Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
80 used & new from £0.01

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Underpainter
 
See larger image
 

The Underpainter (Paperback)

by Jane Urquhart (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
Price: £5.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £1.50 (21%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want guaranteed delivery by Saturday, July 11? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
22 new from £1.49 58 used from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover £14.99 £14.24 15 used & new from £0.75
Paperback 22 used & new from £0.01
Unknown Binding 14 used & new from £1.69

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart

The Underpainter + The Stone Carvers
Price For Both: £11.48

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Stone Carvers

The Stone Carvers

by Jane Urquhart
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  £5.99
The Whirlpool

The Whirlpool

by Jane Urquhart
A Map of Glass

A Map of Glass

by Jane Urquhart
£7.19
Away

Away

by Jane Urquhart
4.1 out of 5 stars (8)  £6.99
Tell No-One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) [DVD] [2006]

Tell No-One (Ne Le Dis A Personne) [DVD] [2006]

DVD ~ Marie-Josee Croze
4.0 out of 5 stars (58)  £2.98
Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (23 Jul 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747535213
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747535218
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.2 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 381,493 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > U > Urquhart, Jane

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jane Urquhart's The Underpainter is a very modern novel preoccupied with the power of the past. Austin Fraser, born in 1894, is a modernist who relentlessly paints over his canvases, much as he tries to eradicate people from his life. Though he insists that he has forgone emotion and love, when he receives news of a women he once knew, he can no longer stop memories from encroaching. Urquhart's novel ranges from late-century Rochester, New York, on to Ontario then Paris and New York City. Not since Patrick White's The Vivisector have there been such disturbing scenes of the painter in action: "I believed that I was drawing-- literally drawing--everything out of her, that his act of making art filled the space around me so completely there would be no other impressions possible beyond the ones I controlled." Intriguingly, by exposing Fraser's emptiness, Urquhart makes us pity him. Though she has said that she was "quite angry with Austin" while writing The Underpainter, the author's language incises his reluctant humanity and turns his life into a work of art.

Product Description
Austin Fraser's painting teacher had indoctrinated him with the view that unless something could be turned into art, it simply was not worth his time. And in this he included people. Austin certainly applied the principle to Sara Pengelly, who lived alone on the northern edge of Lake Superior, and whom Austin travelled north to visit for fifteen summers. During his annual visits Austin scrutinised Sara's every nuance of face and body with a bloodless and voracious intimacy - accumulating and hoarding her image for the paintings he executed in his New York studio during the rest of the year. He was her lover but he never dreamt of loving her. Art did not demand it. THE UNDERPAINTER is a breathtaking novel that examines art as exploitation, whilst interweaving captivating narrative threads of First World War drama; a world of war the purist Austin snobbishly despised until his friend in the field was himself shattered.

See all Product Description

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Underpainter
85% buy the item featured on this page:
The Underpainter 5.0 out of 5 stars (3)
£5.49
The Stone Carvers
15% buy
The Stone Carvers 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
£5.99

 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving,compulsive and well-written, 17 Jun 2001
By hugueninf@bluewin.ch (Thun,Switzerland.) - See all my reviews
It's been a wet Saturday which gave me a good excuse to read this beautiful novel in one sitting.I'd never heard of Jane Urquhart but am now eager to read more of her work.Her landscapes and characters are vividly portrayed as their story draws us in.A novel which is absorbing,thought-provoking and a real page-turner.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful writing, tragic story, fabulous book, 13 Jun 2001
By A Customer
I simply couldn't believe how good this novel was. The quality of the writing, the spellbinding story, and the subject matter itself - so different from anything I've read before. It made me want to savour every word. Set in Canada and the northern USA in the decades between 1910 and 1940, it is told through the eyes of "the underpainter", a man who has squandered his opportunities for happiness and personal fulfilment - one could hardly call him the hero of the story. If the book has a hero, it is his friend, George, who paints pictures of quite a different kind.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Underpainter, 19 Mar 2006
The Underpainter is a riveting novel about an artist, whose defining trait, is to wash overtop what he originally painted, and paint over that, leaving only faint images, of what had been. In this novel, Jane Urquahart has painted the picture of an artist who is obsessed with painting,to the point of destroying both himself and those who care about him. I could not put this book down.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


The Body Shop

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Skin Boost
Protect and boost your glow with The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost.

Shop The Body Shop

 

More From Jane Urquhart

A Map of...

A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart

'An epic of love and loss with an intriguing twist Tender, romantic... Read more
£7.99 £7.19

 

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

 

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

Learn more about Gift Certificates

 
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Host
The Host by Stephenie Meyer

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates