February 2007
Volume 1, Number 2

Inside this issue...

Artist Of The Month: Vincent Van Gogh
Art In The News 
Outside The Lines
Segmation News

Artist Of The Month: Vincent Van Gogh 

In letters, Vincent has described his youth as "gloomy, cold and barren," and he left school at 15. With the help of his uncle, he was offered a job with the art dealer Goupil & Cie, and in 1873 was sent to London and from there to Paris. After complaining repeatedly about the commoditisation of art, his job with the art dealership was terminated and Van Gogh returned to England to work as a teacher and minister's assistant.

In 1879, after failing a course at a Protestant missionary school near Brussels, Van Gogh began a mission in the poor mining district of Borinage in Belgium. Choosing to live in the same poverty-stricken conditions as the local population, he was dismissed for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood" and returned home. His behaviour over the following months led his father to enquire about having Van Gogh committed to an asylum.

Aged 27, Van Gogh eventually took up the suggestion of his brother Theo, now a successful art dealer, to focus on painting. In 1880, he moved to Brussels and studied at the Royal Academy of Art.

Van Gogh's first major work, The Potato Eaters, was painted in 1885 shortly after his father's death. Like many of his early works, the painting used sombre colors, especially dark brown, a preference which would make his paintings difficult to sell; buyers' tastes were now influenced by the bright tones used by the Impressionists.

His palette however, began to change after he moved to Antwerp in 1885. He studied color theory and began using carmine, cobalt and emerald green. But it was while living in Paris from 1886 to 1888, where he met Emile Bernard and Toulouse-Lautrec and came into close contact with Impressionist art, that Van Gogh's art really began to develop. He experimented with Pointillism and painted in the sunflower-rich region of Arles with the artist Gauguin. By late 1888 his behavior was becoming difficult however, and fearing that Gauguin was going to abandon him, he stalked the painter with a razor before cutting off his earlobe and giving it to a local prostitute, telling her to "keep this object carefully." The following year, after suffering from hallucinations and believing that he was being poisoned, Van Gogh was placed in the mental hospital of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Arles.

By now, Van Gogh's work was beginning to be recognized. The critic Albert Aurier called him a "genius," and Monet declared that his work was the best in a major avant-garde Brussels art show.

The beginnings of success did nothing to help Van Gogh's depression though, nor did the intervention of the physician Dr. Paul Gachet. On July 27, 1890, he walked into a field, shot himself in the chest with a revolver and died two days later.

Although there has been much speculation about the nature of Van Gogh's mental illness, he is now recognized as one of the world's greatest artists and a bridge between 19^th century Impressionism and 20^th century art.

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Art In The News

Controversy Rages Over Pollock Paintings

Researchers at Harvard University Art Museum have thrown fresh doubt over the authenticity of three paintings attributed to Jackson Pollock. The paintings were part of a batch of 32 discovered by film-maker Alex Matter whose parents knew the American abstract painter. According to the researchers, the pictures contain a red paint and a brown pigment neither of which was available during Pollock's lifetime.

The authenticity of the paintings has been defended by Pollock art historian Ellen Landau, who told Reuters "[i]f someone other than Pollock did do these paintings, he or she had an amazing knowledge of Pollock's working methods."

Jackson Pollock's No. 5, 1948, became the world's most expensive painting in November 2006 when it was sold for $140m.

Source: New York Times

Could Lost Leonardo Soon See The Light?

A lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci could seen be discovered, if the hunch of engineer and art conserver, Maurizio Seracini, proves accurate. Seracini, who has been looking for The Battle of Anghiari for 32 years believes that the painting, which is believed to be three times the size of The Last Supper, remains where Da Vinci left it: on the wall of Florence's Renaissance town hall.

In 1505, Florence's leaders asked Da Vinci to paint the fresco to commemorate the republic's 1440 victory over Milan. Da Vinci is believed to have abandoned the painting after an experimental fresco technique failed. A work by the 16^th century artist, Giorgio Vasari now stands in its place.

According to Seracini however, the Da Vinci original was never destroyed but remains on the wall, with the Vasari painting placed on a false wall in front of it.

Evidence for the survival of the original include a small cavity beneath Vasari's mural, and the message "Cerca Trova" -- "Seek and you shall find" -- painted on a tiny flag in Vasari's battle scene.

"It could be an army motto. Or maybe it doesn't mean anything. But maybe it's a hint," Seracini told Reuters. Tests on the wall are estimated to last another ten months.

Outside The Lines

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