Authors Interviewing Characters: Jude Berman

THE VOW

In a stunning work of feminist historical fiction for readers who loved Dawn Tripp’s Georgia and Whitney Scharer’s The Age of Light, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life.

Accused of dressing as a boy to study in the prestigious galleries of eighteenth-century Italy, child prodigy Angelica Kauffman has set high goals for herself. She is determined to become a history painter, a career off-limits to women. To ensure her success, she has vowed never to marry.

When a new patron invites her to London, Angelica befriends famous artists, paints portraits of Queen Charlotte and other royalty, and becomes a founding member of the Royal Academy. While still in London, an alluring but mysterious Swedish count makes her an offer that may be too tempting to resist. Then, upon returning to Italy, she meets Wolfgang von Goethe.

Time and time again, Angelica faces the insurmountable obstacles and great personal sacrifices that come with being an independent woman. The vows she makes, big and small, are repeatedly challenged. Will she break free from the traditional male/female binary and the many oppressive social dictates of her time and learn to “paint with her soul” . . . or is a vow of a different sort necessary if she is to answer the deepest call of her heart?

In The Vow (She Writes Press, 2024), a work of feminist historical fiction, Jude Berman brings painter Angelica Kauffman to life. Here, Jude interviews Angelica.

Jude: Hello, Angelica. What does it feel like to be out in the world again, in a new way, in this novel? 

Angelica: You know, when I look back at my life as Angelica, I see how much of a public personage I was. Of course I hoped people would appreciate my paintings, but I didn’t want them prying into my private affairs. Every little thing I did was scrutinized. I didn’t seek that out. Really, I hated it. 

Jude: And now?

Angelica: Time has given me some much-needed distance. I can see now how, as Angelica, I lived a life that was larger than life. I didn’t understand that while it was happening. You helped me see it in retrospect, especially because you included my perspective after I died. I can see now, for instance, how my life became a gift to others. 

Jude: Do you mean a gift to one special person or to many?

Angelica: Both. It started with one. My connection with Wolfgang was the greatest treasure of my life. Perhaps even more so than my art. That connection began during my lifetime and it continued afterward.

Jude: You’re talking about becoming a spirit guide. I’m not sure many people who know of Angelica Kauffman—and I’m discovering how few outside the art world actually do know of her, of you—have any idea about that. 

Angelica: Guides are not a mainstream, popular notion. But I have to remind you: That is how you found me. 

Jude: It’s not a story I tell often. Or to too many people. 

Angelica: You could tell it here. 

Jude: Okay. I found you because you were the spirit guide of a friend of mine. He knew you and received guidance from you as Angelica, a British artist, but he didn’t realize you had lived a real life… until one day he saw an article about you in an art magazine at a doctor’s office. When I heard that story, I was amazed. It was so esoteric! Immediately I felt compelled to research you, meet you, understand who you were and why you made the choices you made.

Angelica: Did you write The Vow so people would find out? 

Jude: Wait a minute! Now you’re asking me the questions. This is supposed to be me interviewing you! 

Angelica: I’m sorry. 

Jude: You’re right, though. I did, at least initially, think some people who read The Vow might come to see you as a spirit guide. As their guide. After a while, I wasn’t so sure. Do you think that could happen? 

Angelica: It’s possible. But maybe only for those very few people who are able to find the book and who need guidance. 

Jude: But there are other reasons for your story to be known. Please tell me about those.

Angelica: Perhaps the most important is that women need to know more about their own history and about how women in past centuries succeeded as artists and writers, sometimes against all odds. And most of them were lost to history. I would have thought that, after almost three centuries, women would not still need inspiring role models, but I can see I was wrong. Honestly, it was easier for a woman to be enthroned as the Queen of England than it is for a woman to be elected president of the United States! 

Jude: As someone who has been called an “early feminist,” how do you think you would feel as a woman in today’s world? 

Angelica: Actually, I wish I could experience that. As a married woman, I would not be the property of a man. If I wanted to become an artist, I could study in a studio alongside men. I could actually learn to paint the human figure, instead of only observing statues or prints. I would own my own paintings. Imagine that! I would be able to vote and express my opinions. I could write a book in my own name. I wouldn’t have to worry about catching smallpox. To be honest, for so many reasons, I’m rather envious of your life.

Me: But if I tell you that many women feel distressed by the persistent inequities and the recent regression in rights for women, what would you say? 

Angelica: That’s a good point. While the amazing progress is what stands out for me, I also know that if I had experienced the freedoms you feel you are losing or haven’t full achieved, I’d feel distressed as well. 

Me: I’m curious what you think of modern art? 

Angelica: Art has changed so much since the eighteenth century! Like other artists at the time, I used mythology in my paintings because it speaks to the universal human experience. I still think the purpose of art is to help us uncover what makes us human. I do—and this might surprise you—appreciate modern art that tells the human story in a new way. For example, the work of Frida Kahlo. However, art that seems mechanical or meaningless doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t feel touched by Mark Rothko’s paintings, for example; I don’t see how they help us better understand ourselves. 

Me: And technology? 

Angelica: Technology is baffling to me. It seems essentially neutral—a tool that can be used for good or for bad. If I had the opportunity, I’d like to give it a try. 

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Jude Berman grew up amid floor-to-ceiling shelves of books in many languages. In addition to a love of literature, her refugee parents instilled in her a deep appreciation for cultural diversity and social justice. Jude has a BA in art from Smith College and an EdD in cross-cultural communication from UMass Amherst. After a career in academic research, she built a freelance writing and editing business and ran two small independent presses. In her free time, she volunteers for progressive causes, paints with acrylic watercolors, gardens, meditates, and blogs at https://judeberman.org. Jude lives in Berkeley, California, where she continues to work with authors and write fiction. 

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing