REVIEW: "Artists, Writers, Thinkers, Dreamers" by James Gulliver Hancock

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

Today I want to tell you about a very unusual book that contains habits, achievements, phobias, oddities and just details from the lives of 50 artists, writers, thinkers and dreamers.

What can his habits, his things, his achievements, his victories and failures tell about a person? Much, if not all. What we love; what we hate; people who are in our life; the things we surround ourselves with; our desires, fears, dreams and aspirations - all this fills and defines our life.

Humanity is surrounded by things.

We accumulate things throughout our lives. With some we easily part, some become dear to our hearts, and some we strive to endow with a sacred meaning: we do not take off a bauble accidentally bought at some flea market or for all important events we put on our favorite shirt, which as we believe brings us good luck.

When we first get into a person’s house, we study his things with great curiosity: books on the shelves, posters on the walls or favorite mugs that are nestled by the laptop … he will not say himself, or maybe even something that he himself does not even suspect.

We, like planets, attract various objects to us, which then revolve around us. I love both the sense of freedom that comes with traveling with one light suitcase and the sense of security that comes from a personal collection of knickknacks. Sometimes it seems to me that things are a burden, sometimes that they bind us more to our world.

James Gulliver Hancock

James's father specialized in inheritance matters and told his son that the things that a person has accumulated throughout his life represent a comprehensive description of the owner's personality. According to the author of "visual notes", things around a person are clues, help to understand who a person is or wants to appear.

In his book, James Gulliver Hancock showed famous people in the context of their favorite things, habits, events and people that were in their lives. I am glad that there is no one-sidedness: statesmen, writers, musicians, scientists, filmmakers, and even deviant personalities fit into the book.

Through the pages of the book

Coco Chanel loved the number 5, Andy Warhol could not stand the bright light, Babe Ruth ate Whites for breakfast, and Charlie Chaplin locked his bedroom at night.

Che Guevara took a bath only once a week, Edith Piaf was only 142 centimeters tall, Elvis Presley's favorite drink was Pepsi, and Ernest Hemingway was fond of spicy rum.

Grace Kelly received a 10-carat diamond ring in honor of her engagement, John Lennon drank a lot of tea and called her aunt every week, and Leonardo da Vinci liked to take a nap.

Leo Tolstoy was a vegetarian, Margaret Thatcher adored the Aquascutum brand, Michael Jackson was ticklish, and Napoleon Bonaparte wrote with "asips."

Some portraits are accompanied by statements:

Love is like a valve: it opens and closes.

Billie Holiday

Look into the sky: you will never see a rainbow while looking down at your feet.

Charlie Chaplin

Everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.

Lev Tolstoy

The book ends with a portrait of its author James Gulliver Hancock, who humbly declares that he rides a bicycle, hates TV, draws with pencils and is married to Lenka.

Impressions

The book "50 Portraits of Famous People" attracts with its uniqueness, and after reading and viewing it, I want to try to compose my own portrait: look around and draw your favorite things, describe your habits, dreams and phobias in images. And if you, like (by a big secret!) And I, do not know how to draw, then you can compose your own verbal portrait, and for a figurative embodiment, turn to someone who is friends with paints and pencils.

The book will surely appeal to everyone who is interested in the life of famous people, to those who want to learn something new about their idols, and of course, to all those who love pictures more than letters.;) With the help of his simple, but at the same time accurate and vivid illustrations, James Gulliver Hancock managed to fit a person's whole life on one page.

Upset the paperback of the book. If you are a fan of giving books to all your friends to read, then the illustrated guide to the life of celebrities will soon lose its "marketable" look.