MIAMI BEACH, FL (JANUARY 11, 2008)—Author Lin Arison and photographer Neil Folberg, who most recently collaborated on “Travels With Van Gogh and the Impressionists: Discovering the Connections,” published by Abbeville Press in September, will speak about their work together at The Wolfsonian-FIU on Monday, January 21, 2008 at 6pm. The talk is free to the public and followed by a book signing in The Dynamo Café. For further information on the talk, email anne@thewolf.fiu.edu.

In 2000 Lin Arison and her 15-year-old granddaughter Sarah set out on a trip through France little aware of the transformation the month-long journey would have on both their lives. For Arison, though a seasoned traveler with an insatiable curiosity, the experience was a spiritual awakening that resulted in “Travels with Van Gogh and the Impressionists: Discovering the Connections.”

In this unique combining of memoir, art book, biography and travelogue, Arison guides readers from Auvers to Arles to Giverny to Mont Sainte-Victoire through her compelling, heartfelt narrative. Reproductions of classic paintings of the period are imaginatively paired with Neil Folberg’s contemporary photographs. Together, author and photographer shed original light on this well-documented period.

The ageless vitality of the painters resonates in Folberg’s fresh take on the very sites and subjects that inspired the artists. His camera translates a Degas drawing of young dancers, hands folded behind their backs, into a graphic, black and white image of two contemporary ballet students alone in a studio. The star-lit street scene of Van Gogh’s “Café-Terrace at Night” is suggested in a photograph of a similar street, with its outdoor restaurant replaced by a mysterious, parked car.

Arison’s natural warmth, ebullience and fearless curiosity radiate through the 245 pages, giving new and spirited relevance to the personal and communal lives and art of Pissarro, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Morisot and Van Gogh. Her perceptive and compassionate demystification of Van Gogh’s reputation as a “madman” and her focus on the little- acknowledged, but pivotal importance Berthe Morisot played in the Impressionist movement are just some of the insights that the book presents.

Twinning the lives and struggles of the Impressionist artists with the personal discoveries they inspired in Arison, the book begins with the devastating death of her husband, Ted, the convention-defying, visionary creator of Carnival Cruise Lines. With her identity no longer coupled with that of her iconoclastic husband and still in deep mourning, Arison begins to experience a vague, but quietly persistent need to proclaim her own singular talents.

Her almost obsessive exposure to the work of Van Gogh and the Impressionists deepened her empathy with their dogged independence. It fostered her own determination and artistic vision and renewed her commitment to using her creative resources to make a significant difference in the lives of up and coming artists (most especially through youngARTS, a pioneering project she and her husband founded 26 years ago). Sarah Arison, whose interest in the arts was stimulated by her encounter with the Impressionists as a 15-year-old, now heads the Arison Arts Foundation.

Infusing this well-tread period of art history with 21st century immediacy, “Travels with Van Gogh and the Impressionists” testifies to the universality and continued relevance of the work of Van Gogh and the Impressionist painters. With its vital dialogue between old and new, the book is a tribute to the triumphant power of art.

About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
The Wolfsonian–FIU is a museum and research center that uses objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, political, and technological changes that have transformed the world. The approximately 120,000 artifacts that comprise The Wolfsonian collection range from fine art, graphic design, and political propaganda to furniture, rare books, and ephemeral materials such as postcards and travel brochures. Since opening to the public just ten years ago, The Wolfsonian has developed and disseminated critically acclaimed exhibitions, publications, and educational programs that highlight the impact of design in shaping the modern world. Its vast patrimony of primary source materials provides unparalleled opportunities for scholarship and appreciation, making it a unique resource for local, national, and international audiences.

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Fla. Admission is $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children six-12; free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, children under six, and Miami Beach residents with ID. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-6pm; Thursday and Friday from noon-9pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at www.wolfsonian.org.

The Wolfsonian receives ongoing support from the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Continental Airlines, the preferred airline of The Wolfsonian; the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation; and Karla Conceptual Event Experiences.

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