J W Waterhouse - Softcover

Peter Trippi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714845183 ISBN 13: 9780714845180

Publisher: Phaidon Press, 2005

Synopsis

John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) is one of the most enduringly popular of the Victorian artists, and paintings such as The Lady of Shalott, Hylas and The Nymphs and Ophelia have become icons recognized the world over. With their compelling composition and glowing colour, these works are admired for their beauty and for their power to transport the viewer into a romantic world of myth and legend. At the same time, Waterhouse's wistful heroines also reflect the troubled attitudes of nineteenth-century male artists towards women.

In this carefully researched new study, Peter Trippi presents a fresh and absorbing analysis of the artist's seductresses, martyrs and nymphs, and the cultural and historical circumstances in which they were produced. He also draws on new research to provide an accessible biography of the artist. Themes explored include Waterhouse's passion for Italy, literature and the classical world, the role of the Royal Academy in his life, his stylistic influences and studio practice, and his relations with collectors, dealers, critics and curators.

Neglected throughout much of the twentieth century, Waterhouse has enjoyed a dramatic revival of fortune. Trippi's monograph provides a timely re-evaluation that combines a close reading of Waterhouse's imagery with a candid appraisal of the milieu in which he worked.

About this title

Review:

"A fresh and absorbing analysis."―Antiques Trade Gazette

"Scholarly and detailed book."―Times Literary Supplement

"A must for Pre-Raphaelite fans."―The Argus

"This is good social art history in a sumptuous format."―Independent)

"Until I read this meticulously researched, cogently argued and handsomely illustrated book, all I knew about Waterhouse could have been written on the back of a postage stamp."―World of Interiors)

"While the book places the artist within his era, it is Trippi's sensitive descriptions of the works and his attention to technique and the painted surface that give his method innovation and insight. The handsome colour plates, including double-page spreads of such monumental works as St Cecilia (1895) and Hylas and the Nymphs (1896) as well as the hitherto unreproduced Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May (1909), substantiate Trippi's assertion that Waterhouse's complex aesthetic still compels audiences today."―Art Quarterly

"Beautifully designed, sumptuously illustrated and reasonably priced... Trippi has produced a book which will appeal to a wide variety of readers."―Colin Cruise, Staffordshire University, The Art Book

Synopsis:

John William Waterhouse is among the most popular Victorian artists, and many of his paintings, such as The Lady of Shalott, Hylas and the Nymphs and Ophelia, have become icons of femininity recognized the world over. With their compelling composition, glowing colour and Impressionist-inflected technique, these paintings are admired for their beauty, yet at the same time they have the power to transport the viewer into a romantic world of myth and legend. Waterhouse's depictions of female beauty reflect his age's complex and ambivalent attitudes towards women, in which Victorian ideals of sentiment and duty commingled with less noble undercurrents of erotic desire and misogyny. In this fresh and innovative study of the artist, Peter Trippi presents a new analysis of Waterhouse's seductresses, martyrs and nymphs, together with a lively discussion of the cultural and historical circumstances in which these images were painted. This authoritative volume utilizes new research to provide an accessible biography of the artist and to assess his place in the late Victorian art world.

Themes explored include Waterhouse's passion for Italy, literature and the classical world, his participation in England's Royal Academy, his stylistic influences and studio practices, and the collectors, dealers, critics and curators who helped make him famous in his day. Like other Victorian artists, Waterhouse was neglected through much of the twentieth century, but as critical inhibitions have fallen away the revival of his fortune has been dramatic. Today he is again acknowledged as a master painter. Peter Trippi's monograph provides a timely re-evaluation that combines a close reading of Waterhouse's imagery with a candid appraisal of his unique talent.

About this edition

• Publisher: Phaidon Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0714845183
• ISBN 13: 9780714845180
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240