Synopses & Reviews
Vincent van Gogh (1853and#150;1890) viewed wheat as a central metaphor of the cycle of life and the creative process. As such, it was a theme that he consistently explored throughout his career. This book examines the artistand#8217;s personal and visual fascination with wheat, analyzing the significance that the motifand#150;and#150;and by extension, the peasant at work in natureand#150;and#150;played within the social and cultural framework of 19th-century France and in the works of other artists of the time.
Focusing on his Sheaves of Wheat at the Dallas Museum of Artand#150;and#150;one of thirteen canvases completed in the last month of his lifeand#150;and#150;this beautiful book features illustrations of Van Goghand#8217;s works as well as personal correspondence and letters. Related images by such prominent contemporary artists as Emile Bernard, Jules Breton, Charles F. Daubigny, Paul Gauguin, Jean-Franand#231;ois Millet, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissarro are also included. Together these works reveal the larger social and political trends of 19th-century France.
About the Author
Dorothy Kosinski, Senior Curator of Paintingand#160;and Sculpture and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, is the author of
Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg and
Henry Moore: Sculpting the Twentieth Century, both published by Yale University Press.and#160;
Bradley Fratello is Assistant Professor in the art department at St. Louis Community College, Meramec.
Laura Bruck is a McDermott Graduate Curatorial Intern at the Dallas Museum of Art.