3/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing this e-arc!

it gave gworlboss purr

I don't think this will garner a wide or large audience, even though it's a well-told piece of fiction. Part of it's appeal to me is that seems at times like the story is non-fiction. Although I'm an art lover, those that enjoy a good historical novel should dig this one.

Thanks very much for the free review copy!!

This is a sort of historical story of a painting that was considered scandalous in the time. The story is based on the real painter and the painting as is the scandalous nature of it, the story traces the history of the painting from it's inception to it's final spot in a museum. The author herself had obtained permission to copy the painting which is the opening part of the story. We then find out how the painting was inspired, how it ended up going from various individuals, surviving a number of conflicts, including WW1 and 2 (and the Nazi during WW2). This was a very believable story and the author did a very good job of bringing history to life. I really enjoyed this story and recommend, though those that are a squeamish about graphic descriptions of female anatomy may wish to take a pass. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

"L'Origine" is a novel/memoir born of the author's close work on Courbet's "L'Origine du monde," a scandalous turn-of-the-century portrait of a woman's anatomy. The book is framed fictionally by a modern copyist's work on the painting, and the novel's structure is the story of the painting as it passes from the hands of its creator ultimately to the hands of the museum where it currently resides. The author, herself the first official copyist of the painting, uses her own extensive knowledge of the painting to inform her novel of its history.

What's good: This is a genuinely fascinating topic. The choice of characters to follow suggests something about women's relationship with their own representation and their own selves. The story of "L'Origine" brings up side issues--hiding illicit art from the Nazis, how one even goes about becoming an official copyist--of which I'd not heard much.

What's iffier: The initial switch to the past was jarring. The language of this part of the book was deliberately kept contemporary, per the author, but even with a warning, it still is a bit hard to really dig into the book at that moment. (It feels like a lighter-weight historical novel at that point, a more simplistic style.) As the book goes on, that problem recedes (most likely because the modern language felt more natural when speaking of more contemporary time periods.)

This book was generously provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for an unbiasted review.