Nocturne : night in American art, 1890-1917
Hélène Valance (Author), Jane Marie Todd (Translator)
"The turn of the twentieth century witnessed a surge in the creation and popularity of nocturnes and night landscapes in American art. In this original and thought-provoking book, Hélène Valance investigates why artists and viewers of the era were so captivated by the night. Nocturne examines works by artists such as James McNeill Whistler, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, Edward Steichen, and Henry Ossawa Tanner through the lens of the scientific developments and social issues that dominated the period. Valance argues that the success of the genre is connected to the resonance between the night and the many forces that affected the era, including technological advances that expanded the realm of the visible, such as electric lighting and photography; Jim Crow-era race relations; America's closing frontier and imperialism abroad; and growing anxiety about identity and social values amid rapid urbanization. This absorbing study features 150 illustrations encompassing paintings, photographs, prints, scientific illustration, advertising, and popular media to explore the predilection for night imagery as a sign of the times"--Book jacket
Catalog
ix, 242 pages : color illustrations, facsimiles ; 29 cm
9780300223996, 0300223994
1005106160
Antivisions: the redefinition of vision by science and technology
A paradoxical aesthetics
The image in crisis: vision questioned by science and technology
The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction
Visions of the mind and spirit
Heart of darkness: the nocturne as metaphor for racial difference
Inverted light: the nocturne in the age of imperialism
Vanishing Indians: nostalgic reminiscence and haunting presence
A blueblood landscape: the nocturne as white art in Jim Crow America
Landscape reconfigured: urban nocturnes
Contrast, confrontation, and spectacle: the alterity of urban nights
Shadow presences: the figure in the urban landscape
The urban nocturne and the redefinition of the American landscape
"Originally published as Nuits américaines: l'art du nocturne aux États-Unis, 1890-1917"--Colophon
Translated from the French
Translated from the French