The Dwight and Lucille Beeson Wedgwood Collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama


Book Description

This collection of approximately fourteen hundred objects is a comprehensive compilation of most forms of Wedgwood's ware from the eighteenth century, and such rare pieces as the figure of Britannia, a medallion bearing the portrait of Sir William Hamilton and inscribed by Thomas Bentley, and a cream-ware cream cullier can be found in no other museum.







Leave the Balcony Open


Book Description

The Beeson collection was begun in 1946 and consists of about 1400 pieces. In 1975 the entire collection was donated to the Birmingham Museum of Art (Alabama). This book is a social history of the 18th century with descriptions of the wares and manufacturing techniques at the Wedgwood works.




Sculpture at the Ends of Slavery


Book Description

Introduction : "Within a few steps of the spot" : art in an age of racial capitalism -- Grasping images : antislavery and the sculptural -- "The mute language of the marble" : slavery and Hiram Powers' Greek slave -- Sentiment, manufactured : John Bell and the abolitionist image under empire -- Relief work : Edmonia Lewis and the poetics of plaster -- Between liberty and emancipation : Francesco Pezzicar's The Abolition of slavery -- Coda : "Sculptured dream of liberty".




The Portland Vase


Book Description

Die antike römische Portlandvase aus Überfangglas gehört zu den Schätzen des Britischen Museums und ist zugleich eine globale »Marke«, die seit Jahrhunderten bei Kunsthandwerker:innen, Sammler:innen und Käufer:innen hoch im Kurs steht und unzählige Male kopiert und neu interpretiert wurde. Der Band geht der spannenden Frage nach, warum und auf welche Weise die einmalige antike Vase über Zeit und Raum hinweg zur legendären künstlerischen und kommerziellen Muse oder, wie man heute sagen würde, »Influencerin« für Kunstschaffende wie Josiah Wedgwood, Viola Frey, Chris Wight, Michael Eden, Nicole Cherubini, Clare Twomey und Roberto Lugo wurde. Anhand von mehr als 65 Werken und reich bebildert wird die Rolle von Marken in unserer Kultur untersucht und erklärt, warum klassische Traditionen den künstlerischen Kanon dominieren und wie diese Traditionen neu gedacht und revolutioniert werden können.




Laurence Sterne and the Visual Imagination


Book Description

The first full-length and comprehensive study of the illustrations of Sterne's work, this book explores the ability of Sterne's texts to inspire the visual imagination. It helps to explain why scores of editions of his fiction have been illustrated, some profusely: to fulfill the reader's desire, as well as the artist's compulsion, to visualize Sterne's words. Gerard places his subject in a clear and innovative theoretical framework which opens the field to general word and image studies. The author begins by examining the distinct varieties of pictorialism in Sterne's texts. The remainder of the study takes into account three remarkable series of illustrations-representing Trim reading the sermon, didactic sentimentalism in A Sentimental Journey and Henry Mackenzie's Man of Feeling, and the many and diverse portrayals of 'poor Maria' - to demonstrate the ways in which culture projects these texts differently through the various artists.




Eighteenth-century English Porcelain in the Collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art


Book Description

"This very thorough catalogue, with excellent footnotes and bibliography, firmly places the subject in its broadest context." --Apollo Covers approximately 95 pieces, representing Chelsea, Bow, Derby, Worcester, Chamberlain-Worcester, Caughley, Longton Hall, Spode, and Hilditch and Sons.




The Genius of Wedgwood


Book Description

Josiah Wedgwood, one of the most remarkable men of his century, transformed British pottery from a cottage craft to a manufacturing industry with worldwide exports. At the heart of his achievement was his pioneering recognition that quality art and design would give Wedgwood wares their distinction. In an exhibition to mark the bicentenary of his death, the Victoria and Albert Museum has brought together for the first time more than 500 of the beautiful works and designs created in Josiah Wedgwood's lifetime - many of them never exhibited before. They include a magnificent selection of pieces from the famous Frog Service, commissioned by Catherine the Great and sent to Russia in 1774. The Genius of Wedgwood introduces and explains in detail every item in the exhibition and contains contributions by leading Wedgwood experts from Britain and Russia. Illustrated with 50 colour and 140 black and white photographs, it is a unique portrait of the man and his work.




Shelley's Visual Imagination


Book Description

Shelley's drafts and notebooks, which have recently been published for the first time, are very revealing about the creative processes behind his poems, and show - through illustrations and doodles - an unexpectedly vivid visual imagination which contributed greatly to the effect of his poetry. Shelley's Visual Imagination analyzes both verbal script and visual sketches in his manuscripts to interpret the lively personifications of concepts such as 'Liberty', 'Anarchy', or 'Life' in his completed poems. Challenging the persistent assumption that Shelley's poetry in particular, and Romantic poetry more generally, reject the visual for expressive voice or music, this first full-length study of the drafts and notebooks combines criticism with a focus upon bibliographic codes and iconic pages. The product of years of close examination of these remarkable texts, this much-anticipated book will be of great value for all students of Shelley and all those interested in the Romantic process of creation.




Classical Savannah


Book Description

By the end of the eighteenth century, classicism, which arose out of Europe's fascination with ancient Greece and Rome, had also left its mark on America. This study of the classical style in the fine and decorative arts shows the extent to which it influenced the material culture of Savannah, Georgia, from 1800 to 1840. More than 130 examples of objects owned in Savannah in this period are illustrated, described, and discussed. The objects include oil paintings and watercolors, clocks, musical instruments, jewelry, sculptures, engravings, bank notes, needlework, china, silver, brass, lighting fixtures, architectural elements, and furniture. Page Talbott presents an overview of the origins of classicism in Europe and its spread to America. Emphasizing Americans' close identification of classicism with national values and ideals, Talbott also discusses the style in the context of Savannah's social life and its history as a major southern port. She covers not only the principles, methods, and materials of classical design, but also the manufacture, distribution, sale, and ownership of a wide range of functional and decorative objects. Classical Savannah is the companion volume to the Classical Savannah exhibition, which opened in the spring of 1995 at the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah. Illustrating well over half of the items in the exhibit, and including a detailed checklist of the additional seventy objects not shown in the book, Classical Savannah is a valuable source for historians, designers, decorators, collectors, and anyone interested in this period of America's history.