The Underpainter (36 page)

Several books were important for research and inspirational purposes. Among these I would particularly like to mention
Let Us Remember
, a collection of letters from Northumberland County boys involved in the First World War, edited by Percy Climo;
Nineteenth Century Pottery and Porcelain in Canada
, by Elizabeth Collard;
History of Number 1 Canadian General Hospital, 1914-1919
, by Kenneth Cameron;
The Materials of the Artist
, by Max Doerner; and Rockwell Kent’s delightful autobiography,
It’s Me O Lord
. Some, though not all, of the statements made by Robert Henri can be found in
The Art Spirit, a
collection of his lectures, notes, and letters.

Although Robert Henri, Abbott Thayer, and Rockwell Kent did in fact exist, their characters are used in the text in a purely fictional manner, as are certain recognizable places and events, some of which have been altered slightly to fit the shape of the narrative. All other characters and events are fictional.

Conceived during a residency at Memorial University of Newfoundland,
The Underpainter
was completed at Massey College while I was writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto. My heartfelt thanks goes out to both of these institutions.

Finally, a special thank you to Robert Gardner.

Jane Urquhart was born in Little Long Lac, Ontario, and grew up in Toronto. She is the author of five internationally acclaimed novels:
The Whirlpool
, which received Le prix du meilleur livre étranger (Best Foreign Book Award) in France;
Changing Heaven; Away
, winner of the Trillium Award and a finalist for the prestigious International
IMPAC
Dublin Literary Award;
The Underpainter
, winner of the Governor Generals Award and a finalist for the Rogers Communications Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; and
The Stone Carvers
, which was a finalist for The Giller Prize and the Governor Generals Award, and longlisted for the Booker Prize. She is also the author of a collection of short fiction,
Storm Class
, and three books of poetry,
I Am Walking in the Garden of His Imaginary Palace, False Shuffles
, and
The Little Flowers of Madame de Montespan
(
I Am Walking in the Garden of His Imaginary Palace
and
The Little Flowers of Madame de Montespan
were published together in 2000 in a one-volume collector’s edition entitled
Some Other Carden)
. Her work has been translated into numerous foreign languages. Urquhart has received the Marian Engel Award, and is a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Urquhart has received numerous honorary doctorates from Canadian universities and has been writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa and at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and, during the winter and spring of 1997, she held the Presidential Writer-in-Residence Fellowship at the University of Toronto. She has also given readings and lectures in Canada, Britain, Europe, the U.S.A., and Australia.

Jane Urquhart lives in southwestern Ontario.

Her most recent novel is
A Map of Glass
(fall 2005).