Essential Vermeer

Exclusive Essential Vermeer Interview

An Interview with Paul Taylor
June 4, 2010

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Vermeer’s art has been championed as an example of the “art for art’s sake” doctrine which held that art was valuable as art and did not require any sort external justification. Art was no longer judged for its moral, didactic or political message but for its formal values. From then on, art was largely discussed in terms of style color, line, shape, space and composition. Although in the last half of the century art historians have correctly realigned Vermeer’s art within the context of his times authoritative Vermeer experts have continued to eulogize the uncanny formal compositional arrangements of his quiet interior scenes. In their discussions, one of the terms most frequently associated with the artist's compositions is, no doubt, "balance."

Paul Taylor, who has extensively investigated 17th-century European and Dutch art theory, has taken a fresh look at the question of Vermeer’s composition marshaling convincing evidence that we may have to rethink some of our unquestioned assumptions about how Vermeer went about arranging his pictorial designs.

click here to access the interview

Vermeer exhibition Catalogue

The Young Vermeer
by Edwin Buijsen
2010

The exhibition catalogue, with informative text and fine reproductions, delves into the three paintings from the beginning of Vermeer’s artistic career: the Mauritshuis’ Diana and her nymphs of c. 1653-1654, the Christ in the house of Martha and Mary (c. 1655) and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, and The Procuress (1656) from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden.

available at the Mauritshuis online bookshop

< http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?ChapterID=2424&ContentID= >

Vermeer exhibition

The Young Vermeer
The Hague, Mauritshuis
May 12 – Aug 22, 2010

Although Vermeer’s art has been consecrated by numerous special exhibitions for decades until now, no single exhibition has focused on the myriad questions of the painter’s artistic formation and early works. Hence, The Young Vermeer, which will travel from Dresden (3 Sept.-28 Nov. 2010) and lastly to Edinburgh (10 Dec. 2010-13 March 2011), will be the first chance to view the artist’s formative early works in close proximity and shall no doubt will be a milestone in Vermeer studies. All three venues feature Vermeer’s Diana and her Companions, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary and The Procuress. These three works have been completely restored so they can be appreciated in all their youthful intensity.

An exhibition catalogue will provide visitors with in-depth investigation to this subject by distinguished experts of Dutch art.

<http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?ChapterID=8323&FilterID=988>

Special Showing of Vermeer painting

Vermeer's miniscule Young Woman Seated at a Virginal - the only Vermeer in private hands - will be temporarily exhibited at it Chrysler Museum of Art, in Norfolk, Virginia from 1 June 2010 - 1 September 2010. News on programming related to the work will be reported here as they become available.

New Vermeer Book

Vermeer (German only)
by Nils von Büttner
2010

Jan Vermeer van Delft had a formative influence over our ideas of the Dutch Golden Age. Yet during his lifetime there were few indications of his later fame. His incomparable genre scenes came to typify his work. Nils Büttner's concise and lively introduction traces the painter's life, presents his work in its historical and social context and explains the pictures' symbolism, still often regarded as mysterious.

on sale at Amazon.com

DVD Documentary

VIEWS ON VERMEER: 12 SHORT STORIES
2009, color, HD, 52 min
 
director - Hans Pool
photography - Hans Pool
screenplay - Koos de Wilt

onsale at: ICARUS FILMS.com

Youtube.com trailer: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTGXd-wT8_A>

<http://www.koosdewiltconcept.nl/index.php/vermeer-vervolg/>

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) left us a small oeuvre of only 36 paintings. Internationally, the power of his work is now more profound than ever. Blockbuster exhibitions, the novel and movie Girl with a pearl earring caught a broad audience. Millions are touched by his work. What do we see in Vermeer that makes him so contemporary? The dignity of his painted ladies, the cinematic and photographic character of his images, the psychological impact, the serenity or apparent glimpse in our own everyday life? Influential contemporary artists, photographers and opinion leadersunravel the extraordinary and mysterious impact of this 17th-century master in our day and age. A Film by Hans Pool and Koos de Wilt.

interviews with:

Tom Hunter, Alain de Botton, Walter Liedtke, Otto Naumann, Thomas Kaplan, Chuck Close, Philip Steadman, Peter Webber, Erwin Olaf, Joel Meyerowitz, Lawrence Weschler, Tracy Chevalier, Steve McCurry, Arthur K. Wheelock, Jonathan Janson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Geoffrey Batchen

Multi-media Vermeer Catalogue

The Interactive Vermeer Catalogue
html-based interactive catalogue for all browsers
Jonathan Janson (author and webmaster of Essential Vermeer)

THE COMPLETE INTERACTIVE VERMEER CATALOGUE offers both enthusiastic new-comers and seasoned art historians the chance to delve into Vermeer's paintings as never before. Through an innovative system of image mapping, theme boxes and the familiar internet browser navigational format, each of the artist's 37 surviving paintings can be effortlessly explored according to the particular interests of the individual navigator.

Tour guide with Vermeer's Delft

Art + Travel Europe: Step into the Lives of Five Famous Painters
Museyon Guides
2010

Van Gogh. Munch. VERMEER. Caravaggio. Goya. Five iconic artists whose inspirational works have been obsessed over by art lovers and travelers for years.

Curated by industry experts, Art + Travel Europe is the first guidebook to feature detailed walking tours of the five cities where these artists lived, loved and labored. Readers will discover the sights and stories behind such iconic works as Starry Night and The Scream, go on the run to retrace the steps of Caravaggio in exile, plus much, much more. You know their art; now step into their lives

Click here to purchase at Amazon.com.

Vermeer Catalogue

Vermeer: The Complete Paintings
by Walter Liedtke
2008

Since his rediscovery in the later half of the 19th century, Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) has been one of the most admired and influential European painters. His extremely private life, his supposed use of a camera obscura, and the fact that his teacher remains unidentified have, until recently, encouraged a view of the “Sphinx of Delft” as an isolated genius shrouded in an air of mystery. Walter Liedtke’s new monograph reveals Vermeer’s life to be well-documented and places his work in the context of the Delft school and of Delft society as a whole. Vermeer’s many admirers will relish Liedtke’s exploration of subtleties of meaning and refinements of technique and style. Alongside the most historical approach to Vermeer to date, the annotated color catalogue of Vermeer’s complete paintings reveals a master whose rare sensibility may be described but not explained.

(available at
Lulu.com)

Vermeer-related publication

How to Paint Your Own Vermeer: Recapturing Materials and Methods of a Seventeenth-Century Master
(289 page)
by Jonathan Janson

Which materials and techniques did Johannes Vermeer use to create his masterpieces? Is it still possible to emulate those methods today? Contemporary American painter Jonathan Janson offers straightforward, practical advice on how to reproduce Vermeer's day-to-day working procedures as closely as possible in your own studio. Detailed explanations document each and every step, from the stretching of the canvas to the three-step method used by Vermeer and his contemporaries including indispensable historical and theoretical background regarding the art and craft of Northern seventeenth-century painters.

In the first part, Vermeer's palette, drawing, pigments, brushwork, mediums, glazing, grounds are thoroughly analyzed as they are gradually encountered during the painting process The second part contains insights into crucial stylistic components which, together, make a Vermeer a Vermeer, such as color, composition, camera obscura vision and perspective.