Portrait of the artist's wife

the long version

Portrait of the Artist's Wife begins at a posthumous publication party, where the crème de la crème of New Zealand's literary crowd has gathered to honor the latest creation - an erotic and names-naming confessional - of the brilliant and controversial Jack Macalister. The survivor in this quirky and ironic scene is Sarah Tandy, talented painter and widow of the philandering Jack; her attempts to endure the stiff and awkward ceremonial come up against some complex and highly amusing hurdles. We are soon taken back into the lives of these two artists, to their childhood in rural New Zealand, their early liaison, rushed wedding and instant family, and their continuous struggles to develop their art. Portrait of the Artist's Wife, generously spanning forty years, plunges us into literary enclaves and Bohemian gatherings, and it eventually leads us to Europe where Jack and Sarah pursue more established (if often jaded) artistic milieus. Most of all, the novel delves into the complicated dynamics of a marriage between two strong-willed, talented, uncompromising people who are linked both by art and an erotic interest that never dims, but whose separate goals inevitably fray their relationship. Crucially, the novel dramatizes one woman's battle to sustain her art in the face of double standards that let men concentrate on their own aims while constricting women to fulfill the needs of others. Sarah's resolve to defy these mores and devote herself to her painting is a struggle of universal import. Barbara Anderson portrays her characters in humane, sympathetic, but unsentimental terms. Portrait of the Artist's Wife is a novelistic "A Room of One's Own," a passionate, intelligent, sometimes heartrending, and often very funny book about one woman's attempt to carve out an artistic space for herself.