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In an era when ease of travel is greater than ever, it is also easy
to overlook the degree to which voyages of the body - and mind -
have generated an outpouring of artistry and creativity throughout
the ages. Exploration of new lands and sensations is a fundamental
human experience. This volume in turn provides a stimulating and
adventurous exploration of the theme of travel from an
art-historical perspective. Topical regions are covered ranging
from the Grand Tour and colonialism to the travels of Hadrian in
ancient times and Georgia O'Keeffe's journey to the Andes; from
Vasari's Neoplatonic voyages to photographing nineteenth-century
Japan. The scholars assembled consider both imaginary travel, as
well as factual or embellished documentation of voyages. The essays
are far-reaching spatially and temporally, but all relate to how
art has documented the theme of travel in varying media across time
and as illustrated and described by writers, artists, and
illustrators. The scope of this volume is far-reaching both
chronologically and conceptually, thereby appropriately documenting
the universality of the theme to human experience.
Offering an examination of the paragone, meaning artistic rivalry,
in nineteenth-century France and England, this book considers how
artists were impacted by prevailing aesthetic theories, or
institutional and cultural paradigms, to compete in the art world.
The paragone has been considered primarily in the context of
Renaissance art history, but in this book readers will see how the
legacy of this humanistic competitive model survived into the late
nineteenth century.
The late nineteenth-century Biloxi potter, George Ohr, was
considered an eccentric in his time but has emerged as a major
figure in American art since the discovery of thousands of examples
of his work in the 1960s. Currently, Ohr is celebrated as a
solitary genius who foreshadowed modern art movements. While an
intriguing narrative, this view offers a narrow understanding of
the man and his work that has hindered serious consideration. Ellen
J. Lippert, in her expansive study of Ohr and his Gilded Age
context, counters this fable. The tumultuous historical moment that
Ohr inhabited was a formative force in his life and work. Using
primary documentation, Lippert identifies specific cultural changes
that had the most impact on Ohr. Developments in visual display and
the altered role of artists, the southerner redefined in the wake
of the Civil War, interest in handicraft as an alternative to
rampant mass production, emerging tenets of social thought seeking
to remedy worker exploitation, and new assessments of morals and
beauty as a result of collapsed ideals all played into the
positioning Ohr purposefully designed for himself. The second part
of Lippert's study applies these observations to Ohr's body of
work, interpreting his stylistic originality to be expressions of
the contradictions and oppositions particular to late
nineteenth-century America. Ohr threw his inspiration into being
both the sophisticate and the ""rube,"" the commercial huckster and
the selfless artist, the socialist and the individualist, the
""old-fashioned"" craftsman and the ""artist-genius."" He created
art pottery as both a salable commodity and a priceless creation.
His work could be ugly and deformed (or even obscene) and
beautiful. Lippert reveals that far from isolated, Ohr and his
creations were very much products of his inspired engagement with
the late nineteenth century.
In an era when ease of travel is greater than ever, it is also easy
to overlook the degree to which voyages of the body - and mind -
have generated an outpouring of artistry and creativity throughout
the ages. Exploration of new lands and sensations is a fundamental
human experience. This volume in turn provides a stimulating and
adventurous exploration of the theme of travel from an
art-historical perspective. Topical regions are covered ranging
from the Grand Tour and colonialism to the travels of Hadrian in
ancient times and Georgia O'Keeffe's journey to the Andes; from
Vasari's Neoplatonic voyages to photographing nineteenth-century
Japan. The scholars assembled consider both imaginary travel, as
well as factual or embellished documentation of voyages. The essays
are far-reaching spatially and temporally, but all relate to how
art has documented the theme of travel in varying media across time
and as illustrated and described by writers, artists, and
illustrators. The scope of this volume is far-reaching both
chronologically and conceptually, thereby appropriately documenting
the universality of the theme to human experience.
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