Marc Petitjean is a writer, filmmaker, and photographer. He has
directed several documentaries, including From Hiroshima to
Fukushima, on Dr. Shuntaro Hida, a survivor of the atomic bombing
of Hiroshima; Tresor Vivant, on a Japanese kimono painter; and
Zones grises, on his own search for information about the life of
his father, Michel Petitjean, after his death.
Adriana Hunter studied French and Drama at the University of
London. She has translated more than eighty books, including
Veronique Olmi's Bakhita and Herve Le Tellier's Electrico W, winner
of the French-American Foundation's 2013 Translation Prize in
Fiction. She lives in Kent, England.
“Compelling…[Petitjean] captures the pop and fizz of artistic
circles in Paris during the interwar years…The Heart is a
distinctively intimate undertaking, which is no small feat
considering its well-known cast of characters…an unconventional and
deeply personal biography.” —Washington Post
“An intimate portrait of the artist and her time in the lively
1930s surrealist scene.” —New York Times Book Review
“This crisp, concise, radiant gem of a book is a delight all the
way through, whether you see it as a yarn of multigenerational
heartbreak and longing, a beautiful and unlikely father-son
chronicle, a classic artist-muse love story, or a cautionary tale
about the most obsessively rendered city on earth.” —Bookforum
“Petitjean’s unique, frank, and intriguing account details with
precision and wonder a rarely examined chapter in Kahlo’s
extraordinary life.” —Booklist (starred review)
“An intimate, unforgettable portrait of a brief but transformative
time in Kahlo’s life and of the turbulent beginnings of France’s
Surrealist Movement.” —Foreword Reviews (starred review)
“[A] captivating biography…a perceptive portrait of an artist
finding herself and learning to love and paint again. Fans of
Kahlo’s art and of the surrealist movement will want to give this
thoughtful and illuminating work a look.” —Publishers Weekly
“A breezy bit of art history about a 1939 affair between the
author’s father and Frida Kahlo in Paris…the story is transportive
and dreamy.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Marc Petitjean grew up in Paris with a haunting picture by Frida
Kahlo on the walls of his family’s modest apartment. Decades later,
a stranger asked him about his father’s love affair with Frida.
This revelation, out of the blue, spurred him to investigate what
had happened between them. The result is an intimate portrait,
beautifully written, not only of the two lovers, but of bohemian
Paris, and its most influential figures, at a turning point in
history: the eve of war, in 1939. The Heart beats suspensefully
with real life.” —Judith Thurman, author of Secrets of the Flesh: A
Life of Colette
“This book gives a poignant picture—part imagined and part true—of
Frida Kahlo’s days in Paris among other surrealists during a show
of her paintings. It’s told by the son of a French lover to whom
she gave her powerful painting, The Heart, who was searching to
understand his father better.” —Laurie Lisle, author of Portrait of
an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O’Keeffe and Louise Nevelson: A
Passionate Life
“Incredibly lively and sensitive…a book that takes an important
place in the bibliography of this modern Mexican heroine.”
—Connaissance des Arts
“Superb…[Petitjean] enables us to discover the artistic Paris of
the interwar period.” —La Presse de la Manche
“[Petitjean] paints a portrait as personal as it is perceptive of
the intrepid Mexican [artist], while reviving the colors of the
ebullient interwar art scene. Captivating.” —Paris Match
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