Widow Basquiat: A Love Story [Paperback]

Jennifer Clement (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2001

In this extraordinary and unusual book, Jennifer Clement explores the turbulent relationships that Jean-Michel Basquiat had with his muse Suzanne Malouk and with the art establishment. The result is a distressing yet beautiful profile of a strange, powerful love striving to flourish in the face of horrendous outside pressures. And while Suzanne held firm, Basquiat sought refuge in a fatal heroin addiction.

Widow Basquiat also presents an eye-witness account of the drug-fueled insanity of the New York art scene of the 1980s.

Editorial Reviews

Review

a beautifully evocative, poetic memoir ... Basquiat was aware of the criteria with which posterity would judge him. Widow Basquiat should be part of those criteria.A" -The Herald Widow Basquiat is different ... builds up into an engrossing narrative which details nearly all the pivotal events of Basquiat's short life. It's a refreshing angle on a story that could easily have veered into myth-making or melodrama ... Clement offers far more clues to the cryptic symbols which litter his paintings than any art critic could.A" -The Times A brilliant account of the relationship between Basquiat and his muse and lover ... a compelling book that leaves a giant sized lump in the throat ... Clement hypnotises us with a vivid portrait of Basquiat, powerfully evoking his inventiveness as an artistA" -Independent on Sunday --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jennifer Clement studied English Literature and Anthropology at New York University and French Literature in Paris. Clement is the author of the memoir Widow Basquiat, which made the "Booksellers' Choice" list in the U.K., and 2 novels, A True Story Based on Lies, which was a finalist in the Orange Prize for Fiction, and The Poison That Fascinates. She is also the author of several books of poetry: The Next Stranger (with an introduction by W.S. Merwin), Newton's Sailor, and Lady of the Broom, each published in bilingual editions in Mexico, and a New & Selected Poems from Shearsman Books. Clement's work has been translated into eight languages. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Canongate Pub Ltd (May 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086241931X
• ISBN-13: 978-0862419318
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,167,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Clement studied English Literature and Anthropology at New York University and also studied French literature in Paris, France. She is currently the President of PEN Mexico.

Clement is the author of the memoir Widow Basquiat that made the "Booksellers' Choice" list in the United Kingdom and two novels: A True Story Based on Lies, which was a finalist in the Orange Prize for Fiction in the United Kingdom, and The Poison That Fascinates. She is also the author of several books of poetry: The Next Stranger (with an introduction by W.S. Merwin), Newton's Sailor, Lady of the Broom and Jennifer Clement: New and Selected Poems. Her prize-winning story A Salamander-Child has been published as an art book with work by the Mexican painter Gustavo Monroy. Clement's work has been translated into 10 languages.

Jennifer Clement won the Canongate Prize for her story A Salamander-Child. In 2007 she received a MacDowell Fellowship and the MacDowell Colony named her the Robert and Stephanie Olmsted Fellow for 2007-08. In 2009 she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and was named the Thornton Writer-in-Residence at Lynchburg College, USA.


Clement was awarded Mexico's prestigious "Sistema Nacional de Creadores" grant and in 2001 and she is also the recipient of a US-Mexico Fund for Culture (FONCA, Fundacion Cultural Bancomer, the Rockefeller Foundation) grant for the San Miguel Poetry Week, which she founded in 1997 with her sister, Barbara Sibley.


Clement's work has appeared in numerous anthologies including The Best of The American Voice and Akzente, The London Times, The Herald, Poetry London, The Nation, The American Poetry Review, National Geographic, The Warwick Review and The Independent Magazine, among others, have published her stories, poems and essays. Recently, the composer Jan Gilbert created an "Eleven Song Setting" of Clement's The Lady of the Broom for soprano, flute, viola, and violoncello.

Jennifer Clement lives in Mexico City, Mexico.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INSIDE THE ARTIST'S LIFE, July 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Widow Basquiat: A Love Story (Paperback)

When I read this book I could not put it down...I had always been a fan of Jean Michel Basquiat's work and so was very curious to read this book. This book was absolutely beautifully written. It has a very poetic, surreal, childlike quality to it....the style it is written in resembles the style the artist painted in...It is clear that this author was intimately acquainted with both Jean Michael and Suzanne. This book is far from a journalistic accounting of the story...it is about the feeelings, the smells, the tastes....this book is a sensory account of the time...it takes the reader back there...it is amazingly moving. Bravo to Jennifer Clement. I am sure to hear more of her very soon. She is a brilliant writer.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LEGITIMATE GLANCE INTO THE ARTIST'S LIFE & 1980's E. VILLAGE, July 18, 2001

By 

Mike R. "Reader" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Widow Basquiat: A Love Story (Paperback)

Unlike the popular movie "Basquiat" and other convoluted accountings of the artist's life, this book is a part of the "real deal" of what went down --- written by the author with the help of Basquiat's girlfriend of the time --two figures who were really there and in the artist's life well before he was ever heard of or given any serious attention by the likes of Warhol or anyone else with a famous name. This book is free of the hype and distortion that has sadly compromised other descriptions of what really went down. The book also depicts some of the rawness and flavor of what was happening in the East Village/Lower East Side during that time period.

The book is written in a poetically hypnotic style utilizing a structure of short passages for easy reading. Hard to put it down once started. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poetic, sympathetic, and True, March 15, 2002

By 

Dawn C. Kelly "Taylore" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Widow Basquiat: A Love Story (Paperback)

I have been a fan of Basquiat for a long time. I am an artist as well. I have always been intrested in his life and have a lot of books on him and his art and his life. I found this book to be about a totally different perspective. Not only a womens persepctive but a women who was a muse to him. This book does not paint a glorified Picture of him...or a star struck tragic picture of him. It is about Susan and her plight with life, and him being a big part of it. The book is extremely poetic, very dark, sad, melancholy...but above all MOVING. I read it in less than 24 hours. I applaud Jennifer Clement