THE LANDSCAPE PAINTER

Compelling read by a writer who is highly skilled at dialogue and narrative. (Review by Caroline Smart)

Writer, theatre director and university lecturer Craig Higginson had a winner at the last National Arts Festival in Grahamstown with his play, the compelling and superbly performed The Girl in the Yellow Dress. Added to his successful list of plays, which includes Dream of the Dog, is his novel Last Summer.

His latest novel, The Landscape Painter, is a wide-sweeping story that covers two eras in the life of one man, Arthur Bailey, who became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours at the age of 19.

Inspired by Constable, he explored various mediums and in later life finds himself occasionally working as a scenery painter for theatre and film and selling smaller sketches in watercolour and ink for what he called his Woodbine money.

An accomplished artist he may be, but Arthur Bailey is not well-versed in the ways of love and makes a seriously ill-advised choice when he decides to follow his best friend Christian Hamilton to South Africa, because he is wildly in love with Christian’s sister, the beautiful and complex Carwyn.

He moves in with the family and soon discovers that this is a dysfunctional unit, aggravated by the attendance of the former governess, the rigid Miss Klimt. Arthur and Carwyn are forced to explore their relationship in private and this in itself is a complicated and often unfulfilled process.

The reader’s suspicions are aroused long before Arthur realises the cause of the problem and his position becomes so untenable that he walks away – or in this case, sails away – from it, back to England.

Craig Higginson gives a good description of life in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century, offering evocative glimpses into the traditions, transport and environment of the period. The story moves through the Boer War and focuses on the horrors of Spion Kop.

Back in London, his convoluted relationship with Carwyn colours the rest of his life and lands him in serious trouble when he falls in love with his new neighbour in the flat adjoining his.

Looking back on his life, he recognises that he ruined his chance of achieving anything with a glimmer of miracle running through it and that he had only ever lived in order to gratify himself.

The Landscape Painter is a fascinating read by a writer who is highly skilled at dialogue and narrative. Published by Picador Africa – ISBN 978-1-77010-100-5 – Caroline Smart