Hidden Tapestry: Jan Yoors, His Two Wives, and the War That Made Them One - Softcover

Dean, Debra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 081013683X ISBN 13: 9780810136830

Publisher: Northwestern University Press, 2018

Synopsis

Hidden Tapestry reveals the unforgettable story of Flemish American artist Jan Yoors--childhood vagabond, wartime resistance fighter, and New York bohemian -- and the two women who shared his life and wove his magnificent tapestries. At the peak of his fame in the 1970s, Yoors' photographs and vast tapestries inspired a dedicated following in his adopted Manhattan. Though his intimate friends guessed the rough outline of his colorful life, Hidden Tapestry is first to detail his astonishing secrets.
At twelve, Jan's life took an extraordinary and unexpected turn when, lured by stories of Gypsies, he wandered off with a group of Roma. Later, as an adult in German-occupied France, Yoors joined the Resistance and persuaded his adoptive Roma family to fight alongside him. Defying repeated arrests and torture by the Gestapo, he worked first as a saboteur and later escorted Allied soldiers trapped behind German lines across the Pyrenees to freedom.

After the war, he married childhood friend Annabert van Wettum and embarked on his career as an artist. When a friend of Annabert's, Marianne Citroen, modeled for Yoors, Hidden Tapestry reveals how the two began an affair, which led the three to form a polygamous family that would last for the rest of their lives. Moving to New York, the trio became part of the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in the 1950s.

Told in arresting detail by Debra Dean, best-selling author of The Madonnas of Leningrad, Yoors's story is a luminous and inspiring account of resilience, resourcefulness, and love.

About this title

About the Author

DEBRA DEAN is the best-selling author of a short-story collection and two novels, The Mirrored World and The Madonnas of Leningrad—the latter a New York Times Editors’ Choice and #1 Booksense Pick. She lives in Miami and teaches at Florida International University.

Review

PRAISE FOR HIDDEN TAPESTRY:"Debra Dean puts the stitches in the rich tapestry that was Jan Yoors's life, surely one of the most remarkable artistic stories of the twentieth century. She reveals his incredible life of exploration, adventure,and heroism, as well as his truly unique ménage. I'm hugely impressed with her research and writing--and green with envy that she found such a fascinating subject to write about."  -Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome and Mad Enchantment
 
"It's rare when an extraordinary artist wins a biographer of equal quality. As someone who admired Jan Yoors greatly and once spent a few days in his unusual household, I'm delighted to see this story told with grace, with careful research, and with such compassion for the women who were an invisible part of his work."- Adam Hochschild, best-selling author of Half the Way Home: A Memoirof Father and Son, and King Leopold's Ghost
 



"Debra Dean has written that unique book that is scholarly, historically important... full of vibrant and fascinating characters, beautifully written, and somehow--almost improbably--true."  - Ann Hood, best-selling author of The Book That Matters Most and The Knitting Circle
 
"In Hidden Tapestry, Debra Dean dives into the artist's singular backstory and the equally compelling stories of his wives, Annabert van Wettum and Marianne Citroen. This is a well-researched, well-written, and unusual biography. . . There's a fascinating story here, and Dean tells it well." -Foreword Magazine

". . . the kind of book that stays with you long after reading the last page." --Story Circle Book Reviews 

Edition details

• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 081013683X
• ISBN 13: 9780810136830
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 307