The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland
The Forest Lover tells the life of Emily Carr, a Canadian painter who endeavours to capture the untamed beauty of the Northwest landscape in her paintings and preserve the memory of Aboriginal totem poles that is slowly dying. After reading The Passion of Artemisia , I started collecting Susan Vreeland books for its intimate portrayals of women and their passion in art. Emily displays the common qualities of Vreeland’s selection of figures; an ardent spirit and inimitable courage. The fictional account, based on some historical facts, depicts the journeys of Emily along the windy coast of British Columbia visiting old villages of the indigenous people, traipsing amidst the dense foliage of the old forests, and her struggle of identity in her art. Vreeland’s writing, blustery and mournfully introspective, almost echoes the atmosphere of the scenery. It is not perhaps a coincidence that it mirrors the way Emily delivers her brushstrokes on canvas, catching the ...
