Retrospective Inspiration

Several weeks into my book tour, when I was in San Diego to read at Warwick’s, I was walking down the street and wandering into art galleries. I went into the back of the Hallmark Gallery, and was confronted by this painting, “Uninvited Visitor”, by Valery Yershov. According to the gallery website, “Valery Yershov was born in 1960 in the Soviet city of Yessentuki. After graduating from the Graphic Department of the Leningrad Pedogogical Institute, he moved to Moscow in 1987 and then to Stockholm in 1988. Before immigrating to the United States in 1991, he had exhibited in Russia and throughout Europe. The London Contemporary presented a one-man show of his works in Moscow. Today, his work has also been exhibited in New York and other US cities.” I had never heard of him, but then I am not at all up to date on modern art and artists. Nevertheless, when I looked at this painting, I was amazed at how it reminded me of the feel and tone of the Russian section of Ten Days in the Hills. If I had seen this painting before I wrote the novel, I would have featured it in the Comedy Room, where Cassie sleeps, and where there is an overcoat in the closet rather than a bathrobe. The above picture is inspired by The Hermitage. When I visited the Hermitage in October of 1995, I thought it was dusty and ill-lit, but of course fascinating, both in and of itself, and for the huge collection of paintings mounted on every wall in every room. I also went to the Summer Palace, which served as the inspiration for my Russian House in 10days. Yershov’s vision of the Winter Palace, therefore, strikes me as akin to my own fantasies--it is a place of marvels and beauty and light, not dust and chaos. I love this painting, and I bought it (not the original, but print # 16, done on canvas) as a souvenir of my own imagination, as well as of my book tour. Other Yershov paintings can be seen at the following website: http://www.hallmarkgallery.com/fine_art/san_diego/gal/artist/Valery-Yershov-22.html.

Sunday, March 25, 2007