Work methods in biographies

[John Crowther]

I highly recommend "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling," by Ross King. It goes into all the historical and political background, but is also highly detailed in terms of working methods, pigments used and where obtained, assistants who worked with him, living conditions, and so on. It reads like fiction but is meticulously documented.

John C.

[October Reader]

Hi Cian, I was all set to return to my cave and postpone posting for a while so to concentrate on painting when I saw you question. Your work is deeply inspiring. I truly hope you post here more often. So people can get to know you and your work better.

I was in England for a bit in Dec 04 but was too ill to seek out Paine's work on display, what a shame. I can't seem to locate much of it on the web either.

Back to your question, I don't know how feasible or practical it is for you to get hold of American publications over there, but I would recommend to look on amazon.com for potential matches and I would also suggest you to lookup museum websites or even to contact museums and their curators that specialize in the period and genre of work that you are looking for to see if they can offer details on biographical info. I don't know about Ireland, but across the pond here some museums let their members access its archival material which may be another source for you to get to the horse's mouth.

Perhaps British institutions can be helpful as well on Sargent, Whistler and Sickert as they all resided there if I am not mistaken. And of course academia where art historians come from.

Not sure if this one is of interest to you:
Rembrandt: His life, his paintings : a new biography with all accessible paintings illustrated in color by Gary Schwartz

Writeup on Amazon:
Schwartz's masterfully documented study should both revolutionize and illuminate our understanding of Rembrandt's life and works. Through a scrupulous investigation of the master's personal and professional relationship with the religious, political, and cultural factions within Dutch society, the author rediscovers the man and the artist within the milieu in which he labored. Rembrandt's paintings may no longer be comprehended as largely subjective expression, but rather as an interpretation of the intellectual and spiritual concerns of the master's circumscribed circle of patrons.

[Sharon Knettell]

Cian,

I have spent hours in bookstore and libraries looking for teeny bits of information about various artists techniques. Why do these biographers only think we are interested in their sex lives. For heavens sakes, even toads have sex lives, but they don't paint!

The ONLY books I have found that dealt in any length vis-a-vis techniques was a series of books put
out by Chartwell Books of Secaucus, New Jersey. I found them in a close-out bin of a really cheesy discount store at $4.99 ea. about 5- 10 years ago. An Abrams book they were not. But these stupid cheapies had pages of information on technique, close-ups of details and color photographs of palette arrangements. I grabbed all of them. One included a Whistler.

The full title of the book is "The History and Techniques of the Great Masters, Whistler", by Micheal Howard. It was publishished in 1989. I grabbed a Manet and a Titian as well. You may be able to find this specific book.

However, when searching out this publisher I did find a used paperback book by this publisher called "Techniques of the Worlds Great Painters" by Kanusezak, or Januszczak. ( it was spelled both ways). I found this on Amazon. There were about a dozen of these books available in inexpensive paperback editions. You can believe I grabbed one at about $12.00

I hope this helps. I don't know which of the "great artists" are included, but it seems likely that Whistler might be.

As to Mr. Sickert, the last thing I read about him was a very interesting biography based on the theory that he was Jack the Ripper, by Patricia Cornwell. It was an interesting look into his life and modus operandi, if not his palette.