The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914American Artists have been inspired by Italy since the 1760s, when Benjamin West, the first American painter to travel there, was drawn to the ancient Roman ruins and magnificent Renaissance architecture, statuary, and frescoes. This intriguing, superbly illustrated book is the first to explore the fascination Italy held for the American artist from West's time to the eve of World War I. The unique sense of the past found in Italy, where tangible evidence exists of a continual civilization from antiquity to the present, lured countless American artists to its cities, towns, and countryside. Painters from West and Copley in the eighteenth century to Cole, Inness, Whistler, Sargent, and Prendergast in the nineteenth century were inspired to create many of their finest works in Italy, as were American sculptors such as Hiram Powers and Harriet Hosmer and writers from Washington Irving to Henry James. This in-depth study includes 319 illustrations, of which 113 are reproduced in full color, many of works that have not previously been published. Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., John Moors Cabot Curator of American Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Professor of Art History at Boston University, provides a broad overview of the American perception of Italy and the unique role that Italy played in the formation of American art. Further insights into this new area in the study and appreciation of American art are offered in four essays by such leading art historians as William H. Gerdts, City University of New York; Erica E. Hirshler, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fred S. Licht, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, and Boston University; and William L. Vance, Boston University. Individual commentaries on each of the paintings, sculpture, and watercolors have been written by the curatorial staff of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Lure of Italy accompanies a major exhibition of the same name, organized by Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., and Erica E. Hirshler that opens at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and travels to the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. |
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American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914 Theodore E. Stebbins, William H. Gerdts. Foreword We are pleased to present " The Lure of Italy : American Artists and the Italian Experience , 1760-1914 , " the first comprehensive ...
American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914 Theodore E. Stebbins, William H. Gerdts. Foreword We are pleased to present " The Lure of Italy : American Artists and the Italian Experience , 1760-1914 , " the first comprehensive ...
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... artists and move- ments , has written several important studies of American neo - classic sculpture ; in the present volume he discusses the high reputation and central position of the American sculptors in Florence and Rome . " Equally ...
... artists and move- ments , has written several important studies of American neo - classic sculpture ; in the present volume he discusses the high reputation and central position of the American sculptors in Florence and Rome . " Equally ...
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American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914 Theodore E. Stebbins, William H. Gerdts. Notes 1. Henry T. Tuckerman , Book of the Artists : American Artist Life ( New York : F.P. Putnam & Son , 1867 ) , p . 152 . 2. Lloyd ...
American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760-1914 Theodore E. Stebbins, William H. Gerdts. Notes 1. Henry T. Tuckerman , Book of the Artists : American Artist Life ( New York : F.P. Putnam & Son , 1867 ) , p . 152 . 2. Lloyd ...
Contents
Foreword | 8 |
Acknowledgments | 14 |
THEODORE E STEBBINS JR American Painters and the Jure of Italy | 29 |
Copyright | |
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Academy admired Allston American Art American artists American painters American sculptors ancient Arch Art Museum beautiful Bierstadt Boott Boston Brown bust Campagna Capri Chapman Charles classical Cole's color composition Copley Crawford Cropsey depicted Duveneck Elihu Vedder Europe exhibited Faun figure Florence Gallery George Gifford Grand Greek Hawthorne Henry James Hillard Hiram Powers Horatio Greenough Howells Italian Italy Jarves John Singer Sargent Lake Nemi landscape later Letters London Longfellow marble Mark's Morse Museum of Art Naples nineteenth century Oil on canvas oil sketch Paestum painting Palazzo Paris Philadelphia picture picturesque portrait Powers's Prendergast private collection Randolph Rogers Rogers Roman Rome ruins Ruskin Samuel F.B. Morse scenes sculpture Thomas Cole tion Tivoli Tour tourists traveled trip to Italy ture University Press Venetian Venice Villa visited Washington Washington Allston watercolor West Whistler William Henry Rinehart William Wetmore Story wrote York