DOCSLIB.ORG

“My Own Portrait in Writing”: Self-Fashioning in the Letters Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“My Own Portrait in Writing”: Self-Fashioning in the Letters Of “my own portrait in writing” cultural dialectics Series editor: Raphael Foshay The difference between subject and object slices through subject as well as through object. Theodor W. Adorno Cultural Dialectics provides an open arena in which to debate questions of culture and dialectic — their practices, their theoretical forms, and their relations to one another and to other spheres and modes of inquiry. Approaches that draw on any of the following are especially encouraged: continental phil- osophy, psychoanalysis, the Frankfurt and Birmingham schools of cultural theory, deconstruction, gender theory, postcoloniality, and interdisciplinarity. series titles Northern Love: An Exploration of Canadian Masculinity Paul Nonnekes Making Game: An Essay on Hunting, Familiar Things, and the Strangeness of Being Who One Is Peter L. Atkinson Valences of Interdisciplinarity: Theory, Pedagogy, Practice Edited by Raphael Foshay Imperfection Patrick Grant The Undiscovered Country: Essays in Canadian Intellectual Culture Ian Angus The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh: A Critical Study Patrick Grant “My Own Portrait in Writing” : Self-Fashioning in the Letters of Vincent van Gogh Patrick Grant “My Own Portrait in Writing” s elf-fashioning in the letters of Vincent Van gogh p atrick grant Copyright © 2015 Patrick Grant Published by AU Press, Athabasca University 1200, 10011 – 109 Street, Edmonton, Alberta t 5J 3s8 doi: 10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 Cover and interior design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design Cover image: Road with a Man and Pollard Willows, from letter 175 (1:295), Vincent Van Gogh to Theo Van Gogh, ca. 12–15 October 1881. Etten. Pencil, pen and ink, 18.3 x 11.7 cm (JH 58). Van Gogh Museum (Vincent Van Gogh Foundation), Amsterdam, b172/1962. Printed and bound in Canada by Marquis Book Printers Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Grant, Patrick, author “My own portrait in writing” : self-fashioning in the letters of Vincent van Gogh / Patrick Grant. (Cultural dialectics ; 1915-836X)Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-77199-045-5 (pbk.). — ISBN 978-1-77199-059-2 (pdf). — ISBN 978-1-77199-060-8 (epub). — ISBN 978-1-77199-058-5 (mobi) 1. Gogh, Vincent van, 1853–1890 — Criticism and interpretation. 2. Gogh, Vincent van, 1853–1890 — Correspondence. 3. Letters in literature. i. Title. ii. Series: Cultural dialectics ; 1915-836X ND653.G7G833 2015 759.9492 C2015-900617-1 C2015-900618-X We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities. Assistance provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Multimedia De- velopment Fund. This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution– Noncommercial–No Derivative Works 4.0 International: see www.creative commons.org. The text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit is given to the original author. To obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons li- cence, please contact AU Press, Athabasca University, at [email protected]. For Gloria Tomorrow morning I’ll go to the little English church you know, it lies there so peacefully in the evening in that quiet Begijnhof between the thorn hedges, and seems to be saying, “In loco este dabo pacem,” that is, “in this place will I give peace,” saith the Lord. Amen, be it so. ViC N eNt VaN GoGh, Amsterdam, 1877 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 I’d also like to see if I can’t make my own portrait in writing. First I start by saying that to my mind the same person supplies material for very diverse portraits. ViC N eNt VaN GoGh, Arles, 1888 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 contents List oF illustratioNs xi PreFaCe xiii Introduction: The Dialogical Structure of Self-Fashioning 3 Van Gogh Old and New: Reading the Letters as Literature 3 What Is Literature Anyway? Cultural Codes and Timeless Truths 6 Bakhtin, Dialogue, and the Self Interrupted 9 Embodied Intentions: The Textual Dynamics of Self-Fashioning 13 Conclusion: Van Gogh’s “Double-Voiced Discourse” 15 1 The Painterly Writer 19 Dissolving Boundaries: Word-Painting and the Sister Arts 21 Ideal Space, Existential Time 27 Drawing and Painting: From Morality to Aesthetics 32 Thinking About Colour and Seeing Beyond It 44 Conclusion: Dialogical Means and Personal Ends 47 2 Binaries, Contradictions, and “Arguments on Both Sides” 51 Contradiction, Paradox, and the Shaping of Commitment 52 Half-Measures and Negative Contrasts 57 Deconstructing the Binaries 64 The Sower: A Dialogue of Life and Death 70 Conclusion: Contradiction and the Quest for Meaning 76 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 3 Reading Van Gogh’s Letter-Sketches 79 The Letter-Sketches and the Letters 79 Narrative Dimensions 87 Representing the Sacred 113 Homo Viator 128 Conclusion: Enhancing the Text 141 4 Imagination and the Limits of Self-Fashioning 145 Open Sea and Enchanted Ground: The Perils of Commitment 146 Imagination: “Impossible Windmills” 151 Imagination: “That’s Rich, That’s Poetry” 156 Safe Enough to Let Go: On Perseverance and Spontaneity 159 Conclusion: Managing the Dialogue 163 Conclusion: Envoi 165 Notes 173 IndeX 179 doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 illustrations 1 The Cave of Machpelah (116/1:163) 81 2 Beach with Fishing Boats (255/2:130) 82 3 Ears of Wheat (rM23/5:323) 84 4 Man Pulling a Harrow (400/3:52) 85 5 Soup Distribution in a Public Soup Kitchen (324/2:2) 89 6 Woman Digging (331/2:313) 90 7 The Poor and Money (270/2:167) 92 8 Women Working in the Peat (393/3:29) 94 9 Churchyard (387/3:15) 96 10 Head of a Woman (Gordina de Groot) (505/3:246) 100 11 Cicada (638/4:169) 103 12 Starry Night on the Rhône (691/4:293) 104 13 The Seine with the Clichy Bridge (589/4:35) 105 14 The Garden of the Asylum with Dandelions and Tree-Trunks (868/5:230) 108 15 The Raising of Lazarus (After Rembrandt) (866/5:225) 110 16 Small Churches at Petersham and Turnham Green (99/1:134) 114 17 Map of Etten and Environs (145/1:228) 117 18 Café ‘Au charbonnage’ (148/1:233) 119 19 The Yellow House (691/4:294) 121 20 On the Road (a) and In Front of the Embers (b) (162/1:263) 124 21 Tree-Lined Avenue (24/1:48) 129 22 Westminster Bridge (39/1:67) 131 23 Road with a Man and Pollard Willows (175/1:295) 132 24 Pollard Willow (252/2:123) 135 25 Avenue of Poplars (542/3:315) 137 26 Couple Walking Between Rows of Poplars (896/5:282) 140 Xi doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 preface Although the present book stands on its own, it can also be read as a companion to The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh: A Critical Study (Athabasca University Press, 2014). Together, these two books offer a response to the surprising fact that, despite many scholarly and critical acknow- ledgements of the extraordinary literary distinction of Van Gogh’s collected correspondence, there has been no extended study of his letters as literature. As a way of addressing this gap in the assessment of Van Gogh’s work as a whole, my earlier book focused on the imaginative and conceptual coherence of the collected correspondence, but I made no attempt at any detailed consideration of Van Gogh’s writing from a theoretical perspective. Yet if Van Gogh’s literary achievement is to be adequately assessed, his correspondence needs to be read from both practical-critical and literary-theoretical points of view. Consequently, the present book approaches the letters by way of a set of ideas about dialogue and self-fashioning derived especially from Mikhail Bakhtin, and, in each chapter, I bring these ideas to bear while also engaging the reader in some hitherto undiscussed aspect of Van Gogh’s writing. Throughout, I deal only with the letters, together with their attend- ant sketches, and the tacit assumption (well, now not so tacit) is that Van Gogh’s writing would be highly regarded even if the paintings and drawings had not survived. Yet, to date, commentary on the correspond- ence has reflected mainly the interests of art historians and biographers, whose principal focus is on Van Gogh the painter. But if the letters are to come into their own as literature, some separation of the domains of scholarly discourse is in order, if only to enable the foregrounding of both critical and theoretical modes of enquiry and analysis. Xiii doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771990455.01 All quotations from the correspondence are from Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters (2009). As the editors, Leo Jansen and Hans Luijten, say, this English translation is “the first truly integral and updated compilation of Van Gogh’s correspondence available to an international reader- ship” (Editio: Internationales Jahrbuch für Editionswissenschaft 15 [2001]: 53). Consequently, it makes good sense to work from the English version, and in the preface to my earlier book, I weighed some pros and cons of doing so. But then, as now, the central point is that I am writing mainly for English-speaking readers who will be reading the letters in English. Still, it is important not to let critical interpretation override what the original languages say, and I have checked the Dutch and French, as appropriate, to defend against interpretive transgressions. I gratefully acknowledge help received from the Van Gogh Museum and from the staff of the Museum Library. Many thanks to Hans Luijten for expert help, advice, and encouragement all the way, and also to Teio Meedendorp, Sue Mitchell, Peter Stoepker, and Henry Summerfield. Permission to print excerpts and sketches from the letters has been gratefully received from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • To Theo Van Gogh. Antwerp, on Or About Tuesday, 2 February 1886
    To Theo van Gogh. Antwerp, on or about Tuesday, 2 February 1886. on or about Tuesday, 2 February 1886 Metadata Source status: Original manuscript Location: Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, inv. nos. b488 a-b V/1962 Date: Van Gogh writes that the painting course ended last week; this happened at the end of January 1886. He also thanks Theo for sending the regular allowance, which almost always arrived at the beginning of the week. We have therefore dated the letter on or about Tuesday, 2 February 1886. Additional: Original [1r:1] Waarde Theo, Dank voor Uw brief en het ingeslotene. Het is iets dat mij fameus veel pleizier doet, dat gij het plan van bij Cormon te gaan nu ook zelf voorstelt. 1 Laat mij U zeggen hoe t mij hier nog verder is gegaan. De schildercursus is verl. week geeindigd, 5 daar er voor het eind van den cursus nog 1 This earlier plan is mentioned in the previous letter, letter 556. Van Gogh knew that Breitner2 had studied with Cormon3 (see letter 465) and may also have heard about him at the academy in Antwerp. Cormon opened his studio at number 104 boulevard de Clichy in 1882. While he did receive his students there, corrections were also done in the studio in rue La Bruyre. The syllabus did not differ much from that of his predecessor Lon Bonnat4. Cormons was less rigidly structured, though, and it was above all this more liberal attitude that won him a favourable reputation among a younger generation of artists. Students drew (classical) plaster casts and from life, and Cormon demanded from his students an extremely accurate, lifelike drawing.
    [Show full text]
  • Canadian Movie Channel APPENDIX 4C POTENTIAL INVENTORY
    Canadian Movie Channel APPENDIX 4C POTENTIAL INVENTORY CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF CANADIAN FEATURE FILMS, FEATURE DOCUMENTARIES AND MADE-FOR-TELEVISION FILMS, 1945-2011 COMPILED BY PAUL GRATTON MAY, 2012 2 5.Fast Ones, The (Ivy League Killers) 1945 6.Il était une guerre (There Once Was a War)* 1.Père Chopin, Le 1960 1946 1.Canadians, The 1.Bush Pilot 2.Désoeuvrés, Les (The Mis-Works)# 1947 1961 1.Forteresse, La (Whispering City) 1.Aventures de Ti-Ken, Les* 2.Hired Gun, The (The Last Gunfighter) (The Devil’s Spawn) 1948 3.It Happened in Canada 1.Butler’s Night Off, The 4.Mask, The (Eyes of Hell) 2.Sins of the Fathers 5.Nikki, Wild Dog of the North 1949 6.One Plus One (Exploring the Kinsey Report)# 7.Wings of Chance (Kirby’s Gander) 1.Gros Bill, Le (The Grand Bill) 2. Homme et son péché, Un (A Man and His Sin) 1962 3.On ne triche pas avec la vie (You Can’t Cheat Life) 1.Big Red 2.Seul ou avec d’autres (Alone or With Others)# 1950 3.Ten Girls Ago 1.Curé du village (The Village Priest) 2.Forbidden Journey 1963 3.Inconnue de Montréal, L’ (Son Copain) (The Unknown 1.A tout prendre (Take It All) Montreal Woman) 2.Amanita Pestilens 4.Lumières de ma ville (Lights of My City) 3.Bitter Ash, The 5.Séraphin 4.Drylanders 1951 5.Have Figure, Will Travel# 6.Incredible Journey, The 1.Docteur Louise (Story of Dr.Louise) 7.Pour la suite du monde (So That the World Goes On)# 1952 8.Young Adventurers.The 1.Etienne Brûlé, gibier de potence (The Immortal 1964 Scoundrel) 1.Caressed (Sweet Substitute) 2.Petite Aurore, l’enfant martyre, La (Little Aurore’s 2.Chat dans
    [Show full text]
  • VINCENT VAN GOGH Y EL CINE Moisés BAZÁN DE HUERTA Desde
    NORBA-ARTE XVII (1997) / 233-259 VINCENT VAN GOGH Y EL CINE Moisés BAZÁN DE HUERTA Desde su nacimiento, la relación del cine con las artes plásticas se ha manifes- tado en los más variados aspectos. De la influencia pictórica en el cromatismo y la configuración espacial del plano (encuadre, composición, perspectiva, profundierad), al diverso tratamiento del tiempo y los mecanismos narrativos en ambos campos; además de las bŭsquedas experimentales de las vanguardias y sus interferencias, el documental sobre arte como género, o la tradición artística como apoyo para la re- creación histórica o religiosa. También la propia pintura ha sido tratada temática- mente o como punto de partida para la reflexión sobre el proceso creativo Pero en el amplio abanico de posibilidades de esta relación, las biografías ci- nematográficas sobre artistas han sido uno de los exponentes más fructíferos, has- ta el punto de constituir casi un género propio. Dejando aparte m ŭsicos, cantantes, literatos, actores, y cifiéndonos al campo de las artes plásticas, la nómina de bio- grafiados resulta considerable: Andrei Rublev, Leonardo, Miguel Ángel, El Greco, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Utamaro, Fragonard, Goya, Gericault, Toulouse- Lautrec, Gauguin, Camille Claudel, Rodin, Gaudí, Pirosmani, Munch, -Carrington, Modigliani, Gaudier-Brzeska, Picasso, Dali, Goitia, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jean Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol o Francis Bacon, entre otros, han sido objeto de re- creaciones fílmicas, aunque bastante desiguales en su calidad y planteamiento. En esta relación, como vemos, predominan las trayectorias geniales, azarosas, apasionadas y con frecuencia trágicas, es decir, las susceptibles de un desarrollo dra- mático que capte la atención y el interés del p ŭblico.
    [Show full text]
  • Vincent Van Gogh, Auvers, 1890 Oil on Jute, 36 X 36 In
    Vincent van Gogh, Auvers, 1890 Oil on jute, 36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm.) New York Private Collection Fig. 1 Vincent van Gogh, Auvers, 1890 Oil on jute, 36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm.) Signed on verso, ‘Vincent’ New York Private Collection Auvers,1890, Vincent van Gogh This is the discovery of a full-size van Gogh painting, one of only two in the past 100 years. The work depicts a view of a landscape at Auvers-sur-Oise, the town north of Paris where he spent the last two months of his life. The vista shows a railroad line crossing wheat fields. Auvers, 1890 (Figs. 1-13) is van Gogh’s largest and only square painting. This unique format was chosen to represent a panorama of the wheat fields of the region, of which parts are shown in many of his other paintings of the Auvers landscape. The present painting portrays the entire valley of the Oise as a mosaic of wheat fields, bisected by the right of way of a railway and a telegraph line. The center depicts a small railway station with station houses and a rail shunt, the line disappearing into the distant horizon. The painting is in its original, untouched ondition.c The support is coarse burlap on the original stretcher. The paint surface is a thick impasto that has an overall broad grid pattern of craquelure consistent with a painting of its age. The verso of the painting bears the artist’s signature, Vincent, in black pigment.
    [Show full text]
  • Vincent Van Gogh the Starry Night
    Richard Thomson Vincent van Gogh The Starry Night the museum of modern art, new york The Starry Night without doubt, vincent van gogh’s painting the starry night (fig. 1) is an iconic image of modern culture. One of the beacons of The Museum of Modern Art, every day it draws thousands of visitors who want to gaze at it, be instructed about it, or be photographed in front of it. The picture has a far-flung and flexible identity in our collective musée imaginaire, whether in material form decorating a tie or T-shirt, as a visual quotation in a book cover or caricature, or as a ubiquitously understood allusion to anguish in a sentimental popular song. Starry Night belongs in the front rank of the modern cultural vernacular. This is rather a surprising status to have been achieved by a painting that was executed with neither fanfare nor much explanation in Van Gogh’s own correspondence, that on reflection the artist found did not satisfy him, and that displeased his crucial supporter and primary critic, his brother Theo. Starry Night was painted in June 1889, at a period of great complexity in Vincent’s life. Living at the asylum of Saint-Rémy in the south of France, a Dutchman in Provence, he was cut off from his country, family, and fellow artists. His isolation was enhanced by his state of health, psychologically fragile and erratic. Yet for all these taxing disadvantages, Van Gogh was determined to fulfill himself as an artist, the road that he had taken in 1880.
    [Show full text]
  • Radical Closure
    Closure adical Closur R e adical R R adical 1 Radical Closure Closure Radical Closure Radical Closure Jalal Toufic Jalal Toufic,Radical-Closure Artist with Bandaged Sense Organ (a Tribute to Van Gogh), no. 1, 2020 Jalal Toufic 2 3 Radical Closure The book includes four of my conceptual artworks. They are based This book is composed of the following previously published texts on Van Gogh’s two paintings Wheatfield with Crows (1889) and Self- on radical closure: “Radical Closure,” in Over-Sensitivity, 2nd edition Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889). The one on the front cover is (Forthcoming Books, 2009); “First Aid, Second Growth, Third Radical-Closure Artist with Bandaged Sense Organ (After Van Gogh’s Degree, Fourth World, Fifth Amendment, Sixth Sense,” “Radical- “Wheatfield with Crows” and “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear”), 2020; Closure Artist with Bandaged Sense Organ,” “Copyright Free Farm the one that serves as the frontispiece is Radical-Closure Artist with Road,” and pp. 104–105 and 211–214 in Forthcoming, 2nd edition Bandaged Sense Organ (a Tribute to Van Gogh), no. 1, 2020; the one (Berlin: e-flux journal-Sternberg Press, 2014); pp. 82–92 in Distracted, on the last page is Radical-Closure Artist with Bandaged Sense Organ 2nd edition (Berkeley, CA: Tuumba Press, 2003); “Verbatim,” in What (a Tribute to Van Gogh), no. 2, 2020; and the one on the back cover Was I Thinking? (Berlin: e-flux journal-Sternberg Press, 2017); and is Radical-Closure Artist with Bandaged Sense Organ (After Van Gogh’s pp. 88–96 in Postscripts (Stockholm: Moderna Museet; Amsterdam: “Wheatfield with Crows” and “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear”), 2018.
    [Show full text]
  • Westminsterresearch the Artist Biopic
    WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch The artist biopic: a historical analysis of narrative cinema, 1934- 2010 Bovey, D. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Mr David Bovey, 2015. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] 1 THE ARTIST BIOPIC: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVE CINEMA, 1934-2010 DAVID ALLAN BOVEY A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Master of Philosophy December 2015 2 ABSTRACT The thesis provides an historical overview of the artist biopic that has emerged as a distinct sub-genre of the biopic as a whole, totalling some ninety films from Europe and America alone since the first talking artist biopic in 1934. Their making usually reflects a determination on the part of the director or star to see the artist as an alter-ego. Many of them were adaptations of successful literary works, which tempted financial backers by having a ready-made audience based on a pre-established reputation. The sub-genre’s development is explored via the grouping of films with associated themes and the use of case studies.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Vincent De Paul and the Homeless
    WELCOMING THE STRANGER ST. VINCENT DE PAUL AND THE HOMELESS Robert Maloney, CM An earlier version of this article was published in Vincentiana 61, #2 (April-June 2017) 270-92. “There was no room for them in the inn.”1 Those stark words dampen the joy of Luke’s infancy narrative, which we read aloud every Christmas. No room for a young carpenter and his pregnant wife? Was it because they asked for help with a Galilean accent that identified them as strangers?2 Was there no room for the long-awaited child at whose birth angels proclaimed “good news of great joy that will be for all people”?3 No, there was no room. Their own people turned Mary and Joseph away. Their newborn child’s first bed was a feeding trough for animals. Matthew, in his infancy narrative, recounts another episode in the story of Jesus’ birth, where once again joy gives way to sorrow.4 He describes the death-threatening circumstances that drove Joseph and Mary from their homeland with Jesus. Reflecting on this account in Matthew’s gospel, Pius XII once stated, “The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth, fleeing into Egypt, is the archetype of every refugee family." 5 Quoting those words, Pope Francis has referred to the plight of the homeless and refugees again and again and has proclaimed their right to the “3 L’s”: land, labor and lodging.6 Today, in one way or another, 1.2 billion people share in the lot of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Can the Vincentian Family have a significant impact on their lives? In this article, I propose to examine the theme in three steps: 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh
    THE LETTERS OF VINCENT VAN GOGH ‘Van Gogh’s letters… are one of the greatest joys of modern literature, not only for the inherent beauty of the prose and the sharpness of the observations but also for their portrait of the artist as a man wholly and selessly devoted to the work he had to set himself to’ - Washington Post ‘Fascinating… letter after letter sizzles with colorful, exacting descriptions … This absorbing collection elaborates yet another side of this beuiling and brilliant artist’ - The New York Times Book Review ‘Ronald de Leeuw’s magnicent achievement here is to make the letters accessible in English to general readers rather than art historians, in a new translation so excellent I found myself reading even the well-known letters as if for the rst time… It will be surprising if a more impressive volume of letters appears this year’ — Observer ‘Any selection of Van Gogh’s letters is bound to be full of marvellous things, and this is no exception’ — Sunday Telegraph ‘With this new translation of Van Gogh’s letters, his literary brilliance and his statement of what amounts to prophetic art theories will remain as a force in literary and art history’ — Philadelphia Inquirer ‘De Leeuw’s collection is likely to remain the denitive volume for many years, both for the excellent selection and for the accurate translation’ - The Times Literary Supplement ‘Vincent’s letters are a journal, a meditative autobiography… You are able to take in Vincent’s extraordinary literary qualities … Unputdownable’ - Daily Telegraph ABOUT THE AUTHOR, EDITOR AND TRANSLATOR VINCENT WILLEM VAN GOGH was born in Holland in 1853.
    [Show full text]
  • Computers in Astronomy
    computers in astronomy Dating van Gogh's Moonrise Astronomical sleuths head to France to answer some nagging questions about a 19th-century painting. By Donald Wo Olson, Russell Lo Doescher, and Marilynn So Olson RT HisTORIANS HAVE LONG selves.As astronomers, we have a keen shows wheat stacks in a field enclosed by agreed that Vincent van Gogh interest when the paintings' subjects in- a stone wall and, in the twilight sky, a painted his spectacular Starry clude objects in the sky. prominent orange disk partly hidden be- ~ lVight between June 16 and Previously, we identified Venus as the hind a mountain range. Once again, as- 18, 1889, in the town of Saint-Remy-de- heavenlyobject in van Gogh's White House tronomical calculations helped eliminate Proverice in southern France. Evidence at Night, painted in northern France the ambiguity. for pinning down the when and where of (S&T: April 2001, page 34). During our van Gogh's works comes largely from his research for that project, we became in- Van Gogh in Saint-Remy own correspondence with his relatives terested in another astronomical paint- After suffering a series of medical crises and colleagues. Sometimes there are ing from Saint-Remy that had an uncer- while in the town of Aries, van Gogh other clues within the works of art them- tain date. This painting, known as F735, moved to the hospital housed in the Past art historians have been able to determine some details about this painting by Vincent van Gogh, but astronomers were able to pinpoint the timing of the scene.
    [Show full text]
  • NEBRASKA's CENTENARIANS AGE 107 OR ABOVE — 1867 to 2001
    NEBRASKA’S CENTENARIANS AGE 107 OR ABOVE — 1867 to 2001 by E. A. Kral May 1, 2014 update of original published in The Crete News, April 24, 2002, a 40-page supplement Public Announcement for All Nebraskans Effective May 1, 2002, the Nebraska Health Care Association initiated two on-going public service projects on its website to highlight Nebraskans who reach age 107 or above. The NHCA website address is www.nehca.org. First, the NHCA has maintained a roster of living Nebraskans who have attained the age of 107 or above that provides name, birth date, and county in which the person resides. Second, the NHCA has made available access to this updated manuscript version of E. A. Kral’s “Nebraska’s Centenarians Age 107 or Above — 1867 to 2001” but without photographs. Moreover, it has also offered a brief on-going ranking of Nebraska’s supercentenarians in state history, and another document titled “Oldest Twins in Nebraska History.” Relatives, healthcare professionals, and others are asked to notify the NHCA when someone with Nebraska connections reaches age 107 for placement of name, birth date, and county of residence on the living roster. Since age verification may be necessary via census records involving the centenarian’s youth or early adult years, relatives may assist by providing names of parents and location of centenarian during 1900 to 1920. Also please notify the NHCA when the persons on the living roster become deceased so that the roster may be current. The NHCA website address is www.nehca.org and referrals for the living 107-year-old roster may be mailed to Nebraska Health Care Association, 1200 Libra Dr., Ste 100, Lincoln, NE 68512-9332.
    [Show full text]
  • Burning News from the Ipswich Incinerator
    5467 91Burning51 News from the Ipswich Incinerator The MAY 2005 newsletter of Ipswich Little Theatre Strange ‘Times’ A young girl who was blown Wolf Lullaby is a compelling play about the disturbing subject of juvenile out to sea on a set of murderers. It asks not only why they occur but how we deal with it. inflatable teeth was rescued A small child is murdered and suspicion falls on Lizzie. Her mother by a man on an inflatable lobster. A coastguard believes her daughter could be guilty, but her father is full of denial. spokesman commented, Set in an Australian country town, this play holds up a mirror to society "This sort of thing is all too and reflects reality rather than what we’d like to see. It is a piece of drama common". The Times not to be missed! Ipswich Little Theatre, in 2005, has a relationship with the Queensland Conservatorium of Music whereby students of music composition have the INSIDE BURNING NEWS opportunity of working with directors of ILT plays to develop an original THIS MONTH: score for each play. QCM student, Raymond Lawrence, has worked with Group News Page 2 Suzanne and Liz to write a score that responds to the themes of Wolf Lullaby. This will add another interesting component to an already Vincent in Brixton Page 3 fascinating production. Selection C’tte news Page 3 Qld Poet in Residence Page 4 If you would like to support the Ipswich Arts Council, please Original image for Wolf Lullaby by Arts Alive student consider seeing Wolf Daajan Bain aged 7 (daughter of cast member Majella Gee) Lullaby on their social night – Wednesday 15 June from 7.30 pm.
    [Show full text]