Text by Carolyn Lanchner.

In a preface prepared for this volume, Herbert explains that these essays are linked by a focus on the relation of art to the urban-industrial revolution."--BOOK JACKET.

The second in Nathalie Léger’s acclaimed genre-defying triptych of books about the struggles and obsessions of women artists. “I believe there is a miracle in Wanda,” wrote Marguerite Duras of the only film American actress Barbara Loden ever wrote and directed. “Usually, there is a distance between representation and text, subject and action. Here that distance is completely eradicated.” It is perhaps this “miracle”—the seeming collapse of fiction and fact—that has made Wanda (1970) a cult classic, and a fascination of artists from Isabelle Huppert to Rachel Kushner to Kate Zambreno. For acclaimed French writer Nathalie Léger, the mysteries of Wanda launched an obsessive quest across continents, into archives, and through mining towns of Pennsylvania, all to get closer to the film and its maker. Suite for Barbara Loden is the magnificent result.

The first in Nathalie Léger’s acclaimed genre-defying triptych of books about the struggles and obsessions of women artists. Exposition is the first in a triptych of books by the award-winning writer and archivist Nathalie Léger that includes Suite for Barbara Loden and The White Dress. In each, Léger sets the story of a female artist against the background of her own life and research—an archivist's journey into the self, into the lives that history hides from us. Here, Léger's subject is the Countess of Castiglione (1837–1899), who at the dawn of photography dedicated herself to becoming the most photographed woman in the world, modeling for hundreds of photos, including “Scherzo di Follia,” among the most famous in history. Set long before our own “selfie” age, Exposition is a remarkably modern investigation into the curses of beauty, fame, vanity, and age, as well as the obsessive drive to control and commodify one's image.

Stolen art. Rogue police officers. Drones. A video call from her dad leads top white-hat hacker Francine to four stolen masterpieces. And to a possible murder—in Brazil. Her frustration at being so far away is turned into anger when her loved ones are attacked and corrupt law enforcement officials stonewall their inquiries. Blackmail, a kidnapping and a blatant heist in their backyard in Strasbourg reveal a plan to use unregulated drone technology in a daring escape. Francine’s concern for her best friend and her parents’ safety has to take a back seat to her determination to save the lives of bystanders. Together with her team, she will do anything to stop these criminals from executing their brutal plan. If she’s not already too late.

Le général Curély. Itinéraire d’un cavalier léger de la Grande Armée (1793-1815), publié d’après un manuscrit authentique par le général Thoumas. Paris, Berger-Levrault, 1887, in-16, X-436 p., portr. « Malgré son titre, il s’agit bien de mémoires sur les campagnes de 1805, 1806, 1807 et 1809. La Russie, l’Allemagne, Waterloo sont également évoqués dans un panorama complet qui ne s’élève jamais au-dessus d’une stricte narration des aventures personnelles du brillant cavalier que fut Curély. » p 45 - Professeur Jean Tulard, Bibliographie Critique Des Mémoires Sur Le Consulat Et L’Empire, Droz, Genève, 1971.

The third in Nathalie Léger’s acclaimed genre-defying triptych of books about the struggles and obsessions of women artists. The White Dress is the third in Nathalie Léger's award-winning triptych of books about women who “through their oeuvre, transform their lives into a mystery” (ELLE). In Exposition, Léger wrote about the Countess of Castiglione, the most photographed woman of the nineteenth century; in Suite for Barbara Loden she took up the actress and filmmaker Barbara Loden; here, Léger grapples with the tragic 2008 death of Italian performance artist Pippa Bacca, who was raped and murdered while hiking from Italy to the Middle East in a wedding dress to promote world peace. A harrowing meditation on the risks women encounter, in life and in art, The White Dress also brings to a haunting conclusion Léger's personal interrogation—sustained across all three books—of her relationship with her mother and the desire for justice in our lives.