 | | |
| Vincent Van Gogh: The Drawings (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) | 
 enlarge | Author: Colta Ives
Creator: Susan Alyson Stein
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Category: Book
List Price: $65.00
Buy New: $40.95
You Save: $24.05 (37%)
Buy New/Used from $31.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  (14 reviews)
Sales Rank: 102545
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 392
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.8
Dimensions (in): 11.3 x 9.8 x 1.5
ISBN: 030010720X
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.092
EAN: 9780300107203
ASIN: 030010720X
Publication Date: October 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Vincent van Gogh (1853?1890) believed that drawing was ?the root of everything.? A self-taught artist, he succeeded, between 1881 and 1890, in developing an inimitable graphic style. This book traces the artist?s successive triumphs as a draftsman, first in the Netherlands and later in France, highlighting the diversity of his technical invention and the striking continuity of his vision. Given the pivotal role drawings played in Van Gogh?s artistic conception and the rich dialectic they enjoyed with his oil paintings, a small selection of related canvases by the artist is also featured. This beautiful book presents approximately 120 works in charcoal, ink, graphite, watercolor, and diluted oils. The authors explore enduring questions that surround Van Gogh?s drawings, including their manufacture, artistic precedents, and contribution to Modernism. In addition, the text discusses the significance of the artist?s drawing practice to his development as a painter. The essays and entries feature the most current research on Van Gogh?s drawings and provide fresh interpretations of the motivating influences that shaped the artist?s contributions to the history of drawing.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 not up to the achievement of a great draftsman September 27, 2008
To find out how far short this book falls from many of the great drawings of Van Gogh you can go online and find many drawings not found in this book.There are many sites to look at Vincent's work. With zooming and enlarging the drawings you will have a better idea of the work . So many of the ink drawings of Van Gogh have faded. One of his greatest drawings of trees is in the Art Institute of Chicago.It is illustrated here.The authors miss the central importance of Vincent's work. His use of the reed pen was painterly. He used the reed pen as a brush technique.He drew ,many times when he was out of paints or waiting for canvases from Theo. The catalogue is useful in relating the drawings to his paintings . Often in a nearby page .Catalogues are great as a way of remembering and reviewing an important exhibit.This is an enormously ambitious book from the Metropolitan Museum. It falls short, as I think it would be much better to have a compact disk of the images.I have books on Van Gogh's stuff that I used to show my drawing classes.A book of this weight doesn't full fill the need of something you wish to carry with you.To have a major show of drawings in an era of installation art , I salute the museum's acknowledgement of the importance of these drawings. It is in the drawings that Van Gogh's reputation will continue to grow . His palette was unprecedented in the early 20th century. Since then, his command of color composition doesn't hold up to later developments.
master draftsman September 15, 2007
a wonderful memory of a once in a lifetime exhibit. 7 years of drawing before he ever picked up a brush....
A rare opportunity April 9, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the catalogue for a 2005 exhibit at the Met. A valuable addition to the literature on Van Gogh, it encompasses his whole career as a draughtsman, and a brilliant one of course. The images are perfect (you sometimes get the impression that you are holding the actual drawing) and the text very helpful, giving sizes, provenances and many excerpts of Van Gogh's own letters.I remember visiting the exhibition in crammed rooms on a saturday afternoon, therefore I was glad to be able to savour it once again in a quieter atmosphere, thanks to the book.
Drawing at the highest level January 27, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Lord Kenneth Clark, at the end of his book and television series, Civilization, said he had come to believe that there was such a thing as "genius". After looking through this book, so will you.
With over 350 drawings, mostly reproduced in color, and dozens more color reproductions of paintings, this will no doubt be the definitive work of the artist's drawings. We see many of his early drawings, including those enhanced with chalk, watercolor, etc. We see the drawings and watercolors done in preparation for his paintings and then we see the paintings themselves.
But the high points of the book are the three drawings in pen and ink done after each of the paintings and intended as reproductions of those works. He wanted a means to share these paintings with three different correspondents: John Russell, Emile Bernard and his brother Theo. He obviously couldn't afford the oil and canvas to reproduce each painting three more times. These laborious drawings were executed and mailed to individuals with whom Van Gogh wanted to share his work (and perhaps impress), or, in the case of his brother, to also show his love and appreciation. Slight variations among the three drawings after the same painting show further, "post-oil" development of each subject and give us additional insight into his style and his thinking. The color reproductions of his drawings allow us to see how the ink on each has faded over time and a 100-year old reproduction of a drawing shows us how the original has faded over time. Because virtually all of the drawings done as a mature artist were on 9-1/2 by 11-1/2 sheets, the reproductions in the book are almost actual size.
Fortunately, both Bernard and Theo's widow and heirs believed very strongly in his work, including his drawings, and ignored the advice of critics to throw it all away. They continued to promote the artist's work after his death, eventually leading to his broader recognition over the following decades. If you appreciate great drawing, this is a "must have" book.
Very interesting January 9, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is much more technical than the "Letter" book I recently read. I enjoy that because I have always wanted to know how he painted or drew his pictures as well as how is life and painting developed.
|
|
|
| | |
