This new book on Jan Vanriet, a pivotal figure in the Belgian narrative painting movement, shows the artist in his most personal way. His family history, marked by World War II, and personal memories characterise the more than 100 oil paintings he made from 2012 until 2014. Vanity is a fascinating tour of the artist’s ever-expanding universe, guided by the renowned British art historian Charlotte Mullins. Thematic and stylistic diversity, the ever-changing tone of the works demonstrate that Vanriet is an artist daring to explore new horizons. Vanriet is a man with a distinguished record as an artist. He represented Belgium at the Sao Paulo and Venice biennials. In 2010 the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp invited him to ‘close’ the museum with the exhibition Closing Time and in 2014 he was acclaimed for the expo Losing Face at the ‘Kazerne Dossein’, an expo travelling to Moscow in 2015.
AUTHOR: British Charlotte Mullins is an art historian, author and broadcaster. She has written for The Independent on Sunday and V&A Magazine and was one of the experts at BBC’s Show Me the Monet. Her book ‘Painting People’, published in 2006, was an international success. 220 colour