The Art and Thought of John La Farge

Picturing Authenticity in Gilded Age America
Neuauflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4094-2615-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 236 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 658 g

The Art and Thought of John La Farge: Picturing Authenticity in Gilded Age America offers an unprecedented portrait of one of the most celebrated artists of the Gilded Age and opens a window onto nineteenth-century American culture. The book reveals how the work of John La Farge contributed to a rich philosophical dialogue concerning the trustworthiness of human perception. In his struggle against a 'common truth' of iconic symbols presented by a new mass visual culture, La Farge developed a subversive approach to visual representation that focused attention not on the artwork itself, but on the complex, real encounter of artist, subject and medium from which the artwork came. Katie Kresser charts La Farge's efforts to assert his own reality - his own intrinsic uniqueness - in a postwar society that increasingly based personal identity on standardized vocational labels and economic productivity. La Farge's work is contrasted with that of Kenyon Cox, James Whistler and Henry Adams, all of whom (for La Farge) had fallen prey to the crass new visual environment - albeit in very different ways. This innovative study suggests that La Farge dealt with issues still relevant in a world characterized by ubiquitous mass media and the proliferation of 'normative' visions.

Zielgruppe

Academic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kresser, Katie

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstgeschichte Kunstgeschichte: 19. Jahrhundert Romantik (Kunstgeschichte)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents: Preface; Introduction: the real John La Farge; The scent of the real: a life in art; Counterfeit classicism: John La Farge vs. Kenyon Cox; Modernist mysticism: John La Farge vs. James Whistler; Drive and doubt: John La Farge vs. Henry Adams; A meditation: La Farge on the brink; Epilogue: recovering the figure; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Katie Kresser is an Associate Professor of Art History at Seattle Pacific University. Her research interests include Gilded Age visual culture, art theory and historiography and the relationship of art to religion and spirituality. Her art-historical and critical essays have appeared in diverse journals, including American Art, Image and The Other Journal.