More Than Words Illustrated Letters from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art

"Words speak volumes, but, as every letter writer knows, there are times when they simply won't do. When the author happens to be a visual artist, he has an added advantage - one that transforms ordinary stationery into a canvas. This book chronicles those occasions when words were not enough, and some of America's most revered artists turned their talents to illustrating their most intimate thoughts and feelings. Writing to wives, lovers, friends, patrons, clients, and confidants, premiere artists such as Frederick Edwin Church, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Rockwell Kent, Lyonel Feininger, John Sloan, Alfred Frueh, Man Ray, Alexander Calder, Dorothea Tanning, Gio Ponti, Andy Warhol, and Frida Kahlo picture the world around them in charming vignettes, caricatures, portraits, and landscapes. Together, the words and images of these autobiographical works of art, created for private consumption, reveal the joys and successes, loves and longings, triumphs and frustrations of their distinguished authors' personal lives and professional careers."--Jacket.