This time of year

takes my mind to the delicacies of Nature, and coincidentally I have been reading a catalogue which does that, and more.  David Hockney, Vincent Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature is an exhibition on at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam until 26 May.  The catalogue is available in this country, published by Thames and Hudson.  I am not illustrating it here because I think that the cover design is execrable - but I'm probably out of date with typographic fashion.  

The content is fantastic, however, putting views from both artists side by side.  I have spent a most enjoyable time looking and looking.
A long and interesting review of the exhibition in Studio International is here - but I think that the reviewer had not read the catalogue, not quite getting Hockney's fascination with perspective/points of view.

Linked with what I was saying about this time of year, I found the drawings a delight.  There are fascinating examples from both artists.  I had forgotten about, and was pleased especially to be reminded of Van Gogh's elegant and eloquent pencil lines.  The Van Gogh Museum website has an excellent search facility through which I have spent a deal of pleasant time wandering.  Then I look through the windows to the growth outside, and am filled with delight - and perhaps even a glimpse of inspiration.

A good read

I am thoroughly enjoying reading Modernists and Mavericks: Bacon, Freud, Hockney and the London Painters by Martin Gayford.  It is well written, straightforwardly, using the words of the painters themselves - an enthralling tale, developing from the immediately post war years.  Although I thought I knew quite a lot about Bacon, for instance, I have learned so much more, and I can put him in a fuller context now.  I am so enjoying thinking about the development of artists, what they believe is important despite critics, galleries, and collectors/market.  It is fascinating reading about what motivates the search for artistic achievement - and what in society at large can make the changes within or between artists over time.