Rebels and Martyrs: The Image of the Artist in the Nineteenth Century (National Gallery Publications) - Softcover

Sturgis, Alexander

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857093461 ISBN 13: 9781857093469

Publisher: National Gallery, 2006

Synopsis

192 pages, illustrated throughout, mainly in colour

About this title

Review:

'An important contribution to our understanding of the artistic
ecology of the nineteenth century...imaginative and thought-provoking...'
-- Marc Jordan, Times Literary Supplement, August 18 2006

'Attractive and informative... This handsome volume...should be
read before and after seeing the exhibition.' -- Byron Ireland, Day by Day, September 2006

Synopsis:

The mythical artist, heroic and rebellious, isolated and suffering, is the creation of late eighteenth-century Romanticism. The power of this myth has persisted, achieving its most potent embodiment in the life and work of Van Gogh and Gauguin and still colours the popular and artistic imagination. Throughout the nineteenth century the influence of the myth was felt in the way people thought and wrote about artists and, more importantly, in the way artists thought about, and depicted, themselves. Covering a period from the French Revolution to World War I, from Romanticism to the avant-garde, this catalogue considers how artists responded to this myth; how they deliberately cast themselves or peers as outsiders, bohemians and martyrs and how, in doing so, they reveal profound shifts in attitudes towards the aims of art, the source of artistic creation. The focus is on key artists and groups who self-consciously forged distinctive personas in response to the prevailing myth: the Nazarenes, Delacroix, Courbet and Manet, moving on to Van Gogh, Gauguin, the Nabis and Schiele.

The book will include two short essays, an introductory text and an overview of the myth of the artist in literature as well as a beautifully illustrated catalogue section which reviews the themes of the exhibition: Hero of the Establishment; Romantic Heroes; Romantic Myths; Bohemia; The Dandy and Flaneur; Seer, Priest, Martyr, Christ; and The Maleness of the Myth. A chronology concludes this fascinating survey. Published to accompany the exhibition "Rebels and Martyrs: The Artist in the Nineteenth Century" showing at the National Gallery, London, 28 June to 28 August 2006.

About this edition

• Publisher: National Gallery
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1857093461
• ISBN 13: 9781857093469
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192