Publication Date: Aug 2020
RRP: $39.95
ISBN: 9781925495737
Format: Paperback
Size: 153mm x 234mm
Pages: 234
Category: Art History

Popular Art and the Avant-Garde

Vincent van Gogh’s Collection of Newspaper and Magazine Prints

Vincent Alessi


‘Vincent Alessi’s book is an important contribution to the literature dedicated to Vincent van Gogh. The influence of English literature and art on his oeuvre was very substantial, especially the popular social realistic prints that he started collecting in the early years of his career and which he considered ‘a Bible for an artist’. Van Gogh’s work underwent a drastic modernistic change after he moved to France in 1886, but he remained true to many of his early ideas and principles. This thorough study of a decisive factor in his formation as an artist is therefore fundamental to the understanding of his art.’ Sjraar van Heugten, Former head of collections at the Van Gogh Museum

‘The popular image of Vincent van Gogh as the tortured, untutored genius who transformed modern painting is a central part of the mythology surrounding him. Vincent Alessi’s study convincingly argues that van Gogh never set out to be a tortured genius but rather an illustrator for popular magazines … Of course, it’s the later French works that made him, but this is a very engaging and informative academic portrait of the evolution of van Gogh: the wild priest of high art whose grounding was in the popular art of the day.’ Steven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age


When van Gogh picked up his pencil and set out on his artistic career, it was not with the intention of becoming a leader of the avant-garde art world. Rather, his aims centred on earning a reasonable wage and living within the middle-class norms of his family. Van Gogh’s hope was to become an illustrator of magazines and newspapers.

From 1880–85 van Gogh assembled a collection of over 2,000 black-and-white prints, predominately from English publications such as the Graphic and the Illustrated London News. These prints were produced in the thousands to accompany news stories or as stand-alone illustrations to be pinned up in the family home.

Vincent Alessi reveals for the first time how van Gogh’s collection acted for him as both inspiration and manual: a guide to the subject matter demanded by leading illustrated newspapers and magazines and a model of artistic style.

These popular images are shown to have palpably shaped van Gogh’s art, throughout his career, and to open up rich new understandings of a life and body of work that continue to intrigue and inspire.


Vincent Alessi

Dr Vincent Alessi is a Senior Lecturer in Visual Arts and Art History at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include the life and work of Vincent van Gogh, mid-late 19th-Century European art, 19th-Century popular graphic illustration and Australian...
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