Maria Gainza

New York Times Notable author María Gainza, who dazzled critics with her debut Optic Nerve, returns with the captivating story of an auction house employee on the trail of a master forger in the Buenos Aires art world. In the Buenos Aires art world, a master forger has achieved legendary status. Rumored to be a woman, she seems especially gifted at forging canvases by the painter Mariette Lydis, a portraitist of Argentine high society. But who is this absurdly gifted creator of counterfeits? What motivates her? And what is her link to the community of artists who congregate, night after night, in a strange establishment called the Hotel Melancólico? On the trail of this mysterious forger is our narrator, an art critic and auction house employee through whose hands counterfeit works have passed. As she begins to take on the role of art-world detective, adopting her own methods of deception and manipulation, she warns us "not to proceed in expectation of names, numbers or dates . . . My techniques are those of the impressionist." What follows is a highly seductive and enveloping meditation on what we mean by "authenticity" in art, and a captivating exploration of the gap between what is lived and what is told. Portrait of an Unknown Lady is, like any great work, driven by obsession and full of subtle surprise.

A Novel

Portrait of an Unknown Lady

This is a novel set in the art world of Buenos Aires. A novel about counterfeiters and falsifiers. The narrator, an art critic who worked for an appraiser through whose hands they passed faked works, tells a story starring a character called La Negra, who falsifies paintings by painter Mariette Lydis.

La Luz Negra

'Whenever I’m in survival mode I find myself magnetised by museums and galleries, like people running for air raid shelters in wartime . . .' The narrator of Optic Nerve is an Argentinian woman whose obsession is art. The story of her life is the story of the paintings, and painters, who matter to her. Her intimate, digressive voice guides us through a gallery of moments that have touched her. In these pages, El Greco visits the Sistine Chapel and is appalled by Michelangelo’s bodies. The mystery of Rothko's refusal to finish murals for the Seagram Building in New York is blended with the story of a hospital in which a prostitute walks the halls while the narrator's husband receives chemotherapy. Alfred de Dreux visits Géricault's workshop; Gustave Courbet's devilish seascapes incite viewers “to have sex, or to eat an apple”; Rousseau organizes a cruel banquet in Picasso’s honor. . . . All of these fascinating episodes in art history interact with the narrator's life in Buenos Aires—her family and work; her loves and losses; her infatuations and disappointments. The effect is of a character refracted by environment, composed by the canvases she studies. Seductive and capricious, Optic Nerve is a book that captures, like no other, the mysterious connections between a work of art and the person who perceives it.

Optic Nerve

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice New York Times Notable author María Gainza, who dazzled critics with Optic Nerve, returns with the captivating story of an auction house employee on the trail of an enigmatic master forger In the Buenos Aires art world, a master forger has achieved legendary status. Rumored to be a woman, she specializes in canvases by the painter Mariette Lydis, a portraitist of Argentinean high society. But who is this absurdly gifted creator of counterfeits? What motivates her? And what is her link to the community of artists who congregate, night after night, in a strange establishment called the Hotel Melancólico? On the trail of this mysterious forger is our narrator, an art critic and auction house employee through whose hands counterfeit works have passed. As she begins to take on the role of art-world detective, adopting her own methods of deception and manipulation, she warns us “not to proceed in expectation of names, numbers or dates . . . My techniques are those of the impressionist.” Driven by obsession and full of subtle surprise, Portrait of an Unknown Lady is a highly seductive and enveloping meditation on what we mean by "authenticity" in art, and a captivating exploration of the gap between what is lived and what is told.

'A highly original, piercingly beautiful work, full of beautiful shocks... I felt like a door had been kicked open in my brain' Johanna Thomas-Corr, Observer A woman searches Buenos Aires for the paintings that are her inspiration and her refuge. Her life -- she is a young mother with a complicated family -- is sometimes overwhelming. But among the canvases, often little-known works in quiet rooms, she finds clarity and a sense of who she is . . . 'I was reminded of John Berger's Ways of Seeing, enfolded in tender and exuberant personal narratives' Claire-Louise Bennett 'This woman-guide, who goes from Lampedusa to The Doors with crushing elegance, is unforgettable' Mariana Enriquez 'A dazzling combination of memoir, fiction and art book, like nothing you've ever read before' Elle

Alfred de Dreux ha sette anni quando, camminando per Siena con il suo padrino, si imbatte nel grande Géricault, il martire del romanticismo francese, in città per studiare le linee di Simone Martini. Il loro è «uno di quegli incontri che siglano alleanze e se-gnano destini», perché «il maestro» si rivela non solo pittore di scene epiche con zattere alla deriva, ma abile ritrattista di animali allo stato brado: cavalli, leoni, tigri. Soggetti capaci di colpire profondamente la mente del giovane Alfred che, anni dopo, verrà insignito da Napoleone del ruolo di «ritrattista ufficiale di cavalli». Toulouse-Lautrec non può evitare di fare costantemente i conti con la sua origine. La sua famiglia, aristocratica e reazionaria, discende in linea diretta da Luigi VI e suo padre, il conte Alphonse, indossa la cotta di maglia dei crociati e d’estate passeggia lungo le strade del paese in groppa al suo destriero, portandosi in spalla un falco a cui dà da bere acqua benedetta, per non privarlo dei benefici della religione. Cándido López è convinto che per arrivare al cuore della realtà bisogna deformarla. Ignazio Manzoni, il suo maestro, legge in questa ostinata convinzione il segnale indiscutibile di un temperamento artistico, suggerendogli di andare in Europa. Ma quando il presidente Mitre dichiara guerra al Paraguay, Cándido López corre ad arruolarsi nel battaglione della Guardia Nazionale, guerra dalla quale tornerà con una mano amputata. Tsuguharu Fujita, a ventisette anni, abbagliato dalle avanguardie europee, si imbarca sul Mishimaru diretto a Parigi. Il Mishi-maru fa scalo a Londra e, poiché non distingue una città dall’altra, Fujita scende dalla nave, trovando immediatamente lavoro come sarto di abiti su misura per sir Gordon Selfridge. Le vite dei più grandi artisti si offrono in queste pagine nei loro dettagli più bizzarri e a volte funesti. A narrarle è una guida tu-ristica e critica d’arte di Buenos Aires, una giovane donna che nella loro bizzarria trova conforto alla propria balzana e, a volte, funesta esistenza, in cui le capita di scarrozzare in giro per musei ricchi americani sotto piogge torrenziali, traslocare dalla casa di famiglia avvolta dalle fiamme, sfuggire a una nube di cenere larga due chilometri. Opera che ha inaugurato un nuovo genere letterario in cui romanzo, storia dell’arte e racconto intimo si compenetrano total-mente, Il nervo ottico è una vibrante rappresentazione dell’arte e della profonda connessione che instaura con ogni aspetto della vita. «Questo libro è assolutamente originale: un’opera meravigliosa, a volte delicata e altre volte brutale, e la protagonista è indimenticabile». Mariana Enriquez

Maria Gainza

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