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Artists' Letters

Leonardo da Vinci to David Hockney

Michael Bird author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Quarto Publishing PLC

Published:7th Sep '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Artists' Letters cover

A treasure trove of carefully selected letters written by great artists, providing unique insight into their characters and a glimpse into their lives.

Artists’ Letters is a collection of intriguing, entertaining, moving, significant, surprising, witty and insightful correspondence from great artists. Arranged thematically, it includes writings and musings on love, work, daily life, money, travel and the creative process

On the theme of friendship, for example, letters provide evidence of a creative community between peers, with support and mutual appreciation that helps to dispel the myth of the artist as solitary genius. Letters between Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin show an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas. We see mutual admiration between Claude Monet and Berthe Morisot, and Picasso’s quick notes to Jean Cocteau illustrate their closeness. Letters, some of which includes sketches and drawings, are reproduced with the transcript and some background and contextual information alongside. 

Artists include: Salvador Dali, Goya, Lucian Freud, Vanessa Bell, Michelangelo, Mondrian, Gustav Klimt, Jasper Johns, Edward Burne-Jones, William Blake, Marcel Duchamp, Dorothea Tanning, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Picasso, Mark Rothko, David Hockney, Monet, Marina Abramovic, Cindy Sherman, Joseph Cornell, Leonora Carrington, Wang Zhideng, Yayoi Kusama, Yoko Ono, Renoir, Rubens, Eva Hesse, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein, Mary Cassatt, Jackson Pollock, Leonardo da Vinci, Joseph Beuys, Judy Chicago, Frida Kahlo, Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Auguste Rodin, Camille Claudel, Henry Moore, Joshua Reynolds, Rembrandt, Whistler, Anni Albers, Naum Gabo, Kazimir Malevich, Francis Bacon, Ana Mendieta, Lee Krasner, Andy Warhol

"This attractive volume includes letters from artists to fellow artists, friends, patrons and lovers. Hearing from artists in their own words gives an extraordinary glimpse into their lives and artistic thought process. Some of these people could paint with words, too!" * Sartle: Rogue Art History *
"Fascinating, instructive, thought-provoking, and memorable." * Midwest Book Review *
"A great book to dip into when you have a few moments or when you’d like to put on a pot of coffee or tea and indulge yourself for a few hours." * COLOR Magazine *

ISBN: 9780711288867

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

224 pages