H. Barbara Weinberg, Doreen Bolger, David Park Curry ; with the assistance of N. Mishoe Brennecke
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
xiii, 384 pages :
Other Physical Details
illustrations (some color) ;
Dimensions
30 cm
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Exhibition catalog
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-364) and index
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"A true historical painter ... is one who paints the life he sees about him, and so makes a record of his own epoch." This principle, voiced by the Impressionist Childe Hassam, was heeded by the artists whose contributions are the focus of this volume: the American Impressionists and the Realists of the generation that succeeded them. The authors of the book, which accompanies a major exhibition, illuminate the continuities and differences between American Impressionism and Realism, two movements that are traditionally viewed as merely opposed. They explore the roots of American Impressionism in European art, especially in the French Impressionists' engagement with the contemporary scene. Also elucidated are the evolving responses of both the American Impressionists and Realists to the changing realities of life in the United States at the turn of the century, as the nation shifted rapidly from an agrarian to an increasingly industrialized urban society. In an examination of paintings that represent the country, the city, and the home - the triad of subjects that engaged the artists - these responses are shown to reflect a tension between enthusiasm for the new and a sense of loss of the rural past. Studying a wide range of painters, including John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, John Sloan, William Glackens, and George Bellows, the authors offer new insights into the threads of nationalism, optimism, euphemism, and nostalgia that link the two movements. They demonstrate that these painters of modern life endowed their European-rooted art with a distinctly American inflection and produced a selective register of an energetic nation, revealing a complex commitment to Robert Henri's assertion that "painting is the giving of evidence." The volume brings a new approach to this area of American art history, which has tended to be more descriptive than interpretive: it offers detailed historical and social contexts for the works and movements under consideration as well as penetrating stylistic analyses. Lavish illustrations of the paintings in the exhibition, comparative works and period photographs, a biography of each of the twenty-six artists in the exhibition, a selected bibliography, and an index are included
OTHER EDITION IN ANOTHER MEDIUM
Title
American impressionism and realism.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Impressionism (Art)-- United States, Exhibitions.
Painting, American-- 19th century, Exhibitions.
Painting, American-- 20th century, Exhibitions.
Realism in art-- United States, Exhibitions
Pintura moderna-- Siglo XIX-- EE. UU-- Exposiciones
Pintura moderna-- Siglo XX-- EE. UU-- Exposiciones