I adore art from the Art Nouveau movement of the early twentieth century. I know it’s not the same time period as my story but it seems to capture its whimsical, romantic air. These first two prints remind me of scenes from A Short and Unhappy Courtship. (Check out the first chapter here on the site or read excerpts on Wattpad at https://www.wattpad.com/login and see if you agree.)
Art Nouveau was a challenge to the art world. It argued that sculpture and painting were not superior to other forms of art; that all art was important. I like the egalitarianism of it, it was art that everyone could see and enjoy. Art Nouveau was used for advertisements (the prints could be purchased as posters,) jewelry and architecture, taking art out of museums and into the world.
The pictures here are by different artists from the 1910’s and 1920’s. One of my favorites from that time is Virginia Francis Sterrett. I had wondered if the move from the traditional arts meant that the field was more open to women. Especially since all the art I seemed to like was done primarily by women artists. However, upon further research, there didn’t seem to be some great evening of the gender field. In fact, there seemed to have been more female impressionists and than Art Nouveau artists.
I also adore the work of Gustav Klimt and Alphonse Mucha, two of the most famous Art Nouveau artists, but their work didn’t seem to exemplify the spirit of my novel as much. Klimt’s work seems too stylized and the gold too opulent for my Irish village. Mucha’s art embodies the sexy woman most often seen in Art Nouveau works; but they were a little too come hither for what I imagined Ena to be. I see her as spunky and heartfelt. More MaryAnn than Ginger.
I will confess it was a painting by E.R. Hughes called Midsummer Eve, that I first thought of as the cover for my story. In fact, it’s the cover I used on the rough draft I printed out for my beta readers. (Big shout out to those awesome people!) But it doesn’t capture the danger and doesn’t hint at the tension of the story. A little too sweet for the civil war that accidentally starts in Lough Key.
So I created my own art for A Short and Unhappy Courtship (it was originally titled Fairy Madness.) I used silhouettes because I love how they can tell so much with just a shadow, hinting of what’s inside. The last two were attempts at short story covers for excerpts from the novel-do you have a favorite?
