Doubly Gifted

by Kathleen Hjerter

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810923335
• ISBN13: 9780810923331
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: ABRAMS
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fascinating

For anyone interested in how authors might have translated their visions into other media (William Blake is, of course, the example par excellence), this book is a fascinating look behind the words. Who would have guessed, for example, that Sherwood Anderson's paintings exhibit a kind of naive expressionism bordering on the primitive? Or that Henrik Ibsen was adept at landscapes in both oil and watercolors (his painting of a boat pilot, in fact, perhaps demonstrates even more talent for the portrait). Edgar Allan Poe's pencil drawings are as haunting as his brief definition of art: "the reproduction of what the Senses perceive in Nature through the veil of the soul." The book surveys about 70 authors and is profusely illustrated. My only real qualm is that the book could have been a good deal longer. Henry Miller, for example, sold numerous watercolors in his lifetime but there are only two examples of his work. Similarly, there might have been additional passages from the authors describing their attitudes toward the visual arts or even toward art in general. Nonetheless, this book is an excellent introduction to authors who were gifted in two or more media.