From Library Journal
The political, industrial, and cultural revolutions that punctuated the 19th century were reflected in the fine arts, though not always consciously. Art was no longer the sole domain of the upper classes, and the complexity of the new social order became evident in the works of artists like Blake and Goya early in the century and Cassatt and Eakins later on. In this first comprehensive reconsideration of 19th-century art from the viewpoint of the "new" art history, Eisenman and four other art historians examine issues of class, gender, racism, and Eurocentrism as they pertain to North American and European art. This handsomely produced volume, rich in ideas and illustrations, complements the works of Albert Boime (e.g., The Art of Exclusion: Representing Blacks in the Nineteenth Century, Smithsonian, 1990). Of interest to scholars and art enthusiasts alike.Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Amherst, Mass.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Atlantic Monthly
Handsomely illustrated....The interpretations of [the artists'] work are thoughtful [and] well related to factual background.

Library Journal
Rich in ideas and illustrations....Of interest to scholars and art enthusiasts alike.

American Arts Quarterly
An impressive encyclopedic volume...such vigor, clarity, and scholarship that it must be regarded as required reading.

Book Description
In art as in music, literature, philosophy, and political economy, the nineteenth century was a period of questioning, experimentation, discovery, and modernization. From Goya to Blake, from David to Delacroix, from Courbet to Cézanne, artists explored the links between perception and history, and in so doing challenged the prevailing definitions of art and the existing order of society. First published in 1994, this innovative and ground-breaking survey details the development of a critical perspective in nineteenth-century painting and sculpture. For the revised edition, a new introduction by Stephen Eisenman provides a cogent overview of the century, its issues, and its art. Three completely new chapters have been added, which discuss photography and its crucial role in nineteenth-century art; American and German landscape painting and its effect on the growth of romantic nationalism in each country; and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose popular appeal consists both in his work's novel technique and medium and in its exotic sexual perspectives. Nineteenth Century Art embraces many aspects of the "new" art history—attention to issues of class and gender, racism, and Eurocentrism—but it also emphasizes the remarkable vitality and subversiveness of the era's best art. Indeed, nineteenth-century artists addressed many of the aesthetic, political, and moral issues that preoccupy audiences and historians today, such as the relationship between popular and elite culture, and the representation of women and non-European peoples in Western art. This rich and diverse volume demonstrates that nineteenth-century art remains compelling today because its critical insights have rarely been surpassed. It will prove of interest not only to the specialist, but to anyone fascinated by the art, history, and culture of the era. 428 illustrations, 63 in color.

About the Author
Stephen F. Eisenman is Professor of Art History at Northwestern University.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"This is a reconsideration of the origins of modern painting, sculpture and photography in Europe and North America. In the arenas of art and representation, the nineteenth century was a time of questioning, experimentation, discovery and modernization; artists challenged, as never before, prevailing definitions of art and the social order." The revised and expanded edition of Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History embraces many aspects of the so-called 'new' art history - attention to issues of class and gender, reception and spectatorship, racism and Eurocentrism - while at the same time recovering the remarkable vitality, salience and subversiveness of the era's best art. Indeed, the authors insist that there is a profound sympathy between these new perspectives and the art under examination. For it was nineteenth-century artists who first addressed the issues that preoccupy audiences and scholars today: the relation between popular and elite culture, the legacy of the Enlightenment, the question of the canon, and the representation of workers, women and non-whites.

FROM THE CRITICS

An impressive encyclopedic volume...such vigor, clarity, and scholarship that it must be regarded as required reading.

Atlantic Monthly

Handsomely illustrated....The interpretations of [the artists'] work are thoughtful.

American Arts Quarterly

An impressive encyclopedic volume...such vigor,clarity,and scholarship that it must be regarded as required reading.

Library Journal