“Art is what the artist says is art.” A powerful statement from the early twentieth-century realms of the art world, at a time when things were ever-changing depending on the political and social environment of the time. Leon Hawkins, born in the early part of the twentieth century, with the blight of being of mixed race, was abandoned as an infant at an orphanage. He spent his growing-up and formative years at the orphanage, somewhat set apart from the others as his passion was drawing rather than the sports that interested the other boys. His older sister, also abandoned at the orphanage, understood Leon’s passion for art. At twenty-one, when he graduated from the orphanage at a time when the world seemed to be coming apart, Leon’s artistic drive was both hindered and enriched by the homeless life cast upon him. It was the Depression; there were no jobs, especially for artists. But, the Depression didn’t last forever. There was the Second World War and the ever-changing world climate that affected those, like Leon, who created from the depths of their souls. He was a realist. His art reflected exactly what he saw. And, it was his art that eventually attracted the passion of art collectors and art enthusiasts.

Jack Hemphill’s novel, The Realist, is a complex look at early twentieth-century America and how it affected the arts. The author sets his protagonist, Leon, against the odds of a society not yet ready to accept a person of mixed race, let alone one with exceptional artistic talent. The setting and the time are well documented with eloquent descriptive narratives. The plot evolves through Leon’s growing-up years into manhood and his ever-growing passion for art. The author also includes some interesting dissertations on twentieth-century American artistic trends, adding perspective and depth to a novel that is enriched in the growing passion of an artistic spirit. Like Irving Stone’s Lust for Life about Van Gogh, and The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo, this novel is epic in its in-depth and thorough evaluation of art and the world that influenced art. Told with passion and intuitive insight into the artistic world, The Realist itself is a work of art.