Rarely if ever does the creative artist receive either the recognition or the recompense he deserves and needs.
Lisa A. Miles
brings this truism to vibrant life in
This Fantastic Struggle
, the biography of Ester Phillips. Woven together with letters, interviews, scholarly source material, institution documents and art work, this unique cultural essay presents an absorbing glimpse at what it means to be an artist.
Born in Russia, raised in Pittsburgh by a family that couldn't appreciate her artistic identity, Esther left for Greenwich Village in the 1930s and never looked back. And an artist Esther was, though it cost her deeply. Despite early critical success, she was not able to make a living during the Depression and was institutionalized for over six years, likely for the results of starvation and stress. After her release, she returned to her art and to the Village, where her struggle continued. Eventually she lapsed into obscurity, but not before saying she had lived a wonderful life.
is also the story of friendship - the kind that keeps alive both friends and art work that would otherwise have been lost the the world.