Gothic Art in the Gilded Age


Book Description

The Fascinating History of the First Significant Collection of Gothic Art in the United States.




Gilded Mansions


Book Description

The Gilded Age (1865-1918) saw the sudden rise of America's first High Society, including such prominent families as the Astors, Whitneys, and Vanderbilts. As an aristocracy based on fortunes recently acquired, these families endeavored to live like Europe's blue-blooded nobility, shedding Puritan restraint as they joyously flaunted their new wealth--especially where their homes were concerned. They erected French chateaus and Italian palazzos on New York's Fifth Avenue, at Newport, and elsewhere, often taking inspiration from Parisian styles of the Second Empire. They rejected more modest American styles just as they rejected middle-class society, and for interior decoration they turned to such artisans as Tiffany, Herter Brothers, and Allard's of Paris. Immensely readable and illuminated with 250 stunning color and black-and-white illustrations, this is the fascinating story of America's first millionaire society, the way they lived and partied, and the lush artistic and cultural legacy they established.




Dealing Art on Both Sides of the Atlantic, 1860-1940


Book Description

Dealing Art on Both Sides of the Atlantic, 1860-1940 aims to bring the marketplace dynamic into sharper focus with its essays which examine the many functionaries who participate in the art market network, among them, agents, scouts, intermediaries, restorers, fakers, decorators, advisers and experts. All of the essays are rooted in case studies which give voice to the various aspects of supply−from branding to marketing, from inventory to display, from restoration to pastiche to fabrication. Each is incredibly rich in their marshalling of primary sources and archival materials; in sum, they present an impressive array of new research. Contributors are: Fae Brauer, Denise M. Budd, Patrizia Cappellini, Lynn Catterson, Sebastien Chaffour, Laura D. Corey, Flaminia Gennari-Santori, Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, Joanna Smalcerz, Alexandra Provo, AnnaLea Tunesi, and Leanne Zalewski.




Inventing the Modern Artist


Book Description

Sarah Burns tells the story of artists in American society during a period of critical transition from Victorian to modern values, examining how culture shaped the artists and how artists shaped their culture. Focusing on such important painters as James McNeill Whistler, William Merritt Chase, Cecilia Beaux, Winslow Homer, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, she investigates how artists reacted to the growing power of the media, to an expanding consumer society, to the need for a specifically American artist type, and to the problem of gender.




William C. Brocklesby: A Connecticut Valley Architect in the Gilded Age


Book Description

The late nineteenth century, known commonly as the "Gilded Age," produced some of the most beautiful yet controversial architecture in America's history. The great influencers of the period, including Richard Upjohn, Henry Hobson Richardson, and Charles McKim, each spread the gospel of his own architectural style. The result was an eclectic mix of styles that some detested but that others embraced. Caught in the struggle to find an architecture America could claim as its own, Hartford, Connecticut architect William Brocklesby carved out his own stylistic path. In an age when the taste for ostentation and pretension was adopted by many, William Brocklesby produced some of the most dignified and beautiful architecture in the Connecticut Valley. His churches, libraries, and theaters remain as artistic landmarks throughout western New England, and his work at colleges from Hartford to Amherst, Massachusetts make for some of the most picturesque college campuses in America. This book serves as a companion to the author's earlier book, Asher Benjamin, American Architect, Author, Artist. Taken together, the two books provide a view of developments in American architecture from 1790 to 1910. The Architecture of William C. Brocklesby Hailing from Hartford, Connecticut, architect William C. Brocklesby (1847-1910) spent his career designing beautiful yet dignified churches, libraries, and public buildings throughout the Connecticut River Valley and western New England. Working in an age when ostentation was the rule rather than the exception, Brocklesby maintained a restrained hand in the application of ornament. His design ofForbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts stands out as a monument to his ability as a design architect. In addition, William Brocklesby was among a handful of nineteenth century architects who made the Connecticut River Valley the birthplace of the prototypical American college campus. Working largely within the vision of the famed American landscape architects Andrew Jackson Downing and Frederick Law Olmstead, Brocklesby and others built campuses that were meant to mimic the traditional New England village. “Through the designs of the college buildings by Peabody and Stearns and William Brocklesby, Smith College's architectural history traces the development of late nineteenth-century styles.” - National Register of Historic Places Inventory




Painting the Dark Side


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Skyscraper Facades of the Gilded Age


Book Description

This book is about the design of the facade of 51 of America's most extravagant early skyscrapers. Included are the biographies of noted architects and the aristocrats who financed America's first skyscrapers. This book discusses the influences of European aesthetic values in America--and scandals, rogues and class distinctions. Interpretations by contemporary critics are sprinkled throughout the text. Woven throughout the book are inquiries about the validity of Greek and Roman mythologies and their relationships to "modern" America and its spirit of invention and progress. Foreign traditions were challenged by some architects but then accepted by most. Why was it necessary for the long-dead hero of a faraway civilization to be included on the facade of a newly invented American skyscraper? This book tells why.




The Gilded Page


Book Description

A breathtaking journey into the hidden history of medieval manuscripts, from the Lindisfarne Gospels to the ornate Psalter of Henry VIII “A delight—immersive, conversational, and intensely visual, full of gorgeous illustrations and shimmering description.” –Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves Medieval manuscripts can tell us much about power and art, knowledge and beauty. Many have survived because of an author’s status—part of the reason we have so much of Chaucer’s writing, for example, is because he was a London-based government official first and a poet second. Other works by the less influential have narrowly avoided ruin, like the book of illiterate Margery Kempe, found in a country house closet, the cover nibbled on by mice. Scholar Mary Wellesley recounts the amazing origins of these remarkable manuscripts, surfacing the important roles played by women and ordinary people—the grinders, binders, and scribes—in their creation and survival. The Gilded Page is the story of the written word in the manuscript age. Rich and surprising, it shows how the most exquisite objects ever made by human hands came from unexpected places. “Mary Wellesley is a born storyteller and The Gilded Page is as good as historical writing gets. This is a sensational debut by a wonderfully gifted historian.” —Dan Jones, bestselling author of The Plantagenets and The Templars




Dressing Up


Book Description

How wealthy American women--as consumers and as influencers--helped shape French couture of the late nineteenth century; lavishly illustrated. French fashion of the late nineteenth century is known for its allure, its ineffable chic--think of John Singer Sargent's Madame X and her scandalously slipping strap. For Parisian couturiers and their American customers, it was also serious business. In Dressing Up, Elizabeth Block examines the couturiers' influential clientele--wealthy American women who bolstered the French fashion industry with a steady stream of orders from the United States. Countering the usual narrative of the designer as solo creative genius, Block shows that these women--as high-volume customers and as pre-Internet influencers--were active participants in the era's transnational fashion system. Block describes the arrival of nouveau riche Americans on the French fashion scene, joining European royalty, French socialites, and famous actresses on the client rosters of the best fashion houses--Charles Frederick Worth, Doucet, and Félix, among others. She considers the mutual dependence of couture and coiffure; the participation of couturiers in international expositions (with mixed financial results); the distinctive shopping practices of American women, which ranged from extensive transatlantic travel to quick trips downtown to the department store; the performance of conspicuous consumption at balls and soirées; the impact of American tariffs on the French fashion industry; and the emergence of smuggling, theft, and illicit copying of French fashions in the American market as the middle class emulated the preferences of the rich. Lavishly illustrated, with vibrant images of dresses, portraits, and fashion plates, Dressing Up reveals the power of American women in French couture. Winner of the Aileen Ribeiro Grant of the Association of Dress Historians; an Association for Art History grant; and a Pasold Research Fund grant.