“There was a casualness in his attitude toward his work,” said Joe Ciardiello, an illustrator who was a friend of Mr. Parker’s. “So many artists can get so fussy about the correct kind of paper or the proper pen or paints. But Bob would use whatever he had — people would give him paint, he’d use cheap stuff, expensive stuff. The original plan was for Mr. Parker’s and Mr. Douglas’s hands to alternate onscreen, where they would appear to be creating van Gogh’s paintings. But they worked on only one, “Wheatfield With Crows,” before Mr. Parker’s job became copying about 100 of van Gogh’s drawings and paintings to use in the film.

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Persons: ”, Joe Ciardiello, Mr, Parker’s, Bob, ” Robert Andrew Parker, William, Harriett, Cowdin, Parker, Kirk Douglas, Vincent van Gogh, van Organizations: U.S . Public Health Service, Army Air Corps, Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York School, Skowhegan, of Painting, MGM Locations: Norfolk, Va, Michigan, Fort Stanton, N.M, New York City, Paris, France