Eileen Gray: A House Under The Sun

Eileen Gray: A House Under The Sun is an unusual fictionalized biography, at least in my experience. Few non-academic books are written about Eileen Gray and fictionalized biographies are rare for architects and designers in general. Although biographies of designers and architects are usually well illustrated, few take the form of a graphic novel. The choice of crayon (pencil) is less usual than ink and it is less often combined with watercolor than ink is. The style of the illustrations fits the subject, the location, and time period and is imbibed with an awareness of architectural drawing techniques but again, is unusual for graphic novels. The limited uses of bolder rather than softer colors is very appropriate.The text is in English with sprinkles of easily-understood French. The technique is handled well and though it is not a perfect solution, it is perhaps the best way to solve the problem of conveying the idea that the dialogue is supposed to be in French. The story moves back and forth through time and that is handled very bluntly, although I don't know that a simple timeline might not have been better. Eileen Gray's bisexuality is barely touched on although it was certainly a major factor in her personal life. Her independence and willingness to go her own way is emphasized throughout.The mini-biographies in the final pages give more actual information about the people in Gray's milieu than the story itself does and seem to be almost an afterthought but do allow the story to be very readable in the way that fiction so often is and biographies so rarely are. Remembering that it is a fictionalized biography and thinking of that appendage as a list of characters makes it more palatable.Overall, an unusual book that may not at first seem to have broad popular appeal but which certainly can assemble a large audience from readers of the many niche interests to which it does appeal.

Eileen Gray: A House Under The Sun tells the story of an influential modern architecture house, through scenes from the life of the architect, Eileen Gray. The story is not linear. It jumps through time, with background about theories on aesthetics coming out through flashbacks or flash forwards, and the main story following Eileen leaving the house and a relationship with the man she built the house with, and then Le Corbusier painting some murals in the house that really clash with the style and dramatically change the nature of the house. When I say it's about the construction of the house, most of the text is not about that. But, the images are. In comic book format, the images tell the story as much as the text. Here, images show the architecture, while story and biographical flashbacks show the thought and philosophy behind the architecture.The promotional material about this emphasize the Eileen Gray is queer. So, I'd thought lots of the story would be about that and about who has affairs with who and something like a soap opera then other stuff. Refreshingly, it's not. The actual relationship in the story is her in her 40s getting involved with a 15 year younger architect, then building the house with him to live in with him. She chooses the location, does the design, and finances construction with him as her muse, then leave him, then Le Corbusier visits and paints murals and he tells Le Corbusier that she'll never come back to him now and can't ever see what he did to her work. The focus is very much on aesthetics, business (her doing artistic work and finding a way to make a living with it, including networking with the wealthy who have money for art and interior decoration), and men getting the credit - the house was influential for modern architecture and was attributed to different male architects who lived there. Each time it was sold, it was attributed to a man. The book is much more nuanced and ultimately more feminist than the blurb makes it sound. I was expecting a soap opera treatment to build interest, but it's better than that.Graphics are great. They are generally more detailed and less graphical/geometric than the cover illustration. Color palette is limited and tends to be greys, blues, and beiges. Illustrations drive the story as far as exploring architecture goes. It really is a situation of a picture is worth 1,000 words. The aesthetic philosophies of characters are told through pics.Production value for the book is good. It's printed on thicker paper with a very slight texture, almost like a thinner watercolor paper. The cover on the hardcover is also done in similar paper. The book has a little of an art book feel.This is from Nobrow publishers. They tend to have a quirk, garish, in-your-face style. This is pretty different. It's much more calm and thoughtful than just about everything else I've seen from that publisher.

Eileen Gray was an enigmatic designer/architect/artist/free spirit/bisexual/etc/etc who was lucky enough to be part of the bohemian artistic circles in France of th 20s and 30s. This fictionalized graphic biography is nearly as enigmatic as she.The story is told in vignettes, all visually arresting, that are out of chronological order except that they do begin in Gray's childhood. Many of the vignettes are enigmatic, with the viewer reader having to deduce what's going on and extrapolate the meaning.Which is okay in itself. Some may find the rewards insufficient for the effort. But everyone can revel in the beautiful art on the page.If you're deeply confused there are pocket biographies of most of the characters at the end of the book. But don't read them first; that would go against the author/illustrator's intention of having you figure things out.Recommended if you like the offbeat and are willing to put in the effort.

I disliked that it was written in cartoon like format. I dropped it in to the charity shop. Someone may like it.

An entertaining account of a great house infected with Jealousies and competing egos. But that is how great architects function.The sketches which tell the whole story are wonderful and easy to grasp.