The Last Nude, Ellis Avery
The Last Nude, Ellis Avery
2 Rating(s)
List: $24.47 | Sale: $17.13
Club: $12.23

The Last Nude

Author: Ellis Avery

Narrator: Thérèse Plummer, Barbara Caruso

Unabridged: 11 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/05/2012


Synopsis

Paris, 1927, a day in July. A destitute young American named Rafaela Fano gets into the car of a dazzling stranger, the Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. Struggling to halt a downward slide toward prostitution, Rafaela agrees to model for the artist. The two become lovers, and Rafaela inspires Tamara’s most accomplished and prized works of art, including Beautiful Rafaela, “one of the most important nudes of the twentieth century” (New York Times).
 
 The relationship between the artist and her muse lasted less than a year, yet in 1980, just before Tamara died, she was working on a copy of Beautiful Rafaela. Author Ellis Avery imagines their affair from Rafaela’s point of view, and the final day of Tamara’s life from the painter’s point of view. A window into Jazz Age Paris as the forces of history close in, The Last Nude is a story of genius and craft, art and money, friendship and desire.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily on April 10, 2023

A sensual drama that explores the line between inspiration and exploitation in art and love. With alluring prose charged with emotion, the Last Nude is a study in what makes art groundbreaking, what sets creative minds apart from the rest. It is also an examination of the hearts artists are willing......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on September 04, 2012

I haven't given five stars to a book in a long time, so that's something! This was such a beautiful book to read. I loved the subtle, smooth writing style, the descriptions of everyday objects and happenings, the way the characters' eyes opened in different ways...I loved all of it. I even loved the......more

Goodreads review by Ksia_zkowe on February 18, 2023

3,5⭐️......more

Goodreads review by Holly on December 11, 2011

When is a muse an inspiration and when is she a plaything? The distinction is hazy in Ellis Avery’s The Last Nude. 1927 Paris, Rafaela only wants a hundred francs to buy a black dress so she can take over her flat mate’s department store job. In danger of falling into prostitution, she meets Tamara D......more

Goodreads review by C.W. on December 18, 2014

With razor-sharp prose and an unapologetic lack of sentimentality, THE LAST NUDE depicts a pivotal time in 1920s Paris, during the life of the acclaimed Art Deco painter, Tamara Lempicka, and her tumultuous affair with an American-born teenage muse, Rafaela, immortalized in Lempicka's work, "La Bell......more