WITH A FRENCH ACCENT: AMERICAN LITHOGRAPHY TO 1860

Barnhill, Georgia B. (editor)

Published by American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, 2012

About this Item

8.5 x 11 inches. paperback. 100 pages. First edition. A near fine copy. With a French Accent: American Lithography to 1860 from the American Antiquarian Society features five essays from Georgia B. Barnhill, Lauren B. Hewes, Catherine Wilcox-Titus, Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire, and Helena E. Wright that explore several topics of interest to scholars of American print publishing. Together, the essays examine the impact of French lithographic practice on the American lithographic industry and American visual culture; the circulation of French imagery in the United States with a case study on portraits of Napoleon and Lafayette; Goupil's French lithographs after American genre and history paintings; and the use of French lithographs in didactic displays at the Smithsonian Institution in the late nineteenth century. The book explores the variations in quality among early American lithographs. The first essay by Georgia Barnhill closely looks at this phenomenon and examines the work of several academically-trained French lithographic artists who worked in New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Boston from the mid-1830s to 1860. The essay by Lauren Hewes looks at the circulation of French imagery in the United States. Some lithographs in the American Antiquarian Society collection were published in France for an American market, and there is a selection of sentimental prints and portraits that were printed in the United States, but were French in derivation. The book provides reasoning for why prints of Napoleon and Lafayette were moved into the American culture. Using the paintings and prints of these two political leaders as a case study, Catherine Wilcox-Titus reveals the importance of lithography to the dissemination of fine art to a large mass audience. Next, the essay by Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire considers how the American paintings reproduced by Goupil, Vibert and Company led to the transatlantic cultural understanding and exchange. Because Goupil published so many lithographs for American and European audiences, he is an important part of the link between French and American lithography. The last essay by Helena Wright provides thoughts on the afterlife of French lithographs in American culture and the collecting and use of French lithographs in the United States National Museum. Illustrated with black-and-white and color prints, this publication will be an excellent resource for the study of American prints and the French influence on the development of early lithography in the United States. Seller Inventory # 114981

Bibliographic Details

Title: WITH A FRENCH ACCENT: AMERICAN LITHOGRAPHY ...

Publisher: American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts

Publication Date: 2012

Binding: paperback

Edition: 1st Edition