Description
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an American writer, known by his pen name Mark Twain. He was lauded as the “greatest humorist the United States has produced,” and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature. One of his novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has often been called the “Great American Novel”. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.
My inspiration for this painting was the way Twain helped Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was suffering from a terminal illness and had been contacted by a publisher to write his memoirs. Twain heard they were contracting to pay just 10% of sales to Grant who desperately needed the money for his family. Twain stepped in and basically paid Grant $500,000 (in 1885) for the writing. Twain worked by Grant’s side over the next several months as Grant wrote his now famous memoirs, providing literary advice as Grant wrote out each page. Twain also proof-read the pages as Grant worked tirelessly to finish the book before he passed away. A few days after the writing was finally finished, Ulysses S. Grant died. The tiny amount of green that I used is a nod to this gesture of paying for this writing. The amount of reds that I used are a nod to both Grant and Twain who were both red heads.
