Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Last Nude by Ellis Avery - Available

The Last Nude

by Ellis Avery
Barbara Caruso
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
Paris, 1927, a day in July. A destitute young American named Rafaela Fano gets into the car of a dazzling stranger, the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. Struggling to halt a downward slide toward prostitution, Rafaela agrees to model for the artist. The two become lovers, and Rafaela inspires Tamara's most accomplished and prized works of art, including Beautiful Rafaela, "one of the most important nudes of the twentieth century" (New York Times). The relationship between the artist and her muse lasted less than a year, yet in 1980, just before Tamara died, she was working on a copy of Beautiful Rafaela. Author Ellis Avery imagines their affair from Rafaela's point of view, and the final day of Tamara's life from the painter's point of view. A window into Jazz Age Paris as the forces of history close in, The Last Nude is a story of genius and craft, art and money, friendship and desire.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    January 5, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781611744569
      • File size: 327880 KB
      • Duration: 11:23:04

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In this account of art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka's relationship with her model, Rafaela, buildings look like confections and sewing machines sound like cicadas. In fact, nearly every detail thrums with lush, sensual imagery. Rafaela is stumbling her way through Jazz Age Paris when she meets Tamara and becomes her lover and muse. ThÄrÅse Plummer voices young Rafaela with a contemporary inflection and captures her appealing energy. Plummer also balances the young woman's naòvetÄ with her somewhat desperate edges. Barbara Caruso narrates the artist's part just as convincingly, immersing herself in the role of the emotional Polish painter. Her accent and direct tone provide an appropriate contrast to Plummer's performance. This is an excellent production of a fascinating story. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 26, 2011
      In Avery’s second novel (after The Teahouse Fire), poor young Rafaela meets Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka in 1920s Paris. Rafaela is no stranger to the currency of sex (“I had traded sex for a train ticket, for an apartment, for a coat and hat and shoes, and most recently... for money”). Before meeting de Lempicka, however, Rafaela had never gone to bed because she wanted to, and the artist awakens the young woman’s desire. Centered around de Lempicka’s provocative nudes of Rafaela, the novel chronicles the shifting boundaries between artist and muse over the course of a heated affair. The relationship is tested when the prestigious Salon d’Automne jury accepts two of de Lempicka’s Rafaela paintings, The Dream and La Bella Rafaela. De Lempicka receives an offer for the latter work before the exhibit even opens, and Rafaela’s portrait becomes a sensation, leaving her uncertain of what to expect in the wake of success, especially from her lover. Though at times contrived, the strength of Avery’s novel lies in her depiction of a driven and accomplished artist and an impressionable waif who finds that her beauty no longer belongs to her.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading