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The glory of Van Gogh : an anthropology of admiration

Author: Nathalie Heinich
Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©1996.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
The image of the great artist as a suffering visionary is a recent invention, observes sociologist Nathalie Heinich - an invention rooted in the "canonization" of Vincent van Gogh as a cultural hero for the twentieth century. Heinich explores how and why the impoverished and mentally tormented van Gogh came to be glorified shortly after his suicide at the age of 37. Did the secular art world need a rebel-saint of its  Read more...
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Details

Named Person: Vincent van Gogh; Vincent Van Gogh; Vincent van Gogh
Material Type: Internet resource
Document Type: Book, Internet Resource
All Authors / Contributors: Nathalie Heinich
ISBN: 0691032696 9780691032696
OCLC Number: 32665130
Description: xiv, 218 p. ; 25 cm.
Contents: From Silence to Hermeneutics: The Posthumous Making of van Gogh's Oeuvre --
The Golden Legend: From Biography to Hagiography --
Van Gogh versus Vincent: The Antinomies of Heroism --
Madness and Sacrifice: The Ambivalence of Singularity --
Money As a Medium of Atonement: Purchasing and Redeeming --
The Gaze As a Medium of Atonement: Visiting van Gogh's Works --
Presence As a Medium of Atonement: The Procession to van Gogh's Body --
Conclusion: The van Gogh Effect --
Van Gogh and Art Criticism in France, 1888-1901.
Other Titles: Gloire de Van Gogh.
Responsibility: Nathalie Heinich ; translated by Paul Leduc Browne.
More information:

Abstract:

The image of the great artist as a suffering visionary is a recent invention, observes sociologist Nathalie Heinich - an invention rooted in the "canonization" of Vincent van Gogh as a cultural hero for the twentieth century. Heinich explores how and why the impoverished and mentally tormented van Gogh came to be glorified shortly after his suicide at the age of 37. Did the secular art world need a rebel-saint of its own? In considering this possibility, the author explores the history of efforts to celebrate van Gogh, whether in biographies or on T-shirts, showing how the details of his life have been constructed according to the pattern of a Christian saint's rise to recognition. These biographical details circulated first as anecdotes, then as historical truths, and finally became legendary motifs defining individual greatness. Heinich organizes her book around the stages that characterize the life of a saint - deviation, renewal, reconciliation, and pilgrimage, the latter culminating in visits to van Gogh's burial site and the competition to buy his paintings or "relics." Heinich explores the economics of the art market and the themes that make up the van Gogh myth, such as the personalization of artistic grandeur, the celebration of the interiority of the creator, and the glorification of abnormality. By examining the mythology that helps drive artistic investment, she forces us to reconsider the nature of admiration and particularly the notion that obscurity during an artist's lifetime is a guarantee of true genius.

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