Vincent Van Gogh 1853 to 1890: A Study of the Artist and His Work in Relation to His Times

by Walter Pach

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

92 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1936

About the author

Walter Pach (July 1, 1883 – November 27, 1958) was an American artist, critic, lecturer, art adviser, and art historian who wrote extensively about modern art and championed its cause.

Pach's fluency in French, German, and Spanish made it possible for him to understand and interpret the avant-garde ideas developing in Europe and translate them for the English-speaking audience.

Reviews

[Sparrow .]

I like these vintage art books (this is from 1936) where you can actually understand the meaning of the sentences, before they were written in “artish,” a language where words like “epiphanic” sidle up to words like “alterity” to produce something more like a medical diagnosis than a memoir. This book is a monograph, with special emphasis on Vincent’s mastery of color:

“First of all, people who are accustomed to painting can see that, whatever the thought in the artist’s mind about the aura of human interest around that room with the billiard table, the effect is produced by certain relationships of red, green and yellow, which are arrived at by observation of the light of the lamps falling on various objects and people. The shadow of the table, for example, and the reflection from the yellow floor back into the dark wood of the underside of the table, are stupendous examples of observation as humble as the artist once bestowed on the Dutch peasant who posed for him; but it is observation illuminated by the science due to his years in Paris.”

Van Gogh’s reputation was established by his sister-in-law, who had the delightful name Johanna Gesina Bonger – after his death, just as Emily Dickinson’s sister-in-law was establishing hers. Power to the sisters-in-law!