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以藝術家之眼看世界：激發靈感的三十場旅行
Follow in the footsteps of some of the world’s most famous painters in this fascinating work from the Journeys of Note series.
Some truly remarkable works of art have been inspired by artists spending time away from their typical surroundings.
From epic road trips and arduous treks into remote territories to cultural tours and sojourns in the finest hotels , this book explores 30 influential journeys taken by artistic greats and reveals the repercussions of those travels on the painters’ personal lives and the broader cultural landscape.
Award-winning author Travis Elborough brings each of these trips to life with fascinating insights into the stories behind the creation of some of the world’s most famous paintings, including Henri Matisse’s vivid paintings of Morocco, Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock prints of Mount Fuji in Japan, Marianne North’s paintings of India and David Hockney’s California pool paintings.
Some truly remarkable works of art have been inspired by artists spending time away from their typical surroundings.
From epic road trips and arduous treks into remote territories to cultural tours and sojourns in the finest hotels , this book explores 30 influential journeys taken by artistic greats and reveals the repercussions of those travels on the painters’ personal lives and the broader cultural landscape.
Award-winning author Travis Elborough brings each of these trips to life with fascinating insights into the stories behind the creation of some of the world’s most famous paintings, including Henri Matisse’s vivid paintings of Morocco, Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock prints of Mount Fuji in Japan, Marianne North’s paintings of India and David Hockney’s California pool paintings.
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Published March 28, 2024
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August 20, 2023These aren't as interesting as I thought they would be, so I'm DNFing it.
I'm always intrigued by the creative journey, and though most of the artists here aren't ones I already know, I'm excited to learn kore about the journeys that led or helped their creative processes. But this book is proving to be disappointing, as feel like wikipedia entries with nothing to them, I would've prefered it if the artists were less and the details of their journeys were more concise and detailed. instead of listing a lot of artists in these snippets, as some of these journeys can't really be considered as much.
1- Jean Michel Basquiat: this artist really did it all, between music, art, and being a celebrity. and it's another story of artists dying by drugs overdose (the second I've read today, so this is scary). the article talks about his only trip to Africa in an attempt to go back to his roots, and this also led me to search for some of his paintings since I've never heard of him before, and being associated with Warhol is interesting. but his paintings weren't really to my taste.
2- Caravaggio: An italian renaissance artists who is forced to flee to Malta after murdering someone in Rome. It's interesting that despite being on the run, he continued to marke art somehow? I think that's the interesting thing about his journey, that he managed to produce some of his famous works while on the run from one city to another. after searching for his art, I found that I was already familiar with some of his works, like the Medusa & Narcissus paintings.
3- Mary Cassatt: An American who found her calling in France, I liked some of her pastel paintings when I searched for them, but her "journey story" wasn't all that weird as I was led to belive by this book, and I think I need to lower my expectations in regards to these "journeys".
4- Paul Cezanne: on the other hand, this artist is very local, not travelling outside of France much. but it proves the differences between living in the capital Paris and going back to his provence. his art didn't really appeal to me
5- Salvador Dali: really his ego knows no bounds, but you can't deny that even to those who really don't know much about art, know the works of Dali. It's also interesting to see the amounts of success he had in the US. I always thought it happened after his death.
6- Marcel Duchamp: okay, sure. I found nothing interesting in this one.
I'm always intrigued by the creative journey, and though most of the artists here aren't ones I already know, I'm excited to learn kore about the journeys that led or helped their creative processes. But this book is proving to be disappointing, as feel like wikipedia entries with nothing to them, I would've prefered it if the artists were less and the details of their journeys were more concise and detailed. instead of listing a lot of artists in these snippets, as some of these journeys can't really be considered as much.
1- Jean Michel Basquiat: this artist really did it all, between music, art, and being a celebrity. and it's another story of artists dying by drugs overdose (the second I've read today, so this is scary). the article talks about his only trip to Africa in an attempt to go back to his roots, and this also led me to search for some of his paintings since I've never heard of him before, and being associated with Warhol is interesting. but his paintings weren't really to my taste.
2- Caravaggio: An italian renaissance artists who is forced to flee to Malta after murdering someone in Rome. It's interesting that despite being on the run, he continued to marke art somehow? I think that's the interesting thing about his journey, that he managed to produce some of his famous works while on the run from one city to another. after searching for his art, I found that I was already familiar with some of his works, like the Medusa & Narcissus paintings.
3- Mary Cassatt: An American who found her calling in France, I liked some of her pastel paintings when I searched for them, but her "journey story" wasn't all that weird as I was led to belive by this book, and I think I need to lower my expectations in regards to these "journeys".
4- Paul Cezanne: on the other hand, this artist is very local, not travelling outside of France much. but it proves the differences between living in the capital Paris and going back to his provence. his art didn't really appeal to me
5- Salvador Dali: really his ego knows no bounds, but you can't deny that even to those who really don't know much about art, know the works of Dali. It's also interesting to see the amounts of success he had in the US. I always thought it happened after his death.
6- Marcel Duchamp: okay, sure. I found nothing interesting in this one.
August 4, 2023
Spanning a period from the 15th century to today (though heavily concentrated in the 19th cent.,) this book explores the travels of thirty-one artistic greats and the influence those travels had on their work. Not all of these master artists were master travelers (though some were - e.g. Isamu Noguchi.) Even in the era of airplanes, a number of them only traveled within their country of origin or bordering countries. Included among the artists presented are all-time greats such as Caravaggio, Salvador Dali, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent Van Gogh.
The book's organization is interesting in that it seems to be neither chronological nor geographic by travel destination. Rather, it shifts about in a fashion that makes it possible to pick up a chapter and read independently of the rest.
The graphics are beautiful and include photos of the destination location as well as pictures of some of the artworks that these travels inspired. There are also maps to show travel routes or key locations for each chapter / artist.
The book is well-researched, beautifully illustrated, and will be of great interest to armchair art historians.
The book's organization is interesting in that it seems to be neither chronological nor geographic by travel destination. Rather, it shifts about in a fashion that makes it possible to pick up a chapter and read independently of the rest.
The graphics are beautiful and include photos of the destination location as well as pictures of some of the artworks that these travels inspired. There are also maps to show travel routes or key locations for each chapter / artist.
The book is well-researched, beautifully illustrated, and will be of great interest to armchair art historians.
February 6, 2024
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5
Art is so often a product of the artist's surroundings. Throughout history, still lifes and the natural world are probably the most common subjects for artists. Where an artist lives and to where an artists travels is likely to be represented in the art. Author Travis Elborough picks up on this and provides a brief biography and travelogue for thirty influential artists to reveal "the repercussions of those travels on the painters’ personal lives and the broader cultural landscape" with the intent to bring "each of these trips to life with fascinating insights into the stories behind the creation of some of the world’s most famous paintings" (quotes from the book description on Goodreads).
The brief narratives are well researched and nicely presented though you probably need to have some knowledge of the artist and their background to understand what their journey meant to them. Elborough does a rough sketch of this background, but for me, it definitely made more sense for the artists whose work I knew better to begin with.
Each chapter/artist includes a map of the artist's travels - whether travelling internationally or simply to multiple locations within one town. I appreciated the maps as they helped place the artists, geographically. For those who were only painting in a small region (within a town, for instance) it would have been nice to see that town in relation to the region. I don't know my geography well enough to immediately place a location.
My real problem with the book, however, is the actual lack of connection for the individual artist, their work, and the location. Once in awhile there was a mention of how a place influenced the artist and once in awhile there might be a photo of a place and a painting it inspired. But not often.
I wanted to see these places. Photos - how it looks now or old pictures from when the artist visited - and then reproductions or photos of the art that it inspired. We get this mostly (and seemingly accidentally - not as though it were planned) with Katsushika Hokusai and Mount Fuji. We see the mountain in a photo and we see one of the more famous works of Hokusai's.
It really could have been any grouping of people whose travels were being written about. Thirty poets? Thirty auto mechanics? Without the visuals to compare, it didn't really matter that this was thirty artists.
Perhaps the author/publisher couldn't get the reprint rights for the art that was created on most of these journeys, but the book concept didn't live up to what it purports to be about.
This book contains the following:
Jean-Michel Basquiat Seeks Connections in Cote d'Ivoire and Benin
Caravaggio Legs It to Malta
Mary Cassatt Makes an Impression in Paris
Paul Cezanne Arches for Aix-en-Provence
Salvador Dali Takes Manhattan by Surrealist Storm
Marcel Duchamp Becomes Obsess with Chess in Buenos Aires
Albrecht Durer Has a Whale of a Time in the Netherlands
Helen Frankenthaler Soaks Up Provincetown
Caspar David Friedrich Replenishes Himself on Rugen
David Hockney Goes La-la Over Los Angeles
Katsushika Hokusai Scales Mount Fuji
Tove Jansson Summers in the Pellinki Archipelago
Fria Kahlo and Diego Rivera Honeymoon in Cuernavaca
Wassily Kandinsky Finds His Artistic Calling in the Province of Vologda
Alexander Keirincx Paints All the King's Castles in Yorkshire and Scotland
Paul Klee Is Transformed by Tunisia
Gustav Klimt Gets Scenic on the Attersee
Oskar Kokoschka Takes Refuge in Polperro
Henri Matisse Fends Off the Rain in Morocco
London Makes a Big Impression on Claude Monet
Berthe Morisot Accepts a Proposal in Normandy
Edvard Munch Summer by the Sea at Asgardstrand
Isamu Noguchi Takes a Monumental World Tour
Marianne North Goes South to Paint Indian Flora
Georgia O'Keefe Goes West
Pablo Picasso Falls for the South of France
John Singer Sargent Sinks into Venice
Joaquin Sorolloa y Bastida Goes Canvassing across Spain
J.M.W. Turner Takes a Final Tour of Switzerland
Vincent van Gogh Has Quite a Year in Provence
Looking for a good book? The Artist's Journey by Travis Elborough is a good concept that doesn't follow through. The research is good and while it is interesting to learn a little about each artist's trip, how it impacted the art is missing.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
Art is so often a product of the artist's surroundings. Throughout history, still lifes and the natural world are probably the most common subjects for artists. Where an artist lives and to where an artists travels is likely to be represented in the art. Author Travis Elborough picks up on this and provides a brief biography and travelogue for thirty influential artists to reveal "the repercussions of those travels on the painters’ personal lives and the broader cultural landscape" with the intent to bring "each of these trips to life with fascinating insights into the stories behind the creation of some of the world’s most famous paintings" (quotes from the book description on Goodreads).
The brief narratives are well researched and nicely presented though you probably need to have some knowledge of the artist and their background to understand what their journey meant to them. Elborough does a rough sketch of this background, but for me, it definitely made more sense for the artists whose work I knew better to begin with.
Each chapter/artist includes a map of the artist's travels - whether travelling internationally or simply to multiple locations within one town. I appreciated the maps as they helped place the artists, geographically. For those who were only painting in a small region (within a town, for instance) it would have been nice to see that town in relation to the region. I don't know my geography well enough to immediately place a location.
My real problem with the book, however, is the actual lack of connection for the individual artist, their work, and the location. Once in awhile there was a mention of how a place influenced the artist and once in awhile there might be a photo of a place and a painting it inspired. But not often.
I wanted to see these places. Photos - how it looks now or old pictures from when the artist visited - and then reproductions or photos of the art that it inspired. We get this mostly (and seemingly accidentally - not as though it were planned) with Katsushika Hokusai and Mount Fuji. We see the mountain in a photo and we see one of the more famous works of Hokusai's.
It really could have been any grouping of people whose travels were being written about. Thirty poets? Thirty auto mechanics? Without the visuals to compare, it didn't really matter that this was thirty artists.
Perhaps the author/publisher couldn't get the reprint rights for the art that was created on most of these journeys, but the book concept didn't live up to what it purports to be about.
This book contains the following:
Jean-Michel Basquiat Seeks Connections in Cote d'Ivoire and Benin
Caravaggio Legs It to Malta
Mary Cassatt Makes an Impression in Paris
Paul Cezanne Arches for Aix-en-Provence
Salvador Dali Takes Manhattan by Surrealist Storm
Marcel Duchamp Becomes Obsess with Chess in Buenos Aires
Albrecht Durer Has a Whale of a Time in the Netherlands
Helen Frankenthaler Soaks Up Provincetown
Caspar David Friedrich Replenishes Himself on Rugen
David Hockney Goes La-la Over Los Angeles
Katsushika Hokusai Scales Mount Fuji
Tove Jansson Summers in the Pellinki Archipelago
Fria Kahlo and Diego Rivera Honeymoon in Cuernavaca
Wassily Kandinsky Finds His Artistic Calling in the Province of Vologda
Alexander Keirincx Paints All the King's Castles in Yorkshire and Scotland
Paul Klee Is Transformed by Tunisia
Gustav Klimt Gets Scenic on the Attersee
Oskar Kokoschka Takes Refuge in Polperro
Henri Matisse Fends Off the Rain in Morocco
London Makes a Big Impression on Claude Monet
Berthe Morisot Accepts a Proposal in Normandy
Edvard Munch Summer by the Sea at Asgardstrand
Isamu Noguchi Takes a Monumental World Tour
Marianne North Goes South to Paint Indian Flora
Georgia O'Keefe Goes West
Pablo Picasso Falls for the South of France
John Singer Sargent Sinks into Venice
Joaquin Sorolloa y Bastida Goes Canvassing across Spain
J.M.W. Turner Takes a Final Tour of Switzerland
Vincent van Gogh Has Quite a Year in Provence
Looking for a good book? The Artist's Journey by Travis Elborough is a good concept that doesn't follow through. The research is good and while it is interesting to learn a little about each artist's trip, how it impacted the art is missing.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
September 14, 2023
The Artist's Journey by Travis Elborough is a fun look at how travels, whether short or long (time and/or distance), influenced some of the greatest artists.
Just in case anyone else gets confused, I saw that one person did figure out it wasn't chronological or geographically ordered but was baffled as to how the book was organized, it is alphabetically ordered. Since these are all separate accounts about each artist, they are essentially a collection of essays, so, of course, can be read as such rather than a single narrative that has to be read in order. So utilize it as it best suits you.
The book is enjoyable and, since the artists will be mostly well known to anyone with an interest in art, it can serve to give you another perspective on their work. For any you aren't familiar with there is a short bibliography in the back that has several books listed for each artist. I'm not widely read in the area and I saw several I have read and enjoyed. And, of course, there is the internet with everything from dedicated sites to broad if sometimes not fully accurate Wikipedia entries. Don't limit yourself to the short entries on Wikipedia, they can mislead simply because they skip a lot of the nuance and detail in order to make it widely useable.
If one or several of your favorite artists are included, you may want to see if their travels might intersect with something you have planned. Also, if any of these journeys happen to cover ground you've traveled, or lived, it will be fun to see if anything rings a bell for you.
Because these entries are short but informative with a map and several pictures, I think this would make an excellent book to keep handy for those times you just want something short to enjoy without getting back into a longer work.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
Just in case anyone else gets confused, I saw that one person did figure out it wasn't chronological or geographically ordered but was baffled as to how the book was organized, it is alphabetically ordered. Since these are all separate accounts about each artist, they are essentially a collection of essays, so, of course, can be read as such rather than a single narrative that has to be read in order. So utilize it as it best suits you.
The book is enjoyable and, since the artists will be mostly well known to anyone with an interest in art, it can serve to give you another perspective on their work. For any you aren't familiar with there is a short bibliography in the back that has several books listed for each artist. I'm not widely read in the area and I saw several I have read and enjoyed. And, of course, there is the internet with everything from dedicated sites to broad if sometimes not fully accurate Wikipedia entries. Don't limit yourself to the short entries on Wikipedia, they can mislead simply because they skip a lot of the nuance and detail in order to make it widely useable.
If one or several of your favorite artists are included, you may want to see if their travels might intersect with something you have planned. Also, if any of these journeys happen to cover ground you've traveled, or lived, it will be fun to see if anything rings a bell for you.
Because these entries are short but informative with a map and several pictures, I think this would make an excellent book to keep handy for those times you just want something short to enjoy without getting back into a longer work.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
August 21, 2023
I didn't expect a failure here, from another entry to this series, and I didn't get one. Bravely starting out with Basquiat as opposed to, well, anyone preferable, we get nicely succinct accounts of painters, artists and sculptors and their travels. They may be self-generated exile due to what might have been an illegal duel (Caravaggio), many years' flit and much renown with it (Mary Cassatt), or a rush to see a beached whale while having been pottering around the Low Countries to schmooze and work (Durer). Travelling alphabetically through the creatives concerned it's clear to many that this includes people unknown to those on the typical Clapham omnibus, and that might be to its detriment ultimately. Some of the locations are very much synonymous with the artists (hello, O'Keeffe), some make sense as evident sources of inspiration (Turner's Switzerland), some of the alleged journeys are not particularly journeys (van Gogh's move to Arles – cue argie, bloodshed, and agreeing to his brother sectioning him).
This however is a book thoroughly able to service many a reader with different interests. The armchair traveller can see the Picasso-inspired burgeoning interest in Antibes et al, the casual Sunflowers-and-an-Athena-print art "lover" will certainly have their eyes opened, and the historian of the last three centuries of painting will have a leisurely meander through inspiration, influence and generally what makes their people-of-interest tick. And from that broad church, none of the congregation will be seeing this as less than four stars.
This however is a book thoroughly able to service many a reader with different interests. The armchair traveller can see the Picasso-inspired burgeoning interest in Antibes et al, the casual Sunflowers-and-an-Athena-print art "lover" will certainly have their eyes opened, and the historian of the last three centuries of painting will have a leisurely meander through inspiration, influence and generally what makes their people-of-interest tick. And from that broad church, none of the congregation will be seeing this as less than four stars.
October 18, 2023
Pub date: 10/24/23
Genre: art history, travel
Quick summary: Artists' travels help them discover new worlds - THE ARTIST'S JOURNEY tells the stories of this travel and the resulting work.
I love art history coffee table books, and Hokusai's woodblock print on the cover caught my eye. I liked that this book had a mix of artists across time periods and cultures, including some I was familiar with but plenty I wasn't. Even if I was already familiar with the artist, the travel element gave me some new insight into their work.
About 6-8 pages are devoted to each artist, for a total of 30 stories. I do wish there had been more images of the art included, but I understand this was likely difficult due to permissions/licensing fees. The author did do a good job of describing the stylistic/subject matter influences from each trip, so an interested reader would know how to search for more in depth information or images of the artworks.
This would be a lovely gift for a friend interested in art and/or travel.
Thank you to White Lion Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: art history, travel
Quick summary: Artists' travels help them discover new worlds - THE ARTIST'S JOURNEY tells the stories of this travel and the resulting work.
I love art history coffee table books, and Hokusai's woodblock print on the cover caught my eye. I liked that this book had a mix of artists across time periods and cultures, including some I was familiar with but plenty I wasn't. Even if I was already familiar with the artist, the travel element gave me some new insight into their work.
About 6-8 pages are devoted to each artist, for a total of 30 stories. I do wish there had been more images of the art included, but I understand this was likely difficult due to permissions/licensing fees. The author did do a good job of describing the stylistic/subject matter influences from each trip, so an interested reader would know how to search for more in depth information or images of the artworks.
This would be a lovely gift for a friend interested in art and/or travel.
Thank you to White Lion Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 13, 2023
As a traveler and an artist, this book is EVERYTHING.
Traveling is one of the best ways to fill our creative tanks. Hearing about artist greats filling theirs and the places they've gone to do so is a way of filling up my own tank that I didn't know existed until this book.
Artists include Basquiat, Marcel Duchamp, Albrecht Dürer, David Hockney, Frida Kahlo, Klimt, Munch, O'Keeffe, and Picasso. Locations include Provence, India, Morocco, Tunisia, Los Angeles, and the Pellinki Archipelago. Beautiful images, illustrations, and a really well designed book. The author did a fantastic job of pairing photographs of the places to the art itself.
I appreciate the representation of locations outside of Europe and North America, and showing artwork outside of the well-known ones. I LOVED seeing a journal entry from Van Gogh
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Traveling is one of the best ways to fill our creative tanks. Hearing about artist greats filling theirs and the places they've gone to do so is a way of filling up my own tank that I didn't know existed until this book.
Artists include Basquiat, Marcel Duchamp, Albrecht Dürer, David Hockney, Frida Kahlo, Klimt, Munch, O'Keeffe, and Picasso. Locations include Provence, India, Morocco, Tunisia, Los Angeles, and the Pellinki Archipelago. Beautiful images, illustrations, and a really well designed book. The author did a fantastic job of pairing photographs of the places to the art itself.
I appreciate the representation of locations outside of Europe and North America, and showing artwork outside of the well-known ones. I LOVED seeing a journal entry from Van Gogh
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
October 24, 2023
This book offered me the opportunity not only to discover the lives of some artists I already knew, but also to learn about others I just didn't know. All by putting them in a framework that made them not only much more understandable, but definitely more human.
Questo libro mi ha offerto la possibilitá non solo di scoprire la vita di alcuni artisti che giá conoscevo, ma anche di conoscerne altri che proprio ignoravo. Il tutto inserendoli in una cornice che li ha resi non solo molto piú comprensibili, ma decisamente piú umani.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
Questo libro mi ha offerto la possibilitá non solo di scoprire la vita di alcuni artisti che giá conoscevo, ma anche di conoscerne altri che proprio ignoravo. Il tutto inserendoli in una cornice che li ha resi non solo molto piú comprensibili, ma decisamente piú umani.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
February 5, 2024
This is a treasure trove of inspiration and insight into the personal lives of the most talented artists we all admire. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
This is great for anyone who loves art or history or travelling, or creating...
Some of my favourite artists were tracked on their journeys, some very long and arduous, some shorter and more frequent.
My appetite for their art has been stoked!
This is great for anyone who loves art or history or travelling, or creating...
Some of my favourite artists were tracked on their journeys, some very long and arduous, some shorter and more frequent.
My appetite for their art has been stoked!
Read
May 24, 2024Had to take it back to work as it had reservations on it. Will pick it up again later.
January 26, 2025
Mistakingly referred to Berthe Morisot giving birth to her beloved son. She only had a daughter.
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