Product Description
Van Gogh spent the last two years of his life in Provence, where he painted his greatest pictures, and this book tells the artist's own story of his most creative period. It reproduces extensive extracts from his correspondence and is illustrated with his paintings, drawings and facsimile letters. Van Gogh's letters are a testimony to his struggle to survive and work. Here, the combination of letters and illustrations, concentrating on the period when he painted his greatest works, aims to provide an insight into his daily life in Arles and St-Remy, his spiritual torment and the process of artistic creation itself. The author is an "Observer" journalist specializing in the arts, and has published four previous books, including "Young Vincent: The Story of Van Gogh's Years in England". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gasp!
Van Gogh's letters from this, his most creative period, are not possibly a one read collection. Nor, do they necessarily demand an appreciation for his work. Historians of psychiatry and students of creativity and manic depression should not allow this primary source information to be overlooked.
Van Gogh's incestuous relationship with his brother, Theo, was covered dramatically in the film 'Vincent and Theo.' These letters are less pathological but certainly prove the interdependency, which no doubt increased unbearably upon Vincent's death. (Theo was dead a year later and had been chained to the wall in an assylum.)
But this is equally a series of untoward rapture for the natural world and the ordinary people he encountered there. We are introduced, in story and paintings, to some of the most memorable subjects of Van Gogh's accumulated works, Gaughan, Dr. Gauchet, The Chief Orderly in his assylum, The Postal Worker. There are also self-portraits and their impossibly anguished stories.
This is a 5-star work. There is no comparable work for insight into the man and the paintings. It also explains that inescapable discomfort and exaltation felt by studying his work.
Short and concise, it covers more than a biography and includes all the Provence masterpieces. ... Read more

Product Description
Briefly examines the life of the renowned Dutch painter and traces the development of his art. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the biography genre, this text tells the story of Vincent Van Gogh's life, interspersed with illuminating examples of his ppainting at various stages ... Read more

Product Description
Briefly examines the life of the renowned Dutch painter and traces the development of his art. ... Read more

Product Description
This series tells the life stories of people who have made an impact on our lives; people who changed the way the world looked at things when they were alive, and still do today after their death. This work discusses the life of Van Gogh. Fact boxes tell the reader about the background to the person's life and how things changed as a result of their actions. Additional facts and a timeline at the end of the stories put the life of the person into context. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of fine poetry by California poet John Newlin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Poetry Cafe
Between the covers are poems written with moving sensitivity,
poignancy and a touch of the fragile in romance as we find it
in ourselves and others. An exquisite collection of poems that
explore the pleasures and pains of love.Sometimes John speaks
with such an uncanny directness and ease and remarkable intimacy
that the reader may wonder how such beautiful simplicity can carry such power.The collection of poems are so wonderfully self-contained, so self-evident, so gracefully metaphorical. A delight to read from beginning
to end.
Katriona Wallace

Poetry Cafe, John Newlin Review
I first discovered John Newlin's poetry several years ago.I knew that I had come across a brilliant and versatile writer with a true gift. Since that time, I have read anything and everything that he has written.

This magnificent poet and photographer has captured the imagination and stirred the cocktail of grace that seems to impenetrate everything that he creates.

John concocts a fine mixture of elegy and ecstasy poetry, add a dash of edge and grit; stir with imagery and wisdom and you have a John Newlin poem.

My favorite in this finely tuned book is his exquisite poem, "Beyond the Pale"In this pouring, Newlin writes about the tragedy and ecstasy of life and the disconnect between the two. He shows how people and events from the past can sometimes invade the present in a ghostly dance. Deep spirituality is woven into this rhyme.


I feel the distant melodies

and sway slowly in the gloom;

dancing a dance long forgotten

with a ghostly partner exhumed


and thus the conclusion that:


There is a gate in the distance,

at the end of the dwindling trail.

I cannot go there this raw night;

I must abide beyond the pale.


Janet K. Brennan,

Author, "A Dance in The Woods"
"Harriet Murphy, a Little Bit of Something"
"A Stronger Grace, Poetry
"Recollections of an Old Mind, West"Poetry of the Southwest
"Gentle Tugs" Poetry of Life ... Read more

Product Description
Vincent van Gogh arrived in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in 1889 to be voluntarily treated for psychiatric illness. Poppyfield was one of the first pictures that the artist painted that year of the countryside surrounding the asylum, and it continues the leitmotif of fields which runs throughout his oeuvre. Van Gogh's mind was rooted in the cycles of nature, from the mythical sower to the flowering corn to the autumnal reaper. What The Poppyfield and the Artist's Protest also reveals is the artistic possibilities hidden in his conception of the landscape, in the perspectival effect of depth and the accentuation of the canvas's surface. More than 50 paintings and drawings by the Dutch artist are represented here, all of them a tribute to van Gogh's idiosyncratic interpretation of the landscape. Additionally, this publication discusses the particular situation of Poppyfield, which was acquired by the Bremen Kunsthalle in 1911 amid the protests of German artists who were against the arrival of French modernism in German museums. Bremen curator Gustav Pauli, with the support of artists like Max Lieberman and Wassily Kandinsky, defended the purchase.

I have immersed myself completely in the vast plain of grain fields that stretches to the mountains, a veritable ocean. . . --Vincent van Gogh

Edited by Wulf Herzogenrath and Dorothee Hansen.
Essay by Roland Dorn.

Clothbound, 264 pages, 150 color and 100 b&w ... Read more

Product Description
The brilliantly colored paintings of Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890) are loved around the world. This stunning volume accompaniesthe largest exhibition of the artist's works outside the Netherlands inmore than 25 years. The show opens at the National Gallery of Art,Washington, D.C., in October 1998 and at the Los Angeles County Museum ofArt in January 1999.

This unique group of paintings is from the extraordinary collection of theVan Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, home to the single greatest assemblage of theartist's paintings, drawings, and letters. The collection is based onworks acquired directly from the artist by his brother Theo, an art dealerand the source of Vincent's financial and emotional support. Among themuseum's treasures reproduced here are some of the best-known images inart: Potato Eaters, The Bedroom, Self-Portrait as an Artist, Harvest, andWheatfield with Crows.

Richard Kendall's essay addresses Van Gogh's major themes and thedifferent phases of his career. John Leighton contributes a history of theVan Gogh Museum and a biography of the artist.

Richard Kendall is an independent scholar.

John Leighton is director of the Van Gogh MuseumAmazon.com Review
This lavish but manageable book is the catalog for one of themost successful van Gogh exhibitions ever (at the National Gallery ofArt in Washington, D.C., through January 3, 1999, and the Los AngelesCounty Museum of Art from January 17, 1999, to April 4, 1999). Judgingfrom the haunting, beautifully reproduced paintings and drawings inthe book--which range from the iconic to the rarely seen--it is easyto see why hordes of people keep pressing through overcrowdedgalleries to get a glimpse of the originals. The ones here are allfrom the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, where most of Vincent's workresides.

Author Richard Kendall does a heroic job of writing van Gogh'stortured story one more time. Few artists have analyzed their own workwith the clarity and insight Vincent brought to his. And Kendallrelies heavily on Vincent's letters to his brother Theo, giving thereader broad access to the ultimate expert, the painter himself. Thewealth of color plates is intoxicating--70 paintings, including ThePotato Eaters and other early, gloomy works, a dozenself-portraits, Almond Blossom, Wheatfield with Crows,Butterflies and Poppies, The Bedroom, The Zouave,and The Courtesan (van Gogh's take on a Japanese geisha in fullregalia).

It seems trivial to further praise the book's designers for holding itto only 150 pages, but the length makes an important difference. Thisis a volume that fits comfortably on the lap, to be perused andenjoyed at close range, for hours if you want, and not just displayedin unwieldy glory on a coffee table. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

coffee table book, plus
I am a Van Gough fan. This book is the right combination of images and story to entertain and educate...and it's pretty.

the most original artist of his time
Vincent van Gogh is the artist who I feel I relate to most on a personal level. His demons are my demons. His yearning to some day find "the right girl" is my yearning. His spiritual faith in God is my spiritual faith. His weaknesses are my weaknesses. His strengths are my strengths. I'm very fond of van Gogh. He made many mistakes, including getting involved in a doomed love affair with a prostitute, or how he cut off his earlobe in a fit of anguish. Well, okay, I identify with him but that's something I've never been tempted to do haha. Vincent was a troubled and tormented and deeply under-appreciated artist in his day, only managing to sell one or two paintings in his life. Now he is among the very most popular. His works sell for many millions, even minor works.

David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"

A GREAT JOURNEY WITH VAN GOGH
One of the best pieces that I ever read explaining paintings along the different periods which were passed by Van Gogh. Also, it gives a complete ride through his life and personality.

A Quality Work!!
I have this book and I am so glad ,I discovered it. I am, a painter,andhave always been influenced by Van Goghs work. However most of the books Iown do not have very good quality , printing .This book however isexcellent! It is very close to , standing in front of the originalpainting. I would recomend this book to anyone that loves Van Gogh. I am soproud to make this book a part of my art library. Get it while you can!!

Didn't see the exhibit?Read the book!
The next best thing if you weren't able to make it to this record-breaking exhibition in Washington and Los Angeles. This book, an overview of the exhibition, is an extremely thorough and interesting overview of the 70works on display. But it's more than that. I was very impressed withRichard Kendall's commentary in the book. Not only is this a comprehensiveand thoughtful look at the "Van Gogh's Van Goghs" exhibition,it's also an excellent look at Van Gogh's life and career--period. I mighthave expected this--this major exhibition was superb and this catalogue isa worthy companion. Exhibition or not, this book is first-rate. ... Read more

Product Description
The personal and professional history of van Gogh and Gauguin—their rivalrous friendship and brief period of collaboration in Arles in 1888—constitutes one of the most dramatically revealing sagas in the history of modern art. In many ways, it is the quintessential story about the beginnings of modern avant-garde practice as it developed in the wake of the last Impressionist exhibition, held in 1886. Gauguin and van Gogh were, by circumstances of personality and history, "isolés": at once inherently self-involved and faced, in the absence of a single dominant "school," with a dizzying array of contemporary art-making. Brought together by circumstance, each artist played a vital role in the other's search for a personal style that would relate to current developments yet be unique. Over the course of this century, van Gogh and Gauguin have received a prodigious amount of scholarly attention. Recent contributions to this literature—including new biographies, studies of particular aspects of their art, and publication of their letters—have expanded our knowledge significantly. But while references to their problematic interaction abound, sustained analysis of their mutual influence has yet to be the subject of a major study. This book, published on the occasion of a landmark exhibition organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, systematically explores the relationship in the context of the larger cultural and political background implied in their ideas for a "Studio of the South." It charts the connections between the two men through their stay together in Provence and beyond to Vincent's death in 1890. A final section considers the remainder of Gauguin's career, both in Tahiti and the Marquesas (where he died in 1903), as an attempt to realize the ideals of the "Studio of the South" developed with van Gogh and shaped by his posthumous reputation. 575 illustrations, 400 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Eldorado
"Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South" is a great and rare achievement, since it captures the atmosphere of artists lives as no other book or film has done in the past, being magnificently precise in details and facts, yet sensitive to the personal aesthetic visions of Van Gogh and Gauguin. Armed with wonderful maps, charts, photographs and documents the authors explore the "geography" of artistic process and communication between two men. I kept going to the exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, and back to consult the book: they acted as an artwork in time and space, yet an object on the table - all at once. This book has finally answered lots of questions, and most importantly - it has made two artists and their visions closer to us as never before.

An insightful exploration of the Arles period
Collaborative conservators and Art Institute of Chicago curators Douglas Druick and Peter Zegers have drawn upon the rich, scholarly literature, letters and writings, and new technical investigations focused on the artists Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, to present the most thorough, comprehensive, and insightful exploration of the Arles period to date. Landscapes and portraits painted in tandem by these two outstanding artists, their responses to each other, work together to envision vigorous dialogue occasioned by their strong personalities. Here presented for art students are fresh perspectives on Van Gogh and Gauguin's best-known works, as well as some of the more obscure aspects of their lives and their world. The informative, 424 page text is enhanced with 475 illustrations (300 of which are in full color). No personal, academic, or community library collection on the history of western art can be considered complete without the inclusion of Van Gogh And Gauguin: The Studio Of The South. This superb art history and analysis is also available in a hardcover format (Thames & Hudson, 0500510547, ...). ... Read more

Product Description
Vincent Van Gogh began painting at the age of twenty-seven. In the ten short years that remained of his life, he created over one hundred and eight paintings, and just as many drawings. He worked at painting, as one might enter a religious order; driven by an intense inner calling. Van Gogh's correspondence reveals that he was erudite and of a surprisingly acute spirit. In 1886 he arrived with his dark palette in Paris. That same year La Grande Jatte was painted with the influence of Impressionism. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the story of the passionate, revolutionary artist Vincent van Gogh and his art-dealer brother, Theo. The two were very close, and when Vincent moved to the countryside to be inspired by and paint nature, they wrote long letters to each other. Art was Vincent's means of personal and spiritual redemption, and the correspondence between Vincent and Theo seeks to offer young readers insight into the struggles of being an artist. The work traces Vincent's life and art with anecdotes and descriptions, such as how Theo introduced Vincent to Paris's most advanced painters, and how Vincent's work changed under the influences of Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. There are artistic exercises and games that are designed to engage children directly in the act of learning, by asking questions about the paintings and by suggesting activities that will help young people truly understand how a painting is created. ... Read more