Horatio Greenough

Horatio Greenough PDF Author: Nathalia Wright
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 151280925X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
This is the first full-length biography of Horatio Greenough. Aside from a short fifty page account published in 1853, no one up to now has attempted to write the complete story of his life. Greenough, who lived from 1805 to 1852, was the first American to devote himself from the outset of his career to the profession of sculpture and the first to set forth at any length the concept of functionalism in architecture. He was generally forgotten after his death, chiefly because the heroic, classical tradition in sculpture to which he was committed gave place to the realistic depiction of subjects in the dress of their times. On the other hand, his architectural theory, for which he was far in advance of his time, made little impression on his contemporaries. In recent years he has been hailed as a forerunner of the architectural functionalists while his sculpture has been disparaged. Actually, his achievement in both these areas is considerable and highly significant in the history of American culture. In this book Greenough's life is examined with a broad, historical, American-culture point of view rather than the specialized view of the art critic. Especially interesting and informative are the discussions of his virtual founding of the American colony in Florence; his association with such notable contemporaries as James Fenimore Cooper, Samuel F. B. Morse and Ralph Waldo Emerson; and his dealings with the United States government in the execution of two major works. One was the controversial "Washington," intended for the rotund. of the Capitol but, widely objected to because the figure was half-nude, now in the Smithsonian Institution; the other was "The Rescue," consisting of a pioneer restraining an Indian from killing a pioneer woman and child, a group which stood on the east front of the Capitol until its recent remodeling. This book contains liberal quotations from previously unpublished letters of Greenough and accounts of nineteenth-century American travelers in Italy. In addition, there is a catalogue of the artist's sculpture and fifty plates (with seventy-eight individual illustrations), including photographs or drawings of most of his sculptures and photographs of representative specimens of his drawings, the majority of which are being published for the first time.

Horatio Greenough

Horatio Greenough PDF Author: Nathalia Wright
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 151280925X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
This is the first full-length biography of Horatio Greenough. Aside from a short fifty page account published in 1853, no one up to now has attempted to write the complete story of his life. Greenough, who lived from 1805 to 1852, was the first American to devote himself from the outset of his career to the profession of sculpture and the first to set forth at any length the concept of functionalism in architecture. He was generally forgotten after his death, chiefly because the heroic, classical tradition in sculpture to which he was committed gave place to the realistic depiction of subjects in the dress of their times. On the other hand, his architectural theory, for which he was far in advance of his time, made little impression on his contemporaries. In recent years he has been hailed as a forerunner of the architectural functionalists while his sculpture has been disparaged. Actually, his achievement in both these areas is considerable and highly significant in the history of American culture. In this book Greenough's life is examined with a broad, historical, American-culture point of view rather than the specialized view of the art critic. Especially interesting and informative are the discussions of his virtual founding of the American colony in Florence; his association with such notable contemporaries as James Fenimore Cooper, Samuel F. B. Morse and Ralph Waldo Emerson; and his dealings with the United States government in the execution of two major works. One was the controversial "Washington," intended for the rotund. of the Capitol but, widely objected to because the figure was half-nude, now in the Smithsonian Institution; the other was "The Rescue," consisting of a pioneer restraining an Indian from killing a pioneer woman and child, a group which stood on the east front of the Capitol until its recent remodeling. This book contains liberal quotations from previously unpublished letters of Greenough and accounts of nineteenth-century American travelers in Italy. In addition, there is a catalogue of the artist's sculpture and fifty plates (with seventy-eight individual illustrations), including photographs or drawings of most of his sculptures and photographs of representative specimens of his drawings, the majority of which are being published for the first time.

Form and Function

Form and Function PDF Author: Horatio Greenough
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520311973
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
This book offers sound advice to practitioners of all the arts, and sound reasoning to students of aesthetics. Stating his principles in the mid-nineteenth century, Greenough was three generations ahead of his time. He reads today like a progressive contemporary, and many an architect, artist, and student of art may benefit by what he has to say. It was Greenough, not Whitman, who first protested against meaningless ornamentation. It was Greenough, not Ruskin, who first expressed the idea that the buildings are art of a pepole express their morality. It was Greenough, no Le Corbusier who first said that buildings designed primarily for us "may be called machines." It was Greenough, not Louis Sullivan, who first enunciated the principle that, in architecture, form must follow function. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1947.

Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments

Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments PDF Author: Erin L. Thompson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393867684
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A leading expert on the past, present, and future of public monuments in America. An urgent and fractious national debate over public monuments has erupted in America. Some people risk imprisonment to tear down long-ignored hunks of marble; others form armed patrols to defend them. Why do we care so much about statues? Which ones should stay up and which should come down? Who should make these decisions, and how? Erin L. Thompson, the country’s leading expert in the tangled aesthetic, legal, political, and social issues involved in such battles, brings much-needed clarity in Smashing Statues. She lays bare the turbulent history of American monuments and its abundant ironies, from the enslaved man who helped make the statue of Freedom that tops the United States Capitol, to the fervent Klansman fired from sculpting the world’s largest Confederate monument—who went on to carve Mount Rushmore. And she explores the surprising motivations behind contemporary flashpoints, including the toppling of a statue of Columbus at the Minnesota State Capitol, the question of who should be represented on the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park, and the decision by a museum of African American culture to display a Confederate monument removed from a public park. Written with great verve and informed by a keen sense of American history, Smashing Statues gives readers the context they need to consider the fundamental questions for rebuilding not only our public landscape but our nation as a whole: Whose voices must be heard, and whose pain must remain private?

The Hand and the Spirit

The Hand and the Spirit PDF Author: Jane Dillenberger
Publisher: Berkeley : University Art Museum
ISBN:
Category : Art, African
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description


Are We Rome?

Are We Rome? PDF Author: Cullen Murphy
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547527071
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
What went wrong in imperial Rome, and how we can avoid it: “If you want to understand where America stands in the world today, read this.” —Thomas E. Ricks The rise and fall of ancient Rome has been on American minds since the beginning of our republic. Depending on who’s doing the talking, the history of Rome serves as either a triumphal call to action—or a dire warning of imminent collapse. In this “provocative and lively” book, Cullen Murphy points out that today we focus less on the Roman Republic than on the empire that took its place, and reveals a wide array of similarities between the two societies (The New York Times). Looking at the blinkered, insular culture of our capitals; the debilitating effect of bribery in public life; the paradoxical issue of borders; and the weakening of the body politic through various forms of privatization, Murphy persuasively argues that we most resemble Rome in the burgeoning corruption of our government and in our arrogant ignorance of the world outside—two things that must be changed if we are to avoid Rome’s fate. “Are We Rome? is just about a perfect book. . . . I wish every politician would spend an evening with this book.” —James Fallows

The Beer Can by the Highway

The Beer Can by the Highway PDF Author: John A. Kouwenhoven
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801836534
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
First published in 1961, The Beer Can by the Highway takes a provocative, wide-ranging look at America's ever-changing physical and intellectual landscapes, from advertising and jazz to Manhattan's skyline and the prairies of the Midwest. The Johns Hopkins edition features a foreword by Ralph Ellison, who praises the work as "one that springs from deep within that rich segment of the American grain which gave us the likes of Emerson and Whitman, Horatio Greenough and Constance Rourke—yes, and Mark Twain."

History of Architectural Theory

History of Architectural Theory PDF Author: Hanno-Walter Kruft
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
ISBN: 9781568980102
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 802

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Book Description
As the first comprehensive encyclopedic survey of Western architectural theory from Vitruvius to the present, this book is an essential resource for architects, students, teachers, historians, and theorists. Using only original sources, Kruft has undertaken the monumental task of researching, organizing, and analyzing the significant statements put forth by architectural theorists over the last two thousand years. The result is a text that is authoritative and complete, easy to read without being reductive.

Visual Shock

Visual Shock PDF Author: Michael Kammen
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307548775
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
In this lively narrative, award-winning author Michael Kammen presents a fascinating analysis of cutting-edge art and artists and their unique ability to both delight and provoke us. He illuminates America’s obsession with public memorials and the changing role of art and museums in our society. From Thomas Eakins’s 1875 masterpiece The Gross Clinic, (considered “too big, bold, and gory” when first exhibited) to the bitter disputes about Maya Lin’s Vietnam War Memorial, this is an eye-opening account of American art and the battles and controversies that it has ignited.

Nothing Like It In the World

Nothing Like It In the World PDF Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780743203173
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
The story of the men who build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860's.

Washington's Monument

Washington's Monument PDF Author: John Steele Gordon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620406500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
The colorful story behind one of America's greatest monuments and of the ancient obelisks of Egypt, now scattered around the world. Conceived soon after the American Revolution ended, the great monument to George Washington was not finally completed until almost a century later; the great obelisk was finished in 1884, and remains the tallest stone structure in the world at 555 feet. The story behind its construction is a largely untold and intriguing piece of American history, which acclaimed historian John Steele Gordon relates with verve, connecting it to the colorful saga of the ancient obelisks of Egypt. Nobody knows how many obelisks were crafted in ancient Egypt, or even exactly how they were created and erected since they are made out of hard granite and few known tools of the time were strong enough to work granite. Generally placed in pairs at the entrances to temples, they have in modern times been ingeniously transported around the world to Istanbul, Paris, London, New York, and many other locations. Their stories illuminate that of the Washington Monument, once again open to the public following earthquake damage, and offer a new appreciation for perhaps the most iconic memorial in the country.