摘要

Seldom has an artist expressed himself as clearly and completely as Van Gogh in his letters and his art, and seldom has an artist found a scholar as devoted and knowledgeable as Dr. Jan Hulsker to collect, interpret, and synthesize the enormously varied sources of Van Gogh's thoughts and work. Hulsker's universally acclaimed book, that first appeared in 1978, has now been fully revised and enlarged with many new findings. The author, Director General Emeritus of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Culture of the Netherlands, presents the complete works of Vincent van Gogh in chronological order, and scrutinizes the data from Van Gogh's letters from a wide range of documentation from Van Gogh's employers, newspaper articles, and memoirs. As a result, he presents a well-rounded, intimate portrait of the artist at work. This new edition includes all of Van Gogh's artistic works -- paintings, drawings, and graphic works, as well as the sketches from his letters. A new chapter includes the sketches from his youth, made before he had decided on his vocation. Text and illustrations are fully integrated. Appendices provide bibliographical information, a concordance between the plate numbers in the 1970 Catalogue raisonné by J.-B. de la Faille and the present book, and an index to all the works.
JAN HULSKER was born in The Hague and received his doctorate from the University of Leiden. For many years, he was head of the arts section of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Arts and Sciences; from 1966 to 1972 he was Director General of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Culture of the Netherlands. In 1990 he published an extensive biography of the Van Gogh brothers: Vincent and Theo van Gogh: A Dual Biography. He now lives in Victoria, B.C., Canada.
Van Gogh scholars on Dr. Hulsker's work:
'No other writer... has devoted as much attention to chronological issues in the career of Vincent van Gogh as has Jan Hulsker. ... Hulsker has produced essential volumes devoting to the exact dating of the letters of Van Gogh...'
(Dr. Bogomila Welsh-Ouchtrov, University of Toronto)
'Hulsker's meticulous examination of the documents has enabled him to restore sequences of correspondence that clarify and make more coherent some of the confused episodes in Van Gogh's life. ...a model of scholarly clarity
and thoroughness.' (Dr. Albert Boime, University of California, Los Angeles)
'Jan Hulsker is a tireless writer. Notes from him land on desks in the Van Gogh Museum every month, as he shares his latest discoveries with the staff.' (Dr. Ronald de Leeuw, Director Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam)