Beautifully written synopsis of a new book on Phillip Guston, the late American artist. Acclaimed in the late 1940’s as a major Abstract painter, he then turned his back on the style that had brought him fame. By 1970 he had developed a more modernist style that was influential among younger artists but did not gain wider recognition until a retrospective one year after his death in 1980.
Any large collection of van Gogh paintings will reveal the astonishing transformation in his art that occurred during his time in Paris in 1886-8. Julian Bell’s new biography of van Gogh sets out the personal back story. Having tried being an art dealer, a teacher and, at one stage, a preacher, all the while behaving like a drama queen, the van Gogh who arrived in Paris was producing notable drawings but heavy, wintery paintings. Incredibly, less than two years later, a genius painter of colour was revealed.
[Included in beta versions of The Easel]
[Included in beta versions of The Easel]
[Included in beta versions of The Easel]