Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was an American novelist and short-story writer noted for her psychological thrillers, including five books featuring her most celebrated creation, the con-man and serial killer Tom Ripley. A troubled person and in many respects a problematic human being, Highsmith was nonetheless a trailblazer in the field of queer literature. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train (1950) features a subtext of suppressed homosexual attraction which became central to the famous film adaptation directed by Alfred Hitchcock the following year. Homoeroticism is also a key ingredient in her first Ripley novel, 1955’s The Talented Mr Ripley, which has been adapted for the cinema several times: most famously as René Clément’s Plein Soleil (1960), starring Alain Delon, and Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley (1999), featuring Matt Damon in the title role. Always refreshingly frank about her sexuality, Patricia Highsmith once remarked that ‘The only difference between us and heterosexuals is what we do in bed.’ As early as 1952, she pseudonymously published The Price of Salt, regarded as the first lesbian novel to have a happy ending. Five years before her death, the novel was reissued under Highsmith’s own name and with the new title Carol. In 2015 Todd Haynes directed a film adaptation starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Other film adaptations of Highsmith’s work include: Ripley’s Game (2002), The Cry of the Owl (2009), The Two Faces of January (2014), A Kind of Murder (2016)

Framed Dimensions: 312mm x 396mm (Unframed: 297mm x 210mm)

Carmine ink on 220gsm Daler Rowney smooth paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.

Please note, this is the original artwork by Barnaby. It is unique and not a reproduction.