Windsor resident Kelly Conway has recently published “The Women in White,” a novel celebrating the life and work of beloved Spanish Impressionist artist Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923). Sorolla left behind a legacy of more than 4,000 vibrant paintings of seascapes, landscapes, family groups, portraits and social commentaries.
An expert on the history and culture of Spain, Conway views Windsor as a tranquil haven where he can nourish the creative energy to author his books as well to write his Substack blog, My Iberian Journey, which is focused on Spanish history, art and culture.
His previous books, “Holy Ghost: A Novel of the Spanish Civil War” and “The War Continues: The Iberian Trilogy Book Two,” are historical novels focused on the events of the war and the country’s recovery.
“I have travelled to Spain over 60 times. I have visited every corner of the country, and I have been on the great pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago, 11 times in the past 12 years. It is a remarkable and varied place,” says Conway.
“In all three of my books, in addition to writing a good story and providing historical insight, I have wanted to create a strong sense of place. I hope the reader will feel that they are in these remarkable destinations that I have come to know and love. I have tried to do this in ‘The Women in White’ as well.”
In this new novel, Conway has taken it upon himself to help Sorolla regain his proper stature in the artistic consciousness of America.
In the early 1900s, following exhibitions organized by the Hispanic Society of America, Sorolla had become as revered in the United States as he was abroad. The Manhattan-based Hispanic Gallery and Library still houses his vast Visión de España series.
Over time, however, he became largely forgotten here.
The novel is also a gift to Blanca Pons-Sorolla, the great granddaughter of the celebrated painter.
After befriending Conway, she opened many doors and provided invaluable insights into her great grandfather’s world.
“Unexpectedly, from out of the blue, my life has been drawn into the orbit of beauty and light of the great Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla,” says Conway.
“He is called the painter of light for a reason. And, deserving much praise, Blanca has dedicated her life to preserving her great grandfather’s legacy.”
The initial section of the novel takes readers back to 1622, speaking to when Diego Velázquez became artist in residence to the young king of Spain, Philip IV.
At age 17, Sorolla first gazed upon the Velázquez painting “Las Meninas,” one of the most revered and puzzling works on display in the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. The work continued to be an unwavering inspiration for Sorolla, who spent countless hours in the museum studying the masterpiece.
When asked why he chose fiction to describe the relationship between the two artists, Conway replies without hesitation.
“I am a teller of stories, and I believe that fiction serves history and complicated tales very well. I am not a historian, so I wrote the story of the artists, Sorolla and Velasquez, as a novel. They are linked and that led me to think about how art connects us through memory,” he explains.
Conway’s focus on memory is a strong theme that is explored and revealed in the novel through Maria, one of Sorolla’s three beloved children. After having been injured in an auto accident, it details her complicated quest to find her memory through the rediscovery of her grandfather’s paintings.
The book features dozens of reproductions of Sorolla’s works, as well as select works by Velasquez, and Conway comments on the importance of their inclusion.
“The artists’ stories needed to be told through words and pictures. The paintings guide the story and help the reader discover the genius of each of these artists,” Conway explains.
The book’s cover is embellished with one of Sorolla’s glorious paintings, “Walk on The Beach,” 1909. In it, two elegantly attired ladies, Sorolla’s cherished wife and muse, Clotilde, and their daughter, Maria, are pictured wearing lovely, long white dresses and straw hats, casually strolling along the seashore.
Another prominent historical figure in the novel is Archer Milton Huntington, whose Hispanic Museum and Library introduced Sorolla’s work to America in 1910. Huntington contracted Sorolla to use his energy, imagination and artistic talent to create a unique homage to Spain for the museum.
The resultant Visión de España is a series of 14 enormous canvas panels which form a 200-foot frieze depicting the Spain’s various customs, costumes and traditions. It is housed in a specially designated room in the Hispanic Museum.
Sorolla worked on the project for almost eight years, starting in 1911, traveling all over Spain in all sorts of extreme weather conditions until its completion in 1920. Shortly thereafter, Sorolla, exhausted, suffered a stroke and never painted again.
After Sorolla’s death in 1923, the country went into deep mourning and his wife gifted their family home and more than 1,000 of his paintings to the country of Spain. The sumptuous house and its bucolic gardens, designed by the artist himself, remain today as a serene outpost in the center of Madrid.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
