The Painter and the Wild Swans by Claude Clement (1986) is an enlightening story about an artist’s very existence as a serious painter. Frederic Clement painted the unusual illustrations. Only now, after reading the story and gazing at the pictures several times do I see swans disguised as snow peaks in the cover art.
Teiji was a painter who lived in a village in Japan. He was the very best of painters. “No one could equal him in capturing the beauty of the tiniest shrub, the most delicate grass, or the iris nearly in bloom.” One day, Teiji saw a flock of swans, and his life changed. Clement’s paintings capture this change brilliantly. Teiji leaves his successful life, takes only his brushes, paints, and paper, and travels in search of the swans. This is a fateful artistic journey.
The story seems to appear on each page in English and in Japanese. It ends with a poem written in English and in Japanese.
