13″x19″ landscapeExposed Post, Hahnemuhle William Turner

Booksmart Studio Libro Elite, 13″x19″ landscapeExposed Post, Hahnemuhle William Turner

The exposed post option (see below), which is regarded as the modern look. The screw posts are exposed on the exterior of the book, creating a nice finish inside the book.

Kit includes:
_ Italian Leatherette covers
_ Aluminum screw post
_ 25 sheets of your chosen paper
_ Designated paper choices include 25 sheets of inkjet printable vellum

Picasso (25 Spring)
Customer Review: Excellent value
The two volume book is arranged in seventeen chapters concluding with a considerable Chronology illustrated with numerous black and white pictures, mostly photographs with many of the artist, Notes, a Bibliography which includes exhibition catalogues, and a rather brief (one page) Index of Names. The opening Chapter reminds us of the stature of the man, and of his prodigious output; briefly summarising his career. The subsequent Chapters chronicle Picasso’s progress starting with his childhood efforts, through the Blue and Rose Periods, Cubism, “Guernica” to mention just a few and concluding with “The Legend of the Artist”. It is intelligently written, accessible and makes very interesting reading. The illustrations run with the text and are usually within a page or two of the relevant reference. Produced in two paperback volumes in a cardboard slipcase Taschen’s 25 anniversary edition is an impressive effort. It is superbly illustrated throughout with approaching 1,500 images mainly in colour but with a few back and white (usually drawings or photographs). The smallest pictures are just thumbnails, the largest full page and the occasional double page spread, with every size between; but there are plenty of good sized pictures with whole sections of colour plates, it certainly makes an impressive array. Overall the pictures far outweigh the text. At such good value for money it is hard to be critical of this two volume set, but I fear I have two concerns. Firstly the Index seems wholly inadequate, an Index of Names which amounts to one page; finding a particular painting or anything else might prove difficult. Secondly, while the two volumes come protected in a slipcase, the card covers to the individual volumes feel very slight; with each approaching 400 pages one feels one has to handle them with great care for fear of damaging the binding. It is however a very worthwhile set, one would be hard pressed to find so many reproductions of Picasso’s work elsewhere for the money, and would not hesitate to recommend it.

Arona Lago Maggiore by Turner William, giclee print, 40 x 30
Arona Lago Maggiore by Turner William, giclee print, 40 x 30

In the late 1860’s Monet continued to study landscape painting working with Courbet at Trouville and working frequently with Renoir at Le Grenouillere. It was at Le Grenouillere, that the first pure Impressionist painting took form. It was a radical departure from academic standards.

Price: $279.99
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A love story that explores the bonds between patient and doctor, painter and muse.

Summer, 1890. Van Gogh arrives at Auvers-sur-Oise, a bucolic French village that lures city artists to the country. It is here that twenty-year-old Marguerite Gachet has grown up, attending to her father and brother ever since her mother’s death. And it is here that Vincent Van Gogh will spend his last summer, under the care of Doctor Gachet-homeopathic doctor, dilettante painter, and collector. In these last days of his life, Van Gogh will create over 70 paintings, two of them portraits of Marguerite Gachet. But little does he know that, while capturing Marguerite and her garden on canvas, he will also capture her heart.

Both a love story and historical novel, The Last Van Gogh recreates the final months of Vincent’s life-and the tragic relationship between a young girl brimming with hope and an artist teetering on despair.
List Price: $14.00
Amazon Price: $11.20
Used Price: $0.01
Customer Review: A Wonderfully Written Book and An Interesting Possibility
For those interested in some very-informative background information concerning how and why, during the last seventy days of his life, Vincent van Gogh was able to produce over seventy incredibly-beautiful final masterpieces, “The Last Van Gogh,” by the internationally-acclaimed author Alyson Richman, provides some amazing insight. The author traveled to the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise on a number of occasions and meticulously researched the period during which Van Gogh lived there, even interviewing a number of the village’s elders, who knew his last muse, Magaret Gachet, the daughter of the homeopathic doctor who was treating Van Gogh at the time. It’s truly a wonderful novel, beautifully written and I would recommend it highly. For anybody who loves Van Gogh’s works, this book should prove unbelievably fascinating. [Incidentally, Ms. Richman is also the author of the highly-reviewed novels "The Mask Carver's Son" (Bloomsbury - 2000) and "Swedish Tango" (Simon & Schuster - 2004).] The exciting new information about Van Gogh that Ms. Richman researched and incorporated into her fascinating new novel has already generated considerable interest and enthusiasm in lectures and discussion groups at fine art museums around the country, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Dayton Museum of Fine Art, the Heckscher Museum of Art (in Huntington, New York) and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Customer Review: Thoroughly enjoyable
I came to this book knowing next to nothing about Vincent VanGogh, other than perhaps the severed ear incident, and the well known song, “Vincent.” I was totally drawn into the world of the characters as presented by Alyson Richman. The poignancy and intensity of Marguerite’s love and longing for Vincent were so real, and deeply affecting, as was the lonliness of her life as practically a servant to her father and brother. It was a book that I did not want to end, especially knowing that Marguerite and Vincent’s love was doomed. I don’t have a problem knowing that the author’s bringing those two together in her novel was purely speculation and not based on anything factual, it was a beautiful story that could have happened. I also, as someone else has commented, found a VanGogh website and looked up the paintings as they were mentioned in the book. That added a lot to the enjoyment of reading. I would definitely recommend The Last Van Gogh.
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Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh Poster Print, 12.00 x 10.00
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Monet’s Waterlilies
Today as the news from Selma and Saigon
poisons the air like fallout,
I come again to see
the serene, great picture that I love.

Here space and time exist in light
the eye like the eye of faith believes.
The seen, the known
dissolve in iridescence, become
illusive flesh of light
that was not, was, forever is.

O light beheld as through refracting tears.
Here is the aura of that world
each of us has lost.
Here is the shadow of its joy.

Robert Hayden