The Anatomy of Nature: Geology and American Landscape Painting, 1825-1875
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.71 (760 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0691074631 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 185 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-11-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Their art was both shaped by and sought to preserve this threatened version of the science. Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Frederic Church, John F. Rebecca Bedell contributes to current debates about the relationship among art, science, and religion by exploring this phenomenon. She shows that at a time when many geologists sought to disentangle their science from religion, American artists generally sidestepped the era's more materialist science, particularly Darwinism. Kensett, William Stanley Haseltine, Thomas Moran, and other artists read scientific texts, participated in geological surveys, and carried rock hammers into the field to collect fossils and mineral specimens. People crowded lecture halls to hear geologists speak, and parlor mineral cabinets signaled social respectability and intellectual engagement. This was also the heyday of the Hudson River School, and many prominent landscape painters avidly studied geology. It yields fresh insights into some of the most influential works of American art and enriches our understanding of the relationship between art and nature, and between science and religion, in the nineteenth century. This major study of the Hudson River School offers an unprecedented account of the role of geology in nineteenth-century land
In lucid prose free of academic jargon, Bedell surveys the intersection of art, tourism and geology in the work of such painters as Thomas Cole, John Kensett and Thomas Moran."--New York Times Book Review"A gracefully written and handsomely crafted book."--Choice"In her scholarly, yet eminently readable and amply illustrated treatise Rebecca Bedell paints us a detailed picture of how the 19th century's 'fashionable science' molded Art. Winner of the 2002 New York Book Show AwardWinner of the 2001 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book, Association of American Publishers"In this wide ranging book, Rebecca Bedell looks beyond the usual labels to find an unexpected continu
An interesting long-form essay on a topic I hadn't considered Mark V. This is basically an interesting long-form essay on a topic I hadn't previously considered.In the 19th century, geology became fashionable and artists responded by studying the subject, just as they might anatomy, and having what they learned shape their work. For example, in the earlier part of the century, features such as moraines and erratic boulders were interpreted as evide