In the past 40 years, comics have gone from an underground, alternative, and niche concern to being used as a tool for learning in primary schools across the country and critiqued in universities the world over. Many of us first experience “reading” images in the sequential format of graphic novels before ever entering a museum.

Join the first of our quarterly book clubs centered around the art of the graphic novel where we’ll be discussing The Woman With Fifty Faces: Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was. Author Jonathan Lackman and illustrator Zachary James Pinson will be present to answer questions about this biographical graphic novel, which chronicles the elusive life and tumultuous times of Maria Lani. This casual book club and roundtable is facilitated by R&D Store staff and Colleen AF Venable.

In 1928, Maria Lani blew into Paris claiming to be a famous German actress and proceeded to seduce the cultural elite with her undeniable charisma and strangely enticing enigmatic aura. She persuaded fifty artists — Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Georges-Henri Rouault, Fernand Léger, and Suzanne Valadon among them — to immortalize her in paintings and sculptures, which would appear as an important plot device in a forthcoming film. Unveiled as an exhibition in New York, the artworks traveled to Chicago, London, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Paris. But, in 1931, as legend eventually had it, Lani and her husband, Max Abramowicz, vanished without a trace, and so did the art. The film was never made.

To reserve your seat at the book club either purchase your copy of The Woman With Fifty Faces in advance (with free shipping) here or RSVP here.

About the Speakers:
Jonathan Lackman first wrote about Maria Lani for Art in America and has written for The New York Times, Harper’s, The New Yorker, Slate, ARTnews, and Wired. He has completed a PhD in art history from NYU and a fiction fellowship at the MacDowell Colony.

Zachary James Pinson has spent the last two decades weaving in and out of comics, painting, and underground music. His paintings have been shown in galleries in New York, New England, and Paris.

Colleen AF Venable is an author, designer, and maker. She recently adapted Barbara Park’s beloved Junie B. Jones into graphic novel format. Her other titles include the YA graphic novel Kiss Number 8 (illustrated by Ellen T. Crenshaw) and the indie bestseller Katie the Catsitter.