[ePub] Alberto Giacometti: The Art of Relation by Timothy Mathews in Arts-Photography

Description

When he died at the age of thirty-seven; Vincent van Gogh left a legacy of over two thousand artworks; for which he is now justly famous. But van Gogh was also a prodigious writer of lettersmdash;more than eight hundred of them; addressed to his parents; to friends such as Paul Gauguin; and; above all; to his brother Theo. His letters have long been admired for their exceptional literary quality; and art historians have sometimes drawn on the letters in their analysis of the paintings. And yet; to date; no one has undertaken a critical assessment of this remarkable body of writingmdash;not as a footnote to the paintings but as a highly sophisticated literary achievement in its own right. Patrick Grantrsquo;s long-awaited study provides such an assessment and; as such; redresses a significant omission in the field of van Gogh studies.As Grant demonstrates; quite apart from furnishing a highly revealing self-portrait of their author; the letters are compelling for their imaginative and expressive power; as well as for the perceptive commentary they offer on universal human themes. Through a subtle exploration of van Goghrsquo;s contrastive style of thinking and his fascination with the notion of imperfection; Grant illuminates gradual shifts in van Goghrsquo;s ideas on religion; ethics; and the meaning of art. He also analyzes the metaphorical significance of a number of key images in the letters; which prove to yield unexpected psychological and conceptual connections; and probes the relationships that surface when the letters are viewed as a cohesive literary product. The result is a wealth of new insights into van Goghrsquo;s inner landscape.