Apr 19, 2021 • View in browser

Did you know Vincent van Gogh had three fascinating sisters? Eva Recinos walks us through their lives via a new biography that attempts to bring their ideas, influence, and art out of their famed brother’s shadow.

Meanwhile, Majid Maqbool shines a light on Cups of Nun Chai, a photography and oral history project by the artist Alana Hunt, which explores a side of Kashmir often omitted from media coverage.

Also below: musings on the poetry of Joan Mitchell and Sun Ra.

Happy reading.

—Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews

The Fascinating Lives of Vincent van Gogh’s Three Sisters

The Van Gogh Sisters sheds light on Vincent van Gogh’s place within the family, including a complex relationship with his sisters.

Eva Recinos

"Cups of Nun Chai" Sheds Light on the Kashmir Often Missing From Headlines

Alana Hunt’s emphasis on everyday experiences, shared over a cup of tea, counters the normalization of state violence.

Majid Maqbool

Michelangelo’s Last Two Decades Were His Busiest and Loneliest

William E. Wallace excavates a lesser-known but crucial final chapter of the artist’s approximately 75-year career.

Lauren Moya Ford

Stories of Memory, Loss, and Paranoia

In Dorthe Nors’s minimalist fiction, other people are both an opportunity and a threat.

Nolan Kelly

Joan Mitchell, More Like a Poet

Curators and scholars have increasingly highlighted the importance of poetry to Mitchell’s art, though usually with so much circumspection that the link still remains obscure.

Tim Keane