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Two Views on Vermeer

Two Views on Vermeer: Laura J. Snyder and Michael White

Join us on Wednesday, July 6th at 7pm for a reading and discussion with Laura J. Snyder, author of Eye of the Beholder and Michael White, author of Travels in Vermeer.

In Eye of the Beholder, Laura J. Snyder transports us to the streets, inns, and guildhalls of seventeenth-century Holland, where artists and scientists gathered, and to their studios and laboratories, where they mixed paints and prepared canvases, ground and polished lenses, examined and dissected insects and other animals, and invented the modern notion of seeing. With charm and narrative flair Snyder brings Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhoek and the men and women around them vividly to life. The story of these two geniuses and the transformation they engendered shows us why we see the world and our place within it as we do today. Eye of the Beholder was named “A Best Art Book of the Year” by Christie’s and “A Best Read of the Year” by New Scientist in 2015.

Travels in Vermeer, a lyrical and intimate account of how a poet, in the midst of a bad divorce, finds consolation and grace through viewing the paintings of Vermeer, in six world cities. In the midst of a divorce (in which the custody of his young daughter is at stake) and over the course of a year, the poet Michael White, travels to Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft, London, Washington, and New York to view the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, an artist obsessed with romance and the inner life. He is astounded by how consoling it is to look closely at Vermeer’s women, at the artist’s relationship to his subjects, and at how composition reflects back to the viewer such deep feeling. Includes the author’s very personal study of Vermeer. Through these travels and his encounters with Vermeer’s radiant vision, White finds grace and personal transformation.

Fulbright scholar Laura J. Snyder is the author of The Philosophical Breakfast Club, a Scientific American Notable Book, winner of the 2011 Royal Institution of Australia poll for Favorite Science Book, and an official selection of the TED Book Club. She is also the author of Eye of the Beholder and Reforming Philosophy. Snyder writes about science and ideas for the Wall Street Journal. She is a professor at St. John’s University and lives in New York City.

Michael White is Professor of English at UNC-Wilmington. The author of four collections of verse and a memoir, Travels with Vermeer (Persea, 2014), his poems have appeared widely, including in The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Western Humanities Review, and Best American Poetry. He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.











When: Wed., Jul. 6, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Book Culture on Columbus
450 Columbus Ave.

Price: Free
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Two Views on Vermeer: Laura J. Snyder and Michael White

Join us on Wednesday, July 6th at 7pm for a reading and discussion with Laura J. Snyder, author of Eye of the Beholder and Michael White, author of Travels in Vermeer.

In Eye of the Beholder, Laura J. Snyder transports us to the streets, inns, and guildhalls of seventeenth-century Holland, where artists and scientists gathered, and to their studios and laboratories, where they mixed paints and prepared canvases, ground and polished lenses, examined and dissected insects and other animals, and invented the modern notion of seeing. With charm and narrative flair Snyder brings Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhoek and the men and women around them vividly to life. The story of these two geniuses and the transformation they engendered shows us why we see the world and our place within it as we do today. Eye of the Beholder was named “A Best Art Book of the Year” by Christie’s and “A Best Read of the Year” by New Scientist in 2015.

Travels in Vermeer, a lyrical and intimate account of how a poet, in the midst of a bad divorce, finds consolation and grace through viewing the paintings of Vermeer, in six world cities. In the midst of a divorce (in which the custody of his young daughter is at stake) and over the course of a year, the poet Michael White, travels to Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft, London, Washington, and New York to view the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, an artist obsessed with romance and the inner life. He is astounded by how consoling it is to look closely at Vermeer’s women, at the artist’s relationship to his subjects, and at how composition reflects back to the viewer such deep feeling. Includes the author’s very personal study of Vermeer. Through these travels and his encounters with Vermeer’s radiant vision, White finds grace and personal transformation.

Fulbright scholar Laura J. Snyder is the author of The Philosophical Breakfast Club, a Scientific American Notable Book, winner of the 2011 Royal Institution of Australia poll for Favorite Science Book, and an official selection of the TED Book Club. She is also the author of Eye of the Beholder and Reforming Philosophy. Snyder writes about science and ideas for the Wall Street Journal. She is a professor at St. John’s University and lives in New York City.

Michael White is Professor of English at UNC-Wilmington. The author of four collections of verse and a memoir, Travels with Vermeer (Persea, 2014), his poems have appeared widely, including in The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Western Humanities Review, and Best American Poetry. He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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