The Pelton Papers: A Novel

A richly imagined novel based on the life of artist Agnes Pelton, The Pelton Papers covers everything from her shrouded Brooklyn childhood to her early success in the Armory Show of 1913, subsequent retreat to a contemplative life, and, ultimately, the flowering of her deeply spiritual art.

A richly imagined novel based on the life of artist Agnes Pelton, whose life tracks the early days of modernism in America. Born into a family ruined by scandal, Agnes becomes part of the lively New York art scene, finding early success in the famous Armory Show of 1913. Fame seems inevitable, but Agnes is burdened by shyness and instead retreats to a contemplative life, first to a Long Island windmill, and then to the California desert. Undefeated by her history-family ruination in the Beecher-Tilton scandal, a shrouded Brooklyn childhood, and a passionate attachment to another woman-she follows her muse to create more than a hundred luminous and deeply spiritual abstract paintings.