1st Edition
The Art and Thought of John La Farge Picturing Authenticity in Gilded Age America
By Katie Kresser
Copyright 2013
236 Pages
by
Routledge
236 Pages
by
Routledge
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... Read more
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.
Biography
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.
'The language and thought of art historian Katie Kresser are by turns painterly and poetic, then sharply penetrating in their logic and analytic edge. ... As a reader, I not only felt the presence of the nominal subject of the book but also "heard" the author in genuine conversation with the dead artist and with the living reader. This is a refreshingly honest and vulnerable stance ...' Books & Culture
