#18 The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart

# 18 The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart

I’ve learned, dear reader, during the time I’ve been reading and writing for this blog, that I generally gravitate towards books based on the cover art.  Simply put, if the cover has a pretty picture, I’ll have a look. Not long ago I was in a second hand bookstore and my eye was drawn to the painting on the cover of this novel; a still life of tulips painted in a way that reminded me of the old masters, layered with detail, warm light and muted colors and I wondered how this painting hinted at the story within.

The Underpainter explores the lengths people go to get what they want; travelling alongside self-denial as a means to an end ultimately leads the main character to discover his life has been built on failures. It sounds heavy, I know, but Ms. Urquhart writes with such beauty and grace that her story becomes light and enthralling. 

The story is about Austin Fraser, an American painter whose father strikes it rich in Canadian mining and drags his son north for the summer of 1920. After much coaxing on his father’s part, young Austin reluctantly becomes involved in the town of Davenport where he becomes friends with George who runs the China Hall and whose passion is painting on china. Austin doesn’t see George’s passion as ‘real’ art and arrogantly tries to enlighten his friend by sharing the philosophies of his own mentors whose viewpoints vastly contradict each other.  Despite the tenuous start, Austin travels to Davenport to spend a few days with George almost every summer afterwards before travelling further north to Silver Islet Landing on Lake Superior to paint Sara, his muse and his lover but never someone he shares himself with, returning to New York in the fall to complete his unfinished work while eliminating all thought of Sara and their time together. 

When an elderly Austin receives news of Sara’s death and that he has inherited her cabin, he embarks on a journey through his memories; his childhood after his mother died, his father’s rise to wealth, the disparate views of his mentors and how their influence caused him to lead a life of emptiness, compartmentalizing his relationships and living without sentimentality; George’s war experience and that of Augusta, a nurse from the same area who took care of him while in hospital at the front. Austin comes to realize his weakness is never having opened himself up to life or the people who inhabit lives that surround him and this weakness is reflected in his art and his relationships. His character sums it up nicely when studying art in New York as a young man - Austin describes himself as a tourist in his life; watching and observing as opposed to participating in life and having experiences. As he matures, his self-absorption blinds him from truly seeing his art, his subject, George and even himself for what they really are. What he thought was a life of passion was really carelessness towards himself and others.

The imagery in this novel is powerful and vivid and the author’s use of language to capture a landscape, a sense of place or feeling is intricate and skillful. And a novel about a painter wouldn’t be complete without wonderful descriptions on painting techniques (Austin’s rendering of scenes and landscapes - the underpainting - covered by the shadowed veiling of the overpainting or what the painting is about could be a metaphor for his life).

While this was a sad and haunting book it showcases not only our northern landscapes but is a fine example of an exemplary Canadian author. Until next time…have you read a Canadian book lately?

Julie