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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780143036104
ISBN number: 0143036106
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: November 29, 2005
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sale Popularity Level: 353409
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Product Description:
With her richly textured novels Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of the artist’s life. Now, in a collection of profound wisdom and beauty, she explores the transcendent power of art through the eyes of ordinary people. Life Studies begins with historic tales that, rather than focusing directly on the great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters themselves, render those on the periphery—their lovers, servants, and children—as their personal experiences play out against those of Manet, Monet, van Gogh, and others. Vreeland then gives us contemporary stories in which her characters—a teacher, a construction worker, and an orphan for example—encounter art in meaningful, often surprising ways. A fascinating exploration of the lasting strength of art in everyday life, Life Studies is a dazzling addition to Vreeland’s outstanding body of work.
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Rated by buyers 
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A friend that I take art classes with recommended this book. I've really enjoyed it. It's a collection of stories that show how deeply art can affect average people in their daily life.
The main quote of the book explains well the message of these stories: "The real question is: To whom does the meaning of the art of the past properly belong? To those who can apply it to their own lives, or to a cultural hierarchy of relic specialist? - John Berger, Ways of Seeing, 1977"
The author gives awesome examples of how art can touch you regardless of age, practice, education level, and culture. Some of the stories refer to renowned past artists and the inspirational effect they have on others, while others present average people opening to art.
Not a full 5-star though, as some of the stories could have taken a bit more work to get them polished at the level of a few, outstanding ones. I found the following excellent: The Yellow Jacket; Crayon, 1955; At Least Five Hundred Words, with Sincerity and Honesty.
A heart warming and inspirational book.
Rated by buyers 
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Life Studies is a collection of short stories about art and artists by Susan Vreeland. I've read two of the stories so far and am in the middle of the third one.
All three stories show Vreeland to be a master at work as she deftly weaves together art history, human psychology, poignant metaphors and recurring motifs together with vivid descriptions of the French landscape and people. I was delighted at the "aha!" moment in each story has where it becomes clear which beloved artwork has been, is being or will be created.
I look forward to finishing the book, but highly recommend it based on what I have read so far.
Rated by buyers -
Susan Vreeland's very first book, the exquisite "Girl in Hyacinth Blue," was told in a series of stories centering around one Vermeer painting. In this book she returns to the story form, this time concerning many artists instead of just one. It contains moments of real beauty and for those who love art, or grew up with artists as I did, quite real and memorable.
These are unusual stories in form and perception. Art and the artist are seen from an angle, often told from the perspective of a model or a child or a lover. It is as if you rounded a corner and bumped into Renoir's easel or noticed Cézanne across a country road talking to a friend. These artists touch you as they really lived, as rather ordinary people. The stories are sometimes as quiet as walk in the woods. But in the end you feel you have known the little boy who threw stones at Cézanne, or the tired banker who goes to a weekend gathering in Montmartre and finds, in a short conversation with the artist Renoir who lives upstairs, a new joy in his life.
Of the contemporary stories in the second half of the book, "Crayon," about a little girl and her dying artist grandfather is such a beautiful piece of writing.
This book is for any reader who would like to know what it was like to see one of these artists not as some sort of sexual athlete or superman but walking across the street quietly with his paint box in his hand.
Rated by buyers 
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The state of literature currently: garbage. Put an emotional shell on a conclusion to have no conclusion, and you're a "genius" according to our esteemed literary rags and reviewers. This book has two high-quality stories, "Of These Stones" and "The Yellow Jacket," but they are more like children's stories than the great short stories of a F. Scott Fitzgerald or Flannery O'Connor. After you read those two, you may find yourself getting sleepy... the pattern repeats. The state of literature currently: garbage. This is garbage that has a few gilded peaks before lulling you into emotive but meaningless stupor.
Rated by buyers 
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The writing is sentimental. It is often amateurish or stilted. Still, occasional flashes of brilliance.
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