Dutch Treat: The Artist's Life, Written and Painted by Himself by: Poortvliet, Rien
Hardcover. New York, Abrams, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 200 pages, color illustrations throughout, illustrated end papers. Light edge wear to dust jacket. Light foxing to end papers. Else a very clean, tight copy. Rien Poorvliet was a Dutch artist and writer of incomparable talent. He was rightly considered a national treasure in the Netherlands, and his death was a national tragedy. Most of his books are free-ranging collections of his superior drawings and paintings interspersed with cursive text narrative about the subject at hand. This book happens to be an account of his life, family, pets, love of animals, culture and country as he experienced it - past, and (at the time) present in the Netherlands. His artwork is extremely expressive and entertaining - he was a master draftsman, and the work ranges from very spontaneous pencil, charcoal, and conte drawings, along with watercolor, and well-finished oil paintings which provide a wonderful visual story of the man's life.