Artists' Letters by Michael Bird

Artists' Letters by Michael Bird

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 loversHearing 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 *

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.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780711288867
ISBN 10	0711288860
Title	Artists' Letters
Author	Michael Bird
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Quarto Publishing PLC
Year published	2023-09-07
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.