Benjamin West and the Taste of His Times

Benjamin West and the Taste of His Times PDF Author: Grose Evans
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780758136558
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description


Benjamin West and the Struggle to be Modern

Benjamin West and the Struggle to be Modern PDF Author: Loyd Grossman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781858946412
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
At the time of his death in 1820, Benjamin West was the most famous artist in the English-speaking world, and much admired throughout Europe. From humble beginnings in Pennsylvania, he had become the first American artist to study in Italy, and within a few short years of his arrival in London, was instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts (he succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds to become its second President) and became history painter to King George III. In his lifetime, West's meteoric rise to prominence and the great pleasure he took in his success attracted criticism, and his posthumous reputation took a savage mauling from Victorian critics, one of whom dubbed him 'The Monarch of Mediocrity'. But even at his critical nadir, West's most celebrated work, The Death of General Wolfe, commemorating the British victory at the Battle of Quebec in 1759 and first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1771, continued to fascinate. Although it was not, as is sometimes claimed, the first history painting to feature contemporary costume, it was the first picture in such a vein to become a critical and popular success in Britain. West remains today the most neglected and misunderstood of Britain's great eighteenth-century artists, lacking the social bite of Hogarth, the bravura of Reynolds or the easy elegance of Gainsborough. Nor was he a forceful writer (unlike Hogarth and Reynolds), and he did not possess the intellectual credentials to which so many of his fellow artists aspired. And yet, as Loyd Grossman asserts in his new book, West was extraordinarily in tune with the artistic and intellectual currents that swirled through his turbulent times. He was in the vanguard of both Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and among the very first artists to give visual expression to the exciting and heroic qualities of contemporary events, as opposed to episodes dredged up from the biblical, classical or mythological past, which had long enjoyed the highest artistic status. West's Wolfe was painted at a time when Europeans were just beginning to abandon the tendency to look backwards. Men and women of letters, philosophers and historians were increasingly convinced that modernity could equal and even surpass the achievements of the ancient Greeks and Romans. This new-found ability to believe in the value of the present and to look forward to a progressive future is very much the foundation of the 'modern' attitude that has affected the way we live and think ever since. While acknowledging that West's reputation is still precarious, Grossman explains why Wolfe was such an instant success and why this thrilling work of art continues to exercise such a strong grip on our imaginations nearly 250 years after it was first shown to the public. He situates West in the midst of Enlightenment thinking about history and modernity, and seeks to demolish some of the prejudices about the talent and intentions of the young man from the Pennsylvania frontier who attained such eminence at the British court.

Art Books

Art Books PDF Author: Wolfgang M. Freitag
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134830416
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 572

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 1997. For this second edition of Art Books: A Basic Bibliography of Monographs on Artists, the vast number of new books published since 1985 was surveyed and evaluated. This has resulted in the selection of 3,395 additional titles. These selections, reflective of the increase in the monographic literature on artists during the last ten years, are evidence of the activities of a larger number of art historians in more countries worldwide, of the increasingly diverse and ambitious exhibition programs of museums whose number has also increased dramatically, and also of a lively international art market and the attendant gallery activities. The selections of the first edition have been reviewed, errors have been corrected and important new editions and reprints have been noted. The second edition contains 278 names of artists not represented in the first edition.

After the Revolution

After the Revolution PDF Author: Joseph J. Ellis
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393322330
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
Each life is fascinating in its own right, and each is used to brightly illuminate the historical context.

An Outline Of 19th Century European Painting

An Outline Of 19th Century European Painting PDF Author: Lorenz Eitner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429708912
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 703

Get Book Here

Book Description
This one-volume edition contains both text and plates and includes corrections in the text and bibliography made since the books publication in 1987. There are concise monographic chapters on the important artists and movements of the period, with material on each artists life and work, characteristics of style, and the relationship of the artistic movements to historical and intellectual currents of the time. The author covers a wide range of material and his presentation is lucid and perceptive. Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Academics and Salon Painters, and Impressionism are covered, and the following artists are included: David, Gros, Girodet, Grard, Gurin, Prudhon, Goya, Fuseli, Blake, Runge, Friedrich, Turner, Constable, Igres, Gricault, Delacroix, Corot, Rousseau, Daumier, Millet, Courbet, Manet, Degas, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Pissarro, and Czanne.

American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1

American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1 PDF Author: John Caldwell
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 674

Get Book Here

Book Description


Books on Early American History and Culture, 1951-1960

Books on Early American History and Culture, 1951-1960 PDF Author: Raymond D. Irwin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313081972
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume is part of a series of annotated bibliographies on early American history, including North America and the Caribbean, from 1492 to 1815. It includes monographs, reference works, exhibition catalogues, and essay collections published between 1951 and 1960, which were reviewed in at least one of thirty-four historical journals. Each entry gives the name of the book, its author(s) or editor(s), publisher, date of publication, OCLC number(s), the Library of Congress call number, the Dewey class number, the number of times the book has been cited in the journal literature, and the number of OCLC member libraries that held the item as of August 2005. Following each detailed citation is a brief summary of the book and a list of journals in which the book has been reviewed. This volume contains chapters on general early American history, historiography and public history, geography and exploration, colonization, maritime history, Native Americans, race and slavery, gender, ethnicity, migration, labor and class, economics and business, society, families and children, rural life and agriculture, urban life, religion, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Constitution, politics and government, law, crime and punishment, diplomacy, military, ideas, literature, communication, education, science and medicine, visual arts and material culture, and performing arts. This volume is part of a series of annotated bibliographies on early American history, including North America and the Caribbean, from 1492 to 1815. It includes monographs, reference works, exhibition catalogues, and essay collections published between 1951 and 1960, which were reviewed in at least one of thirty-four historical journals. Each entry gives the name of the book, its author(s) or editor(s), publisher, date of publication, OCLC number(s), the Library of Congress call number, the Dewey class number, the number of times the book has been cited in the journal literature, and the number of OCLC member libraries that held the item as of August 2005. Following each detailed citation is a brief summary of the book and a list of journals in which the book has been reviewed. This volume contains chapters on general early American history, historiography and public history, geography and exploration, colonization, maritime history, Native Americans, race and slavery, gender, ethnicity, migration, labor and class, economics and business, society, families and children, rural life and agriculture, urban life, religion, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Constitution, politics and government, law, crime and punishment, diplomacy, military, ideas, literature, communication, education, science and medicine, visual arts and material culture, and performing arts. Through this volume, Irwin aims to make scholars, teachers, and students of early American history aware of books written in the field between 1951 and 1960. He offers descriptions and location aids for those works, and he directs users to reviews of the books. He also suggests which works in the field have had significant scholarly impact. This volume may boast extensive indexes by subject and author, thematic chapters, book summaries that cover subject matter, scope and, often, argument and approach, and OCLC accession numbers to aid in edition identification and book location.

American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Painters Born by 1815

American Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, Painters Born by 1815 PDF Author:
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book Here

Book Description


Living with the Royal Academy

Living with the Royal Academy PDF Author: Sarah Monks
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351559966
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book Here

Book Description
Living with the Royal Academy: Artistic Ideals and Experiences in England, 1768-1848 offers a range of case studies which consider individual artists' personal, professional and artistic relationships with the Royal Academy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, bringing together the research of leading historians of British artistic culture during this period. Over its introduction and nine essays, this collection considers the Academy as a lived organism whose most effective role, following its establishment in 1768, was as a reference point towards, around and against which artists operated in their relationships with each other and with artistic practice itself. In so doing, this collection also considers the relationship between Academic ideals and individual practice (as well as lived experience) during this period of art?s increasingly public manifestation at the Academy. Individual artists examined include Joshua Reynolds, Joseph Wright of Derby, Benjamin West and William Etty. Thinking beyond the dichotomy of loyalism and rebellion - and complicating notions of the Academy as a monolithic ossifying institution from which progressive artists would be ?liberated? in the wake of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood?s emergence in 1848 - this volume investigates the Academy?s varied impact upon the lives, experiences and ideals of its diverse artistic communities.

Art as Evidence

Art as Evidence PDF Author: Jules David Prown
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300084313
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Get Book Here

Book Description
Art As Evidence celebrates the career of Jules Prown, historian of American art and a pioneer in the study of material culture. It brings together some of his most influential essays along with an introductory chapter, and an intellectual autobiography.