Tuesday, January 9, 2018

We don’t know exactly how many paintings Vincent van Gogh sold during this lifetime, but in any case, it was more than a couple.  Vincent’s first commission was from his uncle Cor.  He was an art dealer and wanted to help his nephew on his way, so he ordered 19 cityscapes of The Hague.  Vincent sold his first painting to the Parisian paint and art dealer Julien Tanguy, and his brother Theo successfully sold another work to a gallery in London.  The Red Vineyard, which Vincent painted in 1888, was bought by Anna Boch, the sister of Vincent’s friend Eugène Boch.  Van Gogh often traded work with other artists in his younger years, often in exchange for some food or drawing and painting supplies.  In this sense, Vincent actually ‘sold’ quite a lot of work during his lifetime.  https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/125-questions/questions-and-answers/question-54-of-125

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam maintains the world’s largest collection of the works of the world’s most popular artist, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), his paintings, drawings and letters, completed with the art of his contemporaries.  Each year, 1.6 million visitors come to the Van Gogh Museum, making it one of the 25 most popular museums in the world.  In 2015, the museum added a new glass entrance hall at the back of its building.  The collection features the works of Vincent Van Gogh--more than 200 painting, 500 drawings but also works of other artists, his contemporaries, Impressionists and Postimpressionists.  Van Gogh's work is organized chronologically into five periods, each representing a different period of his life and work  The Netherlands, Paris, Arles, Saint-Remy and Auvers-sur-Oise.  https://www.amsterdam.info/museums/van_gogh_museum/

15 Things You Didn't Know About Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Kristy Puchko 

Miniature Wonderland is the largest model railway system in the world and has, in fact, been voted the most popular tourist attraction in Germany.  Visitors can admire different countries and even an airport in miniature size.  Besides the impressive miniature versions of Hamburg, the mountainous German region of the Harz, the Austrian Alps, France, Italy, North-America and Scandinavia─and several construction sites are open.  Hamburg’s miniature replica comprises no less than 200 square metres.  This bustling city is home to over 50,000 'Wunderländer' (as its inhabitants are called) and includes the Hamburg's main attractions such as Michel and Hagenbecks Tierpark zoo, as well as Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, at which 1,500 trains arrive on a daily basis. In the year 2000, the brothers Frederik and Gerrit Braun set out to build the largest model railway system in the world.  After applying for a loan, they began construction in December 2000.  In August 2001 they could already operate three completed, miniature sections.  Today, this miniature world comprises 1000 square metres, with even more sites to follow.  The latest construction plans included models of the various landmarks of Italy.  Small-scale versions of France and England are expected to follow.  http://www.hamburg.com/museums/miniature-wonderland/  Thank you, Muse reader!

The knapsack problem or rucksack problem is a problem in combinatorial optimization:  Given a set of items, each with a weight and a value, determine the number of each item to include in a collection so that the total weight is less than or equal to a given limit and the total value is as large as possible.  It derives its name from the problem faced by someone who is constrained by a fixed-size knapsack and must fill it with the most valuable items.  The problem often arises in resource allocation where there are financial constraints and is studied in fields such as combinatoricscomputer sciencecomplexity theorycryptographyapplied mathematics, and daily fantasy sports.  The knapsack problem has been studied for more than a century, with early works dating as far back as 1897.  The name "knapsack problem" dates back to the early works of mathematician Tobias Dantzig (1884–1956), and refers to the commonplace problem of packing the most valuable or useful items without overloading the luggage.

knap•sack  noun  a canvas, nylon, or leather bag for clothes or other supplies, carried on the back by soldiers, hikers, etc.
[1595–1605; < Low German knappsack=knapp a bite (of food) + sack sack1]  Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd.  Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc.  All rights reserved.
haversackknapsackrucksack -   Haversack is from German Haber, "oats," and Sack, "bag, sack"; knapsack is fromGerman knapper, "to bite (food)" and zak, "sack"; rucksack comes from German Rucken, "back," and sack.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary.  © 2012 Farlex, Inc.  All rights reserved.
                                           

Yes, we made the Librarian Action Figure and world famous librarian Nancy Pearl was the model. We debuted it in 2003 and sold 28,000 in a week!  While the action figure is no longer made, it is something we're very proud of.  It was so popular we even did a deluxe version of it!  And now, because the public demanded it, we've brought back the Librarian Action Figure in super hero form!  She has a removable cape and a deep understanding of how knowledge is organized.  See various versions of the librarian action figure at https://mcphee.com/pages/history-of-the-librarian-action-figure

Nancy Pearl is a regular commentator about books on NPR's Morning Edition and NPR affiliate stations KUOW in Seattle and KWGS in Tulsa.  The New York Times calls her "the talk of librarian circles."  Readers can't get enough of her recommendations while bookstores and libraries offer standing room only whenever she visits.  Since the release of the best-selling Book Lust in 2003 and the Librarian Action Figure modeled in her likeness, Nancy Pearl has become a rock star among readers and the tastemaker people turn to when deciding what to read next.  Having worked as a librarian and bookseller in Detroit, Tulsa, and Seattle, Pearl's knowledge of and love for books is unmatched.  In 1998, she developed the program "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book," which spread across the country.  The former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book, Pearl celebrates the written word by speaking at bookstores and libraries across the country and on her monthly television program Book Lust with Nancy Pearl on the Seattle Channel.  In 2004, Pearl became the 50th winner of the Women's National Book Association Award for her extraordinary contribution to the world of books.  https://www.npr.org/people/6395311/nancy-pearl

We Are What We Read by John Sutherland   THE WRITTEN WORLD; The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization by Martin Puchner  Illustrated. 412 pp. Random House. $32.  Martin Puchner’s book asserts not merely the importance of literature but its all-importance.  “Literature,” the first page  declares, “since it emerged 4,000 years ago,” has “shaped the lives of most humans on planet Earth.” We are what we read.  “The Written World” makes this grand assertion on the basis of a set of theses.  Storytelling is as human as breathing.  When fabulation intersected with writing, stories were empowered to propagate themselves in society and around the world as civilization-forming “foundational texts.”  Puchner opens, by way of illustration, with Alexander the Great.  Under his pillow at night he had, alongside his dagger, a copy of the “Iliad.”  THE SOCIAL LIFE OF BOOKS; Reading Together in the Eighteenth-Century Home by Abigail Williams  Illustrated.  351 pp. Yale University Press. $40.  Abigail Williams works on a smaller scale than Puchner, although she too concerns herself with how books condition readers and their society.  Her preferred method is the illustrative vignette.  It makes for a lively survey  Her book, “The Social Life of Books,” appears as part of a series covering the history and culture of the so-called “long 18th century” in England.  Her principal interest is the middle-class home — “a semipublic reception space” as she calls it, in a rare lapse into jargon.  She is enlightening, to take one example, when it comes to light, on how domestic candlepower (at a period when wax candles were expensive, and tallow candles nasally offensive) framed the 18th-century reading experience.  Read more at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/books/review/written-world-martin-puchner-social-life-of-books-abigail-williams.html?hpw&rref=books&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well


http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1823  January 9, 2018  A tip of the hat to the American composer John Duffy, who, in 1982, was President of Meet the Composer, an organization which secured funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and additional foundations for a large-scale residency program that paired rising American composers with major American orchestras.  Alvin Singleton was the composer chosen for the Atlanta residency, and on today’s date in 1988, that orchestra premiered this piece titled “After Fallen Crumbs.”  The title derives from an earlier choral piece by Singleton, whose text dealt with world hunger, and closed with the lines, “An ant can feed a family with the fallen crumbs of an elephant.”  Composers Datebook 

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