Artists' Letters
Leonardo da Vinci to David Hockney
Published on 7. September 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-7112-8886-7 (ISBN)
Description
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
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
Reviews / Votes
"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 *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quarto Publishing PLC
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
colour photos
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
672 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7112-8886-7 (9780711288867)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Michael Bird is a writer and art historian. His books include Artists' Letters: Leonardo da Vinci to David Hockney (White Lion Publishing, 2019), Studio Voices: Art and Life in 20th-century Britain and The St Ives Artists: A Biography of Place and Time. He is Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Exeter.
Content
006 Introduction
1 'I saw the new giraffe'
Family & Friends
Salvador Dali to Paul Eluard
Francisco Lucientes y Goya to Martin Zapater
Lucian Freud to Stephen Spender
Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant
Michelangelo Buonarroti to Lionardo di Buonarroto Simoni
Philip Guston to Elise Asher
Beatrix Potter to Noel Moore
Piet Mondrian to Kurt Seligmann
Gustav Klimt to Josef Lewinsky
Jasper Johns to Rosamund Felsen
Edward Burne-Jones to Daphne Gaskell
William Blake to William Hayley
Alexander Calder to Agnes Rindge Claflin
Zhu Da to Fang Shiguan
Camille Pissarro to Julie Pissarro
Marcel Duchamp to Suzanne Duchamp
Dorothea Tanning to Joseph Cornell
2 'Like a sleepwalker'
Artist to Artist
Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh to Paul Gauguin
Sebastiano del Piombo to Michelangelo Buonarroti
Paul Signac to Claude Monet
David Alfaro Siqueiros to Jackson Pollock, Sande Pollock and Harold Lehman
Pablo Picasso to Jean Cocteau
Mark Rothko to Lee Krasner
Edouard Manet to Eugene Maus
David Hockney to Kenneth E. Tyler
Francis Picabia to Alfred Stieglitz
Robert Smithson to Enno Develing
Claude Monet to Berthe Morisot
Ulay and Marina Abramovic to Mike Parr
Mike Parr to Marina Abramovic and Ulay
Benvenuto Cellini to Michelangelo
John Constable to John Thomas Smith
3 'Your book on witchcraft'
Gifts & Greetings
Cindy Sherman to Arthur C. Danto
Joseph Cornell to Marcel Duchamp
Leonora Carrington to Kurt Seligmann
Wang Zhideng to a friend
Yayoi Kusama to Donald Judd
George Grosz to Erich S. Herrmann
Yoko Ono and John Lennon to Joseph Cornell
Joan Miro to Marcel Breuer
4 'The best I have painted'
Patrons & Supporters
Guercino and Paolo Antonio Barbieri to unknown recipient
Nancy Spero to Lucy Lippard
Pierre-Auguste Renoir to Georges Charpentier
Roy Lichtenstein to Ellen H. Johnson
Peter Paul Rubens to Balthasar Gerbier
Cy Twombly to Leo Castelli
Winslow Homer to Thomas B. Clarke
Eva Hesse to Helene Papanek
Mary Cassatt to John Wesley Beatty
Jackson Pollock to Louis Bunce
Leonardo da Vinci to Ludovico Sforza
Egon Schiele to Hermann Engel
William Hogarth to T.H.
Joseph Beuys to Otto Mauer
Agnes Martin to Samuel J. Wagstaff
Judy Chicago to Lucy Lippard
5 'Hey beautiful'
Love
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
Joan Mitchell to Michael Goldberg
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres to Marie-Anne-Julie Forestier
Paul Nash to Margaret Odeh
Ad Reinhardt to Selina Trieff
Jules Olitski to Joan Olitski
Jean Cocteau to unknown recipient
Alfred Stieglitz to Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz
Auguste Rodin to Camille Claudel
Camille Claudel to Auguste Rodin
Ben Nicholson to Barbara Hepworth
Eileen Agar to Joseph Bard
6 'My 1244 guilders'
Professional Matters
Nicolas Poussin to Paul Scarron
Henry Fuseli to unknown recipient
Henry Moore to John Rothenstein
James McNeill Whistler to Frederick H. Allen
Joshua Reynolds to Philip Yorke
Anni Albers to Gloria Finn
Naum Gabo to Marcel Breuer
Rembrandt van Rijn to Constantijn Huygens
Gustave Courbet to Philippe de Chennevieres
Aubrey Beardsley to Frederick Evans
Kazimir Malevich to Anatoly Lunacharksy
John Linnell to James Muirhead
Andy Warhol to Russell Lynes
7 'I hope to get to Venice'
Travel
Edward Lear to Hallam Tennyson
Berenice Abbott to John Henry Bradley Storrs
Georges and Marcelle Braque to Paul Dermee and Carolina Goldstein
John Ruskin to unknown recipient
Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell to Maria and Hans Hofmann
Albrecht Du?rer to Willibald Pirckheimer
Carl Andre to Eva Hesse
Francis Bacon to Erica Brausen
Ana Mendieta to Judith Wilson
Lee Krasner to Jackson Pollock
8 'I see better'
Signing Off
Thomas Gainsborough to Thomas Harvey
Paul Cezanne to Emile Bernard
Timeline
Index
Picture Credits
1 'I saw the new giraffe'
Family & Friends
Salvador Dali to Paul Eluard
Francisco Lucientes y Goya to Martin Zapater
Lucian Freud to Stephen Spender
Vanessa Bell to Duncan Grant
Michelangelo Buonarroti to Lionardo di Buonarroto Simoni
Philip Guston to Elise Asher
Beatrix Potter to Noel Moore
Piet Mondrian to Kurt Seligmann
Gustav Klimt to Josef Lewinsky
Jasper Johns to Rosamund Felsen
Edward Burne-Jones to Daphne Gaskell
William Blake to William Hayley
Alexander Calder to Agnes Rindge Claflin
Zhu Da to Fang Shiguan
Camille Pissarro to Julie Pissarro
Marcel Duchamp to Suzanne Duchamp
Dorothea Tanning to Joseph Cornell
2 'Like a sleepwalker'
Artist to Artist
Paul Gauguin to Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh to Paul Gauguin
Sebastiano del Piombo to Michelangelo Buonarroti
Paul Signac to Claude Monet
David Alfaro Siqueiros to Jackson Pollock, Sande Pollock and Harold Lehman
Pablo Picasso to Jean Cocteau
Mark Rothko to Lee Krasner
Edouard Manet to Eugene Maus
David Hockney to Kenneth E. Tyler
Francis Picabia to Alfred Stieglitz
Robert Smithson to Enno Develing
Claude Monet to Berthe Morisot
Ulay and Marina Abramovic to Mike Parr
Mike Parr to Marina Abramovic and Ulay
Benvenuto Cellini to Michelangelo
John Constable to John Thomas Smith
3 'Your book on witchcraft'
Gifts & Greetings
Cindy Sherman to Arthur C. Danto
Joseph Cornell to Marcel Duchamp
Leonora Carrington to Kurt Seligmann
Wang Zhideng to a friend
Yayoi Kusama to Donald Judd
George Grosz to Erich S. Herrmann
Yoko Ono and John Lennon to Joseph Cornell
Joan Miro to Marcel Breuer
4 'The best I have painted'
Patrons & Supporters
Guercino and Paolo Antonio Barbieri to unknown recipient
Nancy Spero to Lucy Lippard
Pierre-Auguste Renoir to Georges Charpentier
Roy Lichtenstein to Ellen H. Johnson
Peter Paul Rubens to Balthasar Gerbier
Cy Twombly to Leo Castelli
Winslow Homer to Thomas B. Clarke
Eva Hesse to Helene Papanek
Mary Cassatt to John Wesley Beatty
Jackson Pollock to Louis Bunce
Leonardo da Vinci to Ludovico Sforza
Egon Schiele to Hermann Engel
William Hogarth to T.H.
Joseph Beuys to Otto Mauer
Agnes Martin to Samuel J. Wagstaff
Judy Chicago to Lucy Lippard
5 'Hey beautiful'
Love
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
Joan Mitchell to Michael Goldberg
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres to Marie-Anne-Julie Forestier
Paul Nash to Margaret Odeh
Ad Reinhardt to Selina Trieff
Jules Olitski to Joan Olitski
Jean Cocteau to unknown recipient
Alfred Stieglitz to Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz
Auguste Rodin to Camille Claudel
Camille Claudel to Auguste Rodin
Ben Nicholson to Barbara Hepworth
Eileen Agar to Joseph Bard
6 'My 1244 guilders'
Professional Matters
Nicolas Poussin to Paul Scarron
Henry Fuseli to unknown recipient
Henry Moore to John Rothenstein
James McNeill Whistler to Frederick H. Allen
Joshua Reynolds to Philip Yorke
Anni Albers to Gloria Finn
Naum Gabo to Marcel Breuer
Rembrandt van Rijn to Constantijn Huygens
Gustave Courbet to Philippe de Chennevieres
Aubrey Beardsley to Frederick Evans
Kazimir Malevich to Anatoly Lunacharksy
John Linnell to James Muirhead
Andy Warhol to Russell Lynes
7 'I hope to get to Venice'
Travel
Edward Lear to Hallam Tennyson
Berenice Abbott to John Henry Bradley Storrs
Georges and Marcelle Braque to Paul Dermee and Carolina Goldstein
John Ruskin to unknown recipient
Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell to Maria and Hans Hofmann
Albrecht Du?rer to Willibald Pirckheimer
Carl Andre to Eva Hesse
Francis Bacon to Erica Brausen
Ana Mendieta to Judith Wilson
Lee Krasner to Jackson Pollock
8 'I see better'
Signing Off
Thomas Gainsborough to Thomas Harvey
Paul Cezanne to Emile Bernard
Timeline
Index
Picture Credits