I have always enjoyed reading biographies of passionate creative people, whatever they are passionate about.
I would like to read more biographies of visual artists, but I don’t really know where to start - there are so many artists, and even more books about them (searching Amazon for “Van Gogh biography” gets 554 results).
I am most interested in the creative process; secondarily would be the type of art; generally I’m a fan of abstract art.
Any recommendations on where to start?
Giorgio Vasari’s “Lives of the Artists”. I’d link to it but I can only find “selections” or “anthologies”. You want the whole thing.
Thank you. I will take a look for that.
I’ve read Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, mentioned above, and second it.
Benvenuto Cellini wrote his own autobiography, and it’s worth reading. It’s available from Penguin.
I liked Irving Stone’s Lust for Life, his biographical novel of Vincdent Van Gogh. I suspect that a version written today would be very different, though. I liked his novel about Michelangelo, too, The Agony and the Ecstacy. Both were famously filmed, as well. Again, I suspect that a modern version would be pretty different. Times has changed, and scholarshi[p marches on.
I was in a doctor’s office and read an article in the Smithsonian magazine providing an overview of Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo. While Vincent is portrayed as a damaged, misunderstood visionary, his letters detail a near-scientific breakdown of color and color theory - where he is trying to achieve his artistic intent with a new approach to color - kind of Pointillist, but obviously not the same.
It was years ago, but if you look for a book focusing on their letters and what they say about VVG’s creative process, it should be in line with what you want.