Spirit of Place: Contemporary Landscape, Painting and the American Tradition
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.53 (870 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0821217070 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 160 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
After surveying the predecessors, including Homer, Burchfield and O'Keeffe, and a new generation with Fairfield Porter, Alex Katz and Neil Welliver, the author devotes chapters to the various formal approaches of the painters of the 1970s and 1980s. Some eighty painters are discussed and their works illustrated. "Realism" is interpreted broadly; some of the paintings illustrated are expressionist in feeling, and lyricism dominates, rather than the hard edge of photorealism. This is an examination of the realist tradition in contemporary American landscape painting, which the author sees as the only form of visual expression that has remained a constant link in American art, from the late 19th-century work of Frederic E.Church, through to the present day. Among the contemporary artists are Diebenkorn, Wyeth, Beckman, Estes, Button, Kahn and Wonner. The book makes both art historical and critical points, and is a survey of the best in American landscape in the second half of the twentieth century.
Rather facilely grouping 60 modern artists into chapters dealing with New Realism, Painterly Realism, Photorealism, and Romantic and Expressionist landscape, he heralds a return to humanistic concerns and the regenerated spirits of romanticism and regionalism. From Library Journal Noted curator and authority on contemporary American realism Arthur examines American landscapes of the past three decades against the backdrop of the grand late-19th-century paintings of Church, Heade, Inness, etc. An excellent survey; for academic and larger public collections.- Russell T. . Clement, Brigham Young Univ. The works convincingly demonstrate that the realist tradition in postwar American landscape continues unabated. Lib., Provo, Ut.Copyright 1989 Reed Busi
"Only someone with a tin eye could like this." according to Chris Gargan. This is a dreadful collection of truly mediocre paintings. I bought it because someone on a forum had recommended it. They must have had a tin eye.There are so many really great landscape painters working, it's too bad the author couldn't have taken the time to locate them.This is headed to Goodwill.. Whirlwind survey of American painting James "Spirit of Place" is a wonderful whirlwind survey of the American Objective painting tradition (primarily landscape). The author, John Arthur, sets his argument in favor of the American Objective tradition, both Romantic and Expressionist, against a backdrop of artistic luminaries such as Church, Chase and Inness. He argues that there is an unbroken and strong Objectivist aesthetic thread from the artists of the 19th c Hudson River School to the Modernist Armory Show of 1913 and beyond. Arthur sheds light on the negative impact European émi