"Painting and sculpture flourished in nineteenth-century America and saw the rise of self-taught travelling artists and professional artists producing works for a growing number of wealthy patrons. This innovative introduction examines the profession of the artist alongside the reception of their work by nineteenth-century art audiences."
A lively and unconventional history of the heroic "art-makers" of the last century—their struggles, their attempt "to change the climate of the arts," their successes. 211 stunning illustrations of great art.
A one-volume work covering all the major artistic developments in the USA from the Colonial period until 1914. From pioneering artists, such as John White, who recorded the native flora, fauna, and peoples of the early Virginia and North Carolina settlements, to the pivotal 1913 Armory Show,the entries chart the evolution of artistic traditions in the emerging American nation.
"During the first four decades of the last century, America was mesmerized by the classical world. And never before has a book so thoroughly examined the period's diversity of thought and material production to demonstrate the variety of ways that nineteenth-century Americans used, misused, and even abused the lessons of antiquity in the arts and decorative arts."