Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History

great book. this actually enables you to understand what the 19th Century art and influences were about. Through its critical review, the writing and approach to it is fantastic. The best art history book I have read!

I recently purchased this book A) Because it was alot cheaper than my college bookstore's price, and B) Because it was mandatory for the class I'm taking. The book covers alot of the information for the 1800s in the art world. I like to actually see the work of art when it's being discussed, so the lack of images is a little annoying.

As this is a textbook for a course I'm taking, I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy well !!! below the current bookstore price and delighted when the book arrived extraordinarily promptly.

This is a text based overview of art in the 1800's. It has a text to picture ratio similar to that in Art by Hartt. It has a similar (but obviously more specific) audience. Reproductions are high quality. Most are black and white - maybe 20 percent color. Here the color plates are mixed throughout the book, instead of all together in one color section. So all the thematically similar pictures are grouped together with the information about them. Read through the chapter titles and if you like several of the artists in question then this may be a good book to have reproductions of their work. Outline of Nineteenth Century Art: Classicism and Romanticism Patriotism and Virtue: David to the Young Ingres Classicism in Crisis: Gross to Delacroix The Tensions of Enlightenment: Goya Visionary History Painting: Blake and His Contemporaries Nature Historicized: Constable, Turner, and Romantic Landscape Painting New World Frontiers Old World, New World: The Encounter of Cultures on the American Frontier Black and White in America Realism and Naturalism The Generation of 1830 and the Crisis in the Public Sphere The Rhetoric of Realism: Courbet and the Origin of the Avant-Garde The Decline of History Painting: Germany, Italy, and France Modern Art and Life Manet and the Impressionists Issues of Gender in Cassatt and Eakins Mass Culture and Utopia: Seurat and Neoimpressionism Abstraction and Populism: Van Gough Symbolism and the Dialectics of Retreat The Failure and Success of Cezanne chronology, bibliography, list of illustrations and index This is a good book for university libraries. Because realistic art styles have traditionally been overlooked in favor of more abstract styles, there is a gap in history books that cover art. This is a good detailed overview of overlooked art. The sections on American art particularly valuable in filling a potential gap. American art in this time period had a documentary function. (European art had more of an idealized function as from Ruskin or acted more in the traditional way as a status symbol. Also European movements such as Pre-Raphealitism have recently become popular and widely available, so this is not such a big gap.) Having coverage of American art from this time period is especially desirable. I don't think that this is such a good book for individuals to buy, unless you already know what it is. It is written and intended for academic study (so the writing is dense). Look through the book at a book shop or library first.

This is an excellent book with lots of photos and historical details to make everything clear. Eisenman has put together interesting concepts and critiques as well. It may be a difficult read for some people though.