Creative work
The copyist who became Van Gogh
In August 1880, a failed preacher in a Belgian coal district decided to become an artist. His first teachers were prints and drawing manuals, and he copied them. Research and a book billed as a bestseller suggest when copying feeds original work, and when it may not.
Major #19: Studio Art and Fine ArtsThe story: Vincent van Gogh (1880s). The book: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.
In this lesson
- A failed preacher with a pencil
- Ten years of copying
- What the research says
- The book: Steal Like an Artist
- What the evidence says about the book
- Where this comes from
- Try it today
- 4 questions to check yourself