ArtCurious presents an engaging look at why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.