Van Gogh, Vincent - Weaver at the Loom 1884 - art postcard

Art Postcard
• Work of art title: [Weaver at the Loom], 1884
• Artist (if known): Vincent Van Gigh (1853-1890)
• Media or other details:  painting
• Publisher / Gallery: Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterio, Holland
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp & postmark details (if relevant): na
• Size: modern
• Notes & condition details:

NOTES:

Size: 'Modern' is usually around 6in x 4in / 'Old Standard' is usually around 5 1/2in x 3 1/2in. Larger sizes mentioned, but if you need to know the exact size please ask.

All postcards are not totally new and are pre-owned. It's inevitable that older cards may show signs of ageing and use, particularly sent through the post. Any faults other than normal ageing are noted.

Stock No.: A561

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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While living in Nuenen in 1884, Van Gogh made paintings and drawings of weavers over a six-month period.^[38] To Van Gogh, the weaver, like the peasant, were considered men who lived a noble life, symbolic of the ongoing cycles of life.^[39] Van Gogh was interested in the ""meditative appearance"" of the weavers.^[40] ""A weaver who has to direct and to interweave a great many little threads has no time to philosophize about it, but rather he is so absorbed in his work that he doesn't think but acts, and he feels how things must go more than he can explain it."" he wrote in 1883.^[41]

In the paintings of the weaver, the composition focuses primarily on the loom and the weaver, in nearly iconic imagery. There's a feeling of distance, like someone looking into the scene. It is difficult to discern the weaver's emotion, character or skill.^[39] Van Gogh experimented with different mediums and techniques^[38] and the effect of light from the window on items in the room using lighter shades of gray.^[40]

Rural weaving was not a prosperous trade; income could vary dramatically depending upon crop yields for material and market conditions. Weavers lived a poor life, especially in comparison to urban centers of textile manufacturing such as Leiden, Netherlands. As textile manufacturing was industrialized, the rural artisan's livelihood became increasingly precarious.^[38]

Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, ""Their life is hard. A weaver who stays hard at work makes a piece of about 60 yards a week. While he weaves, his wife has to sit before him, winding – in other words, winding the spools of yarn – so there are two of them who work and have to make a living from it.""^[31]

There are mixed impressions about Van Gogh's weavers. Carl Nordenfolk, art historian, wrote: ""Van Gogh presents the weaver as a victim held fast in the spiked jaws of the loom, or a captive in a medieval instrument of torture. The social significance is quite unmistakable. Still, there is one possible explanation: the paintings also possess a tender, intimate atmosphere."" A 1969 French text commented that although the depictions are awkward and rigid, ""the suite of 'Weavers' is stunning in its presence, its mystery, its brutal force.""^[39]

In Weaver Facing Left with Spinning Wheel, Van Gogh conveys his feelings for the working poor. The painting is made with somber colors, contrasted against the woven red fabric on the loom.^[42]

The Bobbin Winder (F175) wound yarn onto a bobbin for weaving. In this painting, made in the winter of 1883-1884, Van Gogh uses touches of light grey to depict the light falling on the dark room and instrument.^[43]

type=printed postcards

theme=artists signed

sub-theme=art

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=unposted