The Higher Call by LuLu Johnson

Name: The Higher Call by LuLu Johnson
SKU: 3432
Availability: InStock

Original price was: $17.99.Current price is: $15.99.

LuLu Johnson’s bold collection The Higher Call offers an intimate glimpse behind the curtain of artists and life models. Echoing John Berger’s insight that “to be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself,” Johnson deftly alternates between poems that give voice to Picasso’s muses and those that speak to her own experiences as a model. With evocative, unflinching language that is at times funny and fearless, Johnson humanizes the model and transforms how we see both art and ourselves as viewers.

–Andrea Jurjević – author of In Another Country

The Higher Call pulls you onto the model’s stand, where bodies ache, gazes consume, and immortality comes at a cost. These fifteen interwoven poems let Picasso’s muses—Marie-Thérèse Walter and Olga Khokhlova—step out of the frame to speak, while the poet’s own experiences as a figure model mirror their longing, betrayal, and desire to be seen. Under blue spotlights and the scrape of Conté crayons, the collection explores what it means to give yourself over to art: to be transformed, possessed, adored, and ultimately forgotten. Lyrical and unflinching, The Higher Call asks—what price do we pay to become immortal?

–Phillip Shabazz — author of Moonflower

Advance Orders, BookstoreSKU:

Description
Reviews (0)

The Higher Call

by LuLu Johnson

Paper

Pre-order Price Guarantee until May 29, 2026

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

This title will be released on July 24, 2026

Part primer on how to model for artists and part art historical imagining, The Higher Call offers an intimate glimpse inside the private world of the art studio. LuLu Johnson uses her degree in art history and her personal experience to give voice to Picasso’s muses and reflect on work as a life model. These fifteen interwoven poems let models step out of the frame to speak of their longing, betrayal, and desire to be seen. The collection explores what it means to give one’s life over to art and asks what price women pay to become immortal. Funny and fearless, lyrical and unflinching, The Higher Call brings art and history to life with musical sensuality.

#art #arthistory #artists #artstudio #artmuse #lifemodeling #artmodel #artistsmodel #modeling #pablopicasso #marietherese #goldenmuse #modeling #thehighercall

LuLu Johnson earned a degree in Art History from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA in Poetry from Georgia State University. In Atlanta, LuLu began modeling for artists in graduate school, and she now resides in Appalachia where she hikes and writes her novels and poems.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “The Higher Call by LuLu Johnson”