Product Description: Das Exil als Ort kunstlerischer Erfahrung, die Wanderschaft und das Reisen von Malern, Bildhauern und Architekten als Moglichkeit ambulanter Welterschliessung sind seit vielen Jahren wichtige Gegenstande kunst- und kulturhistorischer Forschung, und auch die Migrationsbewegungen der Kunstwerke selbst geraten zunehmend in den wissenschaftlichen Fokus...read more

An Absorbing Errand uses stories of artists’ lives, personal anecdotes, and insights from the author’s work as a psychotherapist to examine the psychological obstacles that prevent people from staying with, and relishing, the process of art-making. Each chapter is devoted to a problem intrinsic to the creative process and illustrates how these very obstacles, once understood, can become prime sources of the energy that actually fuels the mastery of art-making.Many people carry within their hearts an aching sense that they have something they want to express through art; or that they will not feel complete until they’ve brought out some hidden part of themselves. Yet they cannot begin to do the work of bringing their creative idea into the world. Or, maybe they’ve begun over and over, but they can’t stay with their labor long enough to finish it. Ultimately, An Absorbing Errand provides a philosophical, historical, and analytical look at the creative impulse and how certain artists from a wide field mastered their craft. From Julia Child to Charlie Chaplin, Lady Gaga to Michael Jackson, famous painters to established writers, Smith shows us how each overcame the obstacles they faced in the pursuit of their creative visions.

Product Description: Franz Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers...read more

Product Description: Literary Nonfiction. Art. Psychology. Finally—someone is saying what successful artists have always known. This practical book helps the creative mind to thrive, not just survive, in the everyday world. A systematic approach to the fascinating and complex topic of the artist's imagination as revealed in ordinary situations is explored in Dr...read more

Product Description: There are over 40 million people who work in creative careers. You may be one of them. Or, perhaps, you would like to join their ranks. If either of these statements is true, this book is for you.Maziarz offers a concrete program for helping you tap into and develop your creative potential...read more

Product Description: This highly sensitive and beautifully written book looks closely at the way contemporary Western artists negotiate death, both as personal experience and in the wider community. Townsend discusses, but moves beyond, the ""spectacle of death"" in work by artists such as Damien Hirst to see how mortality--in particular the experience of other people's death--brings us face to face with profound ethical and even political issues...read more

An analysis of the basic personality types of artists as reflected in their works ranges from prehistoric times to the present

A collection of essays by the late cultural critic explores great works of music and literature produced by Beethoven, Schoenberg, Mann, Cavafy, Beckett, Gould, Straus, Genet, and others at the end of their creative lives, analyzing how these works differed from previous ones and what they reveal about each musician's or writer's artistic evolution. Reprint.