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Van Gogh: A Retrospective
This is a very useful book. If you are interested only in the reproductions (good drawings as well as paintings), you will enjoy their high quality--and the breadth of Vincent's work that they cover. If you are interested in primary resources about van Gogh's life--newspaper articles; letters and reminiscences from friends, fellow artists, relatives--this volume is a real treasure. Between the excellent reproductions and the extraordinarily fine collection of biographical materials, this must be the best one-volume source on van Gogh. A great shame that it is out of print. Get one NOW!
- GenresArt
385 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 26, 2014
For me, personally, I can think of no other artist as fascinating as Vincent Van Gogh. In my opinion, his creativity and artistry towers above most any other painter, living or dead. Unfortunately, I feel that much of his life is overly sensationalized and too much focus is placed upon his presumed mental illness. Consequently, I’m highly mistrustful of many of the books written about him. Of course, whether or not he was mentally ill is an important aspect of his life and cannot be ignored but I feel that there should also be an equal focus placed on his extremely lucid and productive years, which often seems to be ignored.
Many artists are inherently bizarre and eccentric without having need of a diagnosis. Moreover, in Vincent’s case, there are currently over 30 proposed ailments to choose from and so the precise condition from which he may have suffered from is essentially unknown and can only be speculated upon. For my money, I’d rather read science fiction over this type of guesswork, it tends to be far more grounded and reality based.
This particular book here manages to find a way around this issue by using only primary source materials to tell his tale. Essentially, this is more of a scrapbook collection of various letters, newspaper articles and other historically relevant materials. Moreover, there are a great many letters here between Vincent and his brother Theo, which is actually one of the best things about this book for it is through this correspondence between siblings that we really know anything about the man at all.
However, this becomes something of a mixed blessing. For, while it dispenses with the need to create an overarching narrative that would have just been another strained attempt to understand Vincent and his art, this particular approach also makes for somewhat difficult reading from its lack of cohesiveness. The amateur historian in me loved pouring over these things and making my own connections and associations but many might find these frustrating and hard to sustain their interest in long stretches of reading them.
Of course, I may be underestimating the appeal and interest people may have for the man but things like reading the advertising brochure for the asylum where he lived might cause some people to nod off to sleep. My suggestion is to just pass over any such material that one isn’t drawn to. For, it’s not like skipping over a particular boring chapter and then finding out later that you’ve no idea what’s happening in the story. Overall, I would further suggest considering this book as more of a companion or supplemental book to your favorite biography of the man. [Mine is “Dear Theo,” edited by Irving Stone] In this way, one can chose what to read here and what to pass over depending on what level of interest you might have for some of these things.
Naturally, as this is an oversized coffee table book, there is a wealth of full-page color reproductions here to hold ones interest as well. If for nothing else, this is another reason to pick this one up if you don’t have something like this already on your shelves. All of the writing is chronologically arranged to follow the progression of Vincent’s development as an artist. Also, each piece has a small paragraph off to the side detailing any pertinent particulars of whoever might be mentioned in the text, as well as a colorplate number of any artwork that is brought up as well.
However, rather than these paintings being set in the book next to these writings, one has to stop reading and find the particular piece being discussed in special sections throughout this book. This can become something of a chore but it is of course entirely optional and depends entirely on your level of interest whether you want to bother shunting back and forth between the pages of this mammoth book. Personally, it is through this somewhat involved process that I felt that the slow pace which one is forced to contend with this book caused one to look at the pictures just a little longer than you might have otherwise and so I did not often mind going through these motions.
My one pet peeve about giant art books is the fact that they often contain a stinking heap of perfumed art criticism that analyzes each painting’s history and merit ad nauseam. The irony of my reviewing this book is not lost on me here. Only, in any given review of mine, I do not describe each word’s merit in a novel. Whereas, in art criticism reading about choices of colors is something I find highly irritating, as if I don’t have eyes myself. Only, to be honest, in my case this actually proves to be true as I am monochromatically challenged and might also very well be why I take issue here. Regardless, the point being that they dare see the painting for us all and tell us what to look for, normally in the most obnoxiously toned way possible.
For the most part, this book largely escapes having to include any examples of these for the greater majority of the book’s length. As it is arranged chronologically, these only start to appear after Vincent’s death roughly three quarters of the way through the book. Personally, I’m not sure why any of these were included and well could have done without them. If anything, I suppose it was possibly to show how it took nearly a hundred years for people to “discover” Vincent, as well as what was being said and by whom. However, these come far too late in the book to hold any real value or interest for me, as having already read a chronological text alongside his prints from those that actually knew him during his lifetime creates something that every art critic wishes they could do themselves…become just as relevant and meaningful as the works of the artists they claim to love.
All in all, this is a great book and there is something for everyone here and there are easily some potential revelations and new discoveries waiting to be found as well. Highly recommended!
Many artists are inherently bizarre and eccentric without having need of a diagnosis. Moreover, in Vincent’s case, there are currently over 30 proposed ailments to choose from and so the precise condition from which he may have suffered from is essentially unknown and can only be speculated upon. For my money, I’d rather read science fiction over this type of guesswork, it tends to be far more grounded and reality based.
This particular book here manages to find a way around this issue by using only primary source materials to tell his tale. Essentially, this is more of a scrapbook collection of various letters, newspaper articles and other historically relevant materials. Moreover, there are a great many letters here between Vincent and his brother Theo, which is actually one of the best things about this book for it is through this correspondence between siblings that we really know anything about the man at all.
However, this becomes something of a mixed blessing. For, while it dispenses with the need to create an overarching narrative that would have just been another strained attempt to understand Vincent and his art, this particular approach also makes for somewhat difficult reading from its lack of cohesiveness. The amateur historian in me loved pouring over these things and making my own connections and associations but many might find these frustrating and hard to sustain their interest in long stretches of reading them.
Of course, I may be underestimating the appeal and interest people may have for the man but things like reading the advertising brochure for the asylum where he lived might cause some people to nod off to sleep. My suggestion is to just pass over any such material that one isn’t drawn to. For, it’s not like skipping over a particular boring chapter and then finding out later that you’ve no idea what’s happening in the story. Overall, I would further suggest considering this book as more of a companion or supplemental book to your favorite biography of the man. [Mine is “Dear Theo,” edited by Irving Stone] In this way, one can chose what to read here and what to pass over depending on what level of interest you might have for some of these things.
Naturally, as this is an oversized coffee table book, there is a wealth of full-page color reproductions here to hold ones interest as well. If for nothing else, this is another reason to pick this one up if you don’t have something like this already on your shelves. All of the writing is chronologically arranged to follow the progression of Vincent’s development as an artist. Also, each piece has a small paragraph off to the side detailing any pertinent particulars of whoever might be mentioned in the text, as well as a colorplate number of any artwork that is brought up as well.
However, rather than these paintings being set in the book next to these writings, one has to stop reading and find the particular piece being discussed in special sections throughout this book. This can become something of a chore but it is of course entirely optional and depends entirely on your level of interest whether you want to bother shunting back and forth between the pages of this mammoth book. Personally, it is through this somewhat involved process that I felt that the slow pace which one is forced to contend with this book caused one to look at the pictures just a little longer than you might have otherwise and so I did not often mind going through these motions.
My one pet peeve about giant art books is the fact that they often contain a stinking heap of perfumed art criticism that analyzes each painting’s history and merit ad nauseam. The irony of my reviewing this book is not lost on me here. Only, in any given review of mine, I do not describe each word’s merit in a novel. Whereas, in art criticism reading about choices of colors is something I find highly irritating, as if I don’t have eyes myself. Only, to be honest, in my case this actually proves to be true as I am monochromatically challenged and might also very well be why I take issue here. Regardless, the point being that they dare see the painting for us all and tell us what to look for, normally in the most obnoxiously toned way possible.
For the most part, this book largely escapes having to include any examples of these for the greater majority of the book’s length. As it is arranged chronologically, these only start to appear after Vincent’s death roughly three quarters of the way through the book. Personally, I’m not sure why any of these were included and well could have done without them. If anything, I suppose it was possibly to show how it took nearly a hundred years for people to “discover” Vincent, as well as what was being said and by whom. However, these come far too late in the book to hold any real value or interest for me, as having already read a chronological text alongside his prints from those that actually knew him during his lifetime creates something that every art critic wishes they could do themselves…become just as relevant and meaningful as the works of the artists they claim to love.
All in all, this is a great book and there is something for everyone here and there are easily some potential revelations and new discoveries waiting to be found as well. Highly recommended!
January 19, 2019
So many detailed letters!
November 1, 2020
A reprinting of public source, primary material with no original analysis, combined with subpar color plates that do little justice to the paintings.
March 13, 2021
Interesting combination of letters and historical remembrances of a one of a kind creative. Fun to imagine visiting the museums where these treasures reside.
October 12, 2009
I've been reading this book for years. It includes letters and comments from his brother and other contemporaries who knew him. Most interesting.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews