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Synopsis
‘This selection of letters by renowned French painter Nicolas de Staël begins in 1926 when he was 12 years old and ends the day before his death. De Staël wrote thousands of letters – to his adoptive parents, his wives and lovers, his children, gallery owners and dealers, poets, fellow painters and those who bought his work. They describe the course of De Staël’s life from young man eagerly awaiting a cheque from a family member at a post office in Cadiz so he can buy his daily kilo of tomatoes, his wine, his newspaper, paints, canvases and sketchbooks, to the final months, when black gulls began to gather on his canvasses, bringing a darker, inky sense of foreboding to work that until then had been characterised by a boundless sense of colour and light. The letters also show the evolution of his understanding of painting, of what painting actually is, of the human cost – what part of the self must be sacrificed to it. And always he is aware of the complementary roles of language and painting. Staël’s work, though it bears traces of figuration, is never illustrative; the writing is his illustrative tool, and his own words provide a dazzling commentary on the paintings.’ – Helen Stevenson, Booker International shortlisted translator of Small Boats
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About the Author
Nicolas de Staël was an abstract painter best known for his luminous landscapes using thick impasto. Born in St Petersburg in 1914, he was five years old when his family was forced into exile by the Russian Revolution. Orphaned two years later, de Staël was adopted, and went on to study fine arts in Belgium. He lived in France for most of his adult life, but also spent several years travelling in Morocco in the 1930s, as well as Italy and Spain, and was posted to Tunisia during WWII. From the late 1940s to the late 1950s, his paintings were exhibited in London, Paris, Montevideo, New York and Washington. De Staël moved to Antibes in 1954 to live closer to his lover, who refused to leave her family. Six months later, at the height of his fame but depressed and exhausted, de Staël took his own life, aged forty-one. He was survived by his second wife, Françoise, their three young children, and a daughter from his first marriage with the painter Jeannine Guillou, mother of the writer and poet Anna de Staël.
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Selected Letters
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Paperback. Condition: New. Available in English for the first time, these letters are taken from the several hundred letters anthologised by French art historian Germain Viatte, published in 2014 by Le bruit du temps. As well as an intriguing investigation of one of the great 20th-century painters, these are also the letters of a writer. From his adolescence onwards, Nicolas de Staël developed an incisive style of his own, capturing - as in his paintings - the reality of what he saw with the intensity of pure simplicity.'Nicolas de Staël's letters are imbued with that mixture of absolute certitude and profound doubt which is the mark of a great artist. His belief in his destiny - which arises from faith - places the bar so high that it will always be impossible to clear. . He had the premonition that the path would be long and winding before it ever broke onto a clearing. Staël is not, like Raphaël, Géricault or Seurat, a precocious genius. If he must be compared to one of his predecessors, it is impossible not to think of Van Gogh.' - Jean Frémon'This selection of letters begins in 1926 when de Staël was 12 years old and ends with the last letter he wrote on the day he died. De Staël wrote thousands of letters - to his adoptive parents, his wives and lovers, his children, gallery owners and dealers, poets, fellow painters and those who bought his work. They describe the course of his life from young man eagerly awaiting a cheque from a family member at a post office in Cadiz so he can buy his daily kilo of tomatoes, his wine, his newspaper, paints, canvases and sketchbooks, to the final months, when black gulls began to gather on his canvasses, bringing a darker, inky sense of foreboding to work that until then had been characterised by a boundless sense of colour and light. The letters also show the evolution of his understanding of painting, of what painting actually is, of the human cost - what part of the self must be sacrificed to it. And always he is aware of the complementary roles of language and painting. De Staël's work, though it bears traces of figuration, is never illustrative; the writing is his illustrative tool, and his own words provide a dazzling commentary on the paintings.' - Helen Stevenson. Seller Inventory # LU-9781068433894
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Selected Letters (Paperback)
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Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Available in English for the first time, these letters are taken from the several hundred letters anthologised by French art historian Germain Viatte, published in 2014 by Le bruit du temps. As well as an intriguing investigation of one of the great 20th-century painters, these are also the letters of a writer. From his adolescence onwards, Nicolas de Stael developed an incisive style of his own, capturing as in his paintings the reality of what he saw with the intensity of pure simplicity.'Nicolas de Staels letters are imbued with that mixture of absolute certitude and profound doubt which is the mark of a great artist. His belief in his destiny which arises from faith places the bar so high that it will always be impossible to clear. He had the premonition that the path would be long and winding before it ever broke onto a clearing. Stael is not, like Raphael, Gericault or Seurat, a precocious genius. If he must be compared to one of his predecessors, it is impossible not to think of Van Gogh. Jean FremonThis selection of letters begins in 1926 when de Stael was 12 years old and ends with the last letter he wrote on the day he died. De Stael wrote thousands of letters to his adoptive parents, his wives and lovers, his children, gallery owners and dealers, poets, fellow painters and those who bought his work. They describe the course of his life from young man eagerly awaiting a cheque from a family member at a post office in Cadiz so he can buy his daily kilo of tomatoes, his wine, his newspaper, paints, canvases and sketchbooks, to the final months, when black gulls began to gather on his canvasses, bringing a darker, inky sense of foreboding to work that until then had been characterised by a boundless sense of colour and light. The letters also show the evolution of his understanding of painting, of what painting actually is, of the human cost what part of the self must be sacrificed to it. And always he is aware of the complementary roles of language and painting. De Staels work, though it bears traces of figuration, is never illustrative; the writing is his illustrative tool, and his own words provide a dazzling commentary on the paintings. Helen Stevenson Nicolas de Staels letters are imbued with that mixture of absolute certitude and profound doubt which is the mark of a great artist. De Stael is not, like Raphael, Gericault or Seurat, a precocious genius. If he must be compared to one of his predecessors, it is impossible not to think of Van Gogh. Jean Fremon Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781068433894
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Selected Letters
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Paperback. Condition: New. Available in English for the first time, these letters are taken from the several hundred letters anthologised by French art historian Germain Viatte, published in 2014 by Le bruit du temps. As well as an intriguing investigation of one of the great 20th-century painters, these are also the letters of a writer. From his adolescence onwards, Nicolas de Staël developed an incisive style of his own, capturing - as in his paintings - the reality of what he saw with the intensity of pure simplicity.'Nicolas de Staël's letters are imbued with that mixture of absolute certitude and profound doubt which is the mark of a great artist. His belief in his destiny - which arises from faith - places the bar so high that it will always be impossible to clear. . He had the premonition that the path would be long and winding before it ever broke onto a clearing. Staël is not, like Raphaël, Géricault or Seurat, a precocious genius. If he must be compared to one of his predecessors, it is impossible not to think of Van Gogh.' - Jean Frémon'This selection of letters begins in 1926 when de Staël was 12 years old and ends with the last letter he wrote on the day he died. De Staël wrote thousands of letters - to his adoptive parents, his wives and lovers, his children, gallery owners and dealers, poets, fellow painters and those who bought his work. They describe the course of his life from young man eagerly awaiting a cheque from a family member at a post office in Cadiz so he can buy his daily kilo of tomatoes, his wine, his newspaper, paints, canvases and sketchbooks, to the final months, when black gulls began to gather on his canvasses, bringing a darker, inky sense of foreboding to work that until then had been characterised by a boundless sense of colour and light. The letters also show the evolution of his understanding of painting, of what painting actually is, of the human cost - what part of the self must be sacrificed to it. And always he is aware of the complementary roles of language and painting. De Staël's work, though it bears traces of figuration, is never illustrative; the writing is his illustrative tool, and his own words provide a dazzling commentary on the paintings.' - Helen Stevenson. Seller Inventory # LU-9781068433894
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Selected Letters
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Selected Letters: 1926Â"1955
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Taschenbuch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - 'This selection of letters by renowned French painter Nicolas de Stael begins in 1926 when he was 12 years old and ends the day before his death. De Stael wrote thousands of letters - to his adoptive parents, his wives and lovers, his children, gallery owners and dealers, poets, fellow painters and those who bought his work. They describe the course of De Stael's life from young man eagerly awaiting a cheque from a family member at a post office in Cadiz so he can buy his daily kilo of tomatoes, his wine, his newspaper, paints, canvases and sketchbooks, to the final months, when black gulls began to gather on his canvasses, bringing a darker, inky sense of foreboding to work that until then had been characterised by a boundless sense of colour and light. The letters also show the evolution of his understanding of painting, of what painting actually is, of the human cost - what part of the self must be sacrificed to it. And always he is aware of the complementary roles of language and painting. Stael's work, though it bears traces of figuration, is never illustrative; the writing is his illustrative tool, and his own words provide a dazzling commentary on the paintings.' - Helen Stevenson, Booker International shortlisted translator of Small Boats. Seller Inventory # 9781068433894
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