Thursday, September 12, 2013

Discovery: A NEW Van Gogh! + Advice from Writers on How To Write! + Easy, Slow Cooked Pork Chops

“All research indicates: this work (Sunset at Montmajour, 1888) is by Van Gogh”

ART: 
A NEW 
Vincent van Gogh
painting is discovered!
‘Sunset at Montmajour’
The Van Gogh Museum has discovered a new painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890): Sunset at Montmajour (1888). The long-lost Vincent Van Gogh painting spent years in a Norwegian attic because it was thought not to be authentic. It is the first full-size canvas by the Dutch master discovered since 1928. Director Axel Rüger: “A discovery of this magnitude has never before occurred in the history of the Van Gogh Museum. It is already a rarity that a new painting can be added to Van Gogh's oeuvre. But what makes this even more exceptional is that this is a transition work in his oeuvre, and moreover, a large painting from a period that is considered by many to be the culmination of his artistic achievement, his period in Arles in the south of France. During this time he also painted world-famous works, such as Sunflowers, The yellow house and The bedroom. The attribution to Van Gogh is based on extensive research into style, technique, paint, canvas, the depiction, Van Gogh's letters and the provenance.” Sunset at Montmajour will be shown in the exhibition Van Gogh at work in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 24 September. 
Detail of the brush strokes.

“We carried out art historical research into the style, the depiction, use of materials and context, and everything we found indicated that this is a work by Van Gogh. Stylistically and technically speaking, there are a plenty of parallels with other paintings by Van Gogh from the summer of 1888. By means of research into literature and records, we were also capable of tracing the earliest history of the provenance of the painting. It belonged to Theo van Gogh's collection in 1890 and was sold in 1901.

The relatively large painting (93.3 x 73.3 cm) has been technically researched by our restorer Oda van Maanen, in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (Rijkdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed) (RCE), with X-ray photos and computer analyses of the type of canvas used. The pigments used have also been identified. Microscopic research has been carried out into the various layers of paint. Everything supports the conclusion."




The location of the painting has been identified - the landscape not far from Arles near the Montmajour hill, with the ruin of the abbey with the same name - and, moreover, there are two letters from the artist from the summer of 1888 that literally refer to the painting. Van Gogh writes that he had not succeeded, which can be explained, because the painting shows very strong and typical characteristics of Van Gogh, next to weaker and less convincing elements.


(source: The Van Gogh Museum)


MUSEUM SHOW:
THE MORGAN LIBRARY

WRITER GIVE TIPS
ON HOW TO WRITE!



AN EXHIBITION AT THE MORGAN LIBRARY
J.D. Salinger's letters of writing advice
to young writer Marjorie Sheard.
 

After reading the short stories of a then-22-year-old J.D. Salinger in magazines such as Esquire and Collier’s, young Canadian writer Marjorie Sheard reached out to the author for guidance. Still a decade from publishing The Catcher in the Rye and his subsequent seclusion, Salinger gladly obliged, between 1941 and 1943 J. D. Salinger penned nine letters and postcards to her. The previously unseen notes offer insight into Salinger’s early creative process, as well as the creation of his most famous character, Holden Caulfield. A highlight among the letters is one in which the young author writes to Sheard of "the first Holden story" about a "prep school kid on his Christmas vacation." 

In "Lose not heart" The Morgan will display the complete correspondence, the first public presentation of these revealing letters.

(Source: The Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave, at 36th St, 212-685-0008, themorgan.org)
In honor of the MORGAN exhibit, Time Out Magazine, New York asked a number of present-day writers to give their advice to budding scribes. We share a few of those comments here. 
For all 15 bits of good advice for aspiring writers (and all creative types), go to their link: http://tmout.us/oMEJX 

Joe Garden
Writer/producer for AdultSwim.com, former features editor at The Onion (theonion.com)
“Work shitty jobs that you loathe, but there’s that one bright spot that makes it momentarily bearable. Work shitty jobs that imbue in you the desire to do something different, something tolerable—and I don’t mean law school. Work shitty jobs, but don’t treat it like research or you’ll be sniffed out as a condescending prick. Work shitty jobs that you can forget the moment you go home so you can work on something you love.

Reza Aslan 
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (Random House, $27) 
“The best advice I can give an aspiring writer is the one I received years ago: Nobody cares about you or your work like you do. Your agent, your publisher and your publicist are all wonderful people who work their hardest for you to succeed. But in the end, your success as a writer depends almost wholly upon your own tireless efforts to promote your book and make sure it gets the attention it deserves.” 

Mike Burns
Power Moves: Livin’ the American Dream, USA Style (It Books, $15.99)
“I believe you should be emotionally bonded to the people you write about, whether they be real or fictional. Feel sad for their hardships and happy for their triumphs. If you aren’t truly attached to your subjects, chances are the reader won’t be either. Music is very important to my writing process. I’m fascinated by the idea of using letters as a way to transform sound into images and colors in another person’s brain like some sort of sensory alchemy. Just like great films, great writing needs a great score, even if it can’t be heard.”

Edwidge Danticat
Claire of the Sea Light (Knopf, $25.95)
“It might sound corny but listen to your heart. Let that inner voice guide you, the one closest to your truest self. The story you are most afraid to tell might be your truest one, your deepest one. Don’t let neither success nor failure deter you. Remember the excitement of those first days, those first words, those first sentences—and keep going.”

Ben Dolnick
At the Bottom of Everything (Pantheon, $24.95)
“Get a kitchen timer. Writers are ingenious at redefining what qualifies as doing work (‘If I just spend this morning cleaning my desk…’). A kitchen timer tolerates no such nonsense. Set yourself a daily writing quota (as little as a half hour is fine at first), set the clock and get to work.”

Anthony Marra
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (Hogarth, $26)
“Read widely. Write for three hours a day, six days a week. Throw out the red pens and retype your work. When the frustrations accumulate and you want to give up, keep in mind that your solitary struggles to shape language into meaning will become the most profound moments of your creative life. Enjoy yourself.”

James McBride
The Good Lord Bird (Riverhead, $27.95)
“Rewrite everything. Even letters.”

Stuart Nadler
Wise Men (Reagan Arthur Books, $25.99)
“A fact: You will always feel like your work isn’t good enough. As a salve, or simply as a way to stay sane, be in the world. Ride the train. Listen to strangers. Occasionally, if you’re brave, speak to them. Walk in the city you live. Pay attention…."

Rob Sheffield
Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke (It Books, $25.99)
" ’Tis of no importance what bats and oxen think,’ as Ralph Waldo Emerson said. You can’t control who reads your work or how they respond. What you can control is how much your writing means to you—if you write about things that fire up your passions, things that stimulate your neurons, writing will probably make your life better, whether anyone else reads it or not. That’s not the only reason to write, but it’s a good reason.”

Choire Sicha
Very Recent History: An Entirely Factual Account of a Year (c. AD 2009) in a Large City (Harper, $24.99)
“Don’t ever show anyone who isn’t your editor your writing before publication. That’s for goths and drama queens and dramatic goths. Either you’re a narcissist and you shouldn’t be writing, or you’re showing people drafts as an excuse to not rewrite. In any event, most of the time, they’ll send you the wrong way, and then you’re just a dramatic lazy goth with a bad piece of writing. But you didn’t have to be! You could have been an awesome goth, if you’d just holed up in your room one more night tweezing wrong words and rotten sentences!”

Adelle Waldman
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (Henry Holt and Co., $25)
"…When you can describe people in ways that are both meaningful and consistent and survive the vicissitudes of your moods, then you know you’re getting somewhere.”

(source: Time Out Magazine, New York http://tmout.us/oMEJX )

FOOD
EASY SLOW COOKED 
PORK CHOPS




4 3/4" thick boneless pork chops
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1 packet dry Ranch dressing mix

Place all ingredients in a ceramic bean pot and cook with the lid on, centered on the middle rack of the oven, @ 200 degrees [f.] for 5 hours.

OR: In a crockpot, layer pork chops, add the cream of chicken soup, then sprinkle dry ranch dressing over chops.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours OR Low for 6 hours.

The pork chops come out tender with an excellent flavor! You also get some good gravy to pour over your mashed potatoes! Enjoy!
(Source: Facebook Friend)

Until later,
Jack
ARTSnFOOD, is an online publication dedicated to "The Pursuit of Happiness through the Arts and Food." ™ All rights reserved for all content. Concept, Original Art, Original Text & "Original or Assigned Photography" are © Copyright 2013 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. All photographs were taken and/or used with permission. Artworks  © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.

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