Girl in White by Sue Hubbard

 I read two books by Sue Hibbard this summer – Flatlands and Rainsongs, both of which I loved reading. As I did Girl in White, first published in 2012, and recently re-issued.

 Sue Hubbard is a well-established British writer, poet, and art critic, having written widely over more than three decades. Her novels all, in some way, concern art and artists, though Girl in White focuses on a real woman and her life as an artist.

 Paula Modersohn-Becker was born in 1876 and died in 1907 shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Mathilde Modersohn.  We know this from the beginning of the novel, when the story begins with Mathilde who is, herself, pregnant. She has come to Worpswede, a village in rural Germany, where she was born. It is now 1933. Mathilde is alone, her lover, an American musician, a Jew, has fled to America as Germany appears to be heading toward another war. Other Jewish artists, writers and musicians among others are also getting out of Berlin – out of Germany.

 Chapters alternate between what is happening in Mathilde’s life, and her memories, and the life of her mother. Paula was raised as one of a large family, prosperous when she was a child but less so after her father lost his lucrative position.  Paula has been drawing, and drawn to art, since she was a child. Her family encouraged her in this, she had various teachers while living at home, and went on to study art more and more seriously as she grew older. It was not, however, considered that she would become a professional artist in the way a man might have done. Paula felt differently about her future, and did all that she could to develop her talent and be true to herself and her art.

 At this time many of the men whose names we know had patrons who purchased their work, and galleries that represented their art to the public. Even then for most it was not an easy or secure life. And, there is no getting away from the fact that women were expected to be wives and mothers. Leaving even less time in their lives to devote to their artwork.

 Girl in White gives us a picture of the life and times of one woman who desired, above all, to spend her days at work making art. I did not know anything of Paula Modersohn-Becker and am now very glad to have “discovered” her work through reading fiction.

 Doing a little research after reading this novel, I found that the work of Paula Modersohn-Becker is well represented in major public art galleries around the world and is placed among other artists in the Modernist Movement of the early 20th century.