Books about mortality and drawing
‘My bookshelf is like my brain on the outside.’
While Wendy MacNaughton was an artist-in-residence at the Zen Hospice Project Guest House in San Francisco, she found her eye drawn not to the dying but to the people by their sides. The result is her new book, her third, “How to Say Goodbye,” a poetic, visual guide to spending the last moments with a loved one. MacNaughton was the first visual columnist for The New York Times and has illustrated many books, such as the best-selling cookbook “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.” She lives in Oakland, Calif.
BOOKS: What have you been reading? MACNAUGHTON: My interest in reading right now has been in two camps. One is mortality. My friend Laurel Braitman wrote “What Looks Like Bravery,” which I read in two sittings. Her dad died when she was young so a lot of her memoir is about grief. Seems like I’m on a big grief kick. The other book in the mortality camp is the poet Elizabeth Alexander’s “The Light of the World.” It’s a beautiful memoir about when her husband died suddenly.
BOOKS: What is the other camp? MACNAUGHTON: The other is books on drawing and about how drawing can help us understand being human. My whole point in this lifetime is to learn how drawing can help me understand the world. There’s a new book that addresses that, which I read in three sittings: “Your Brain on Art” by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. It’s about what drawing does to our brains and how just listening to a piece of music changes our neurology. And then I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit this second book because I want to sound cooler than this, but the music producer Rick Rubin’s big bestseller, “The Creative Act.” He wrote about his approach to making things and being cre
ative. It’s fascinating to hear about how he works with musicians to make the circumstances to make art.
BOOKS: When you embarked on your drawing career, were there books that inspired you?
MACNAUGHTON: One of my primers is Betty Edwards’s “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,” which remains one of the best introductions to representational drawings that exists. It’s about learning how to retrain our brains and really see the world. For people interested in drawing, that is one book and the other is “Picture This” by Lynda Barry. Or “Syllabus.” Basically, anything by Lynda Barry.
BOOKS: Are there books that weren’t about drawing that you have found inspirational for work? MACNAUGHTON: My real honest answer is that there was not one specific book but art monographs in used book stores. That was my library, my temple, and my classroom. Green Apple Books in San Francisco has the most phenomenal used art books. I love monographs and have some of Ben Shahn’s work and Saul Steinberg’s.
BOOKS: Do you have a favorite monograph?
MACNAUGHTON: Gerhard Richter’s “Atlas,” which is a kind of visual atlas of his life as an artist. I must have gotten it at 25, and I’ll be buried with that book. I don’t let go of monographs. My bookshelf is like my brain on the outside. It’s really grounding to me to have those.
BOOKS: What is one of the last art or graphic books you bought? MACNAUGHTON: Dave Eggers’s new book, “The Eyes and the Impossible.” The McSweeney’s version has a cut wood cover. It’s about a wild dog who lives in Golden Gate Park. The cover is such a beautiful execution of the content and tone of the book. There are books like that where I will throw down for the limited edition.
BOOKS: Are you a memoir reader? MACNAUGHTON: One I love is the New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck’s “Passing for Human.” Her cartoons are so smart and weird and very simple. She’s one of the most interesting people working in graphic books.
BOOKS: When do you do most of your reading?
MACNAUGHTON: I try to read before bed. Someday, I’ll master the art of that. On airplanes I try not to do a lot of work and keep that as a reading space.
BOOKS: How does the growing number of planes with Wi-Fi affect that? MACNAUGHTON: I find it’s one more place I have to strengthen my resolve. They just test us at every turn.
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter @GlobeBiblio. Amy Sutherland can be reached at amysutherland @mac.com.