Presenting 250 paintings by masters such as Mary Casatt, Edward Hopper, and Andrew Wyeth, this volume explores the tremendous scope, richness, and liveness of American realist art. Vivid reproductions of the artists' works are accompanied by illuminating commentary.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
American Realism is Edward Lucie-Smith's eloquent and interesting discourse tracing the progress of American realist art from the colonial period through postmodernism. It features a generous 250 illustrations and 115 gorgeous, full-color plates. Lucie-Smith's underlying argument seems to be that realism more accurately reveals the American character than does abstract expressionism or minimalism. This premise is developed by examining specific paintings and placing them in a cultural and historical context. Of particular interest are the sections on Thomas Eakins, Thomas Hart Benton, Ben Shahn, Philip Pearlstein, Andy Warhol, and Eric Fischl. --Madeline Crowley
From Library Journal
Realism is a means of examining, interpreting, and expressing our experience of the world around us. Lucie-Smith, a well-known writer on contemporary art, has gathered a wealth of images that traces the development of what he feels is the ever-present, deeply rooted, and uniquely American pragmatic confrontation with the experience of everyday life. The need to define oneself in terms of social, intellectual, and physical settings has always been the impetus of creativity, and whether in the serene oarsman of an Eakins, the elegant lady of a Sargent, the lonely figure of a Hopper, the exaggerated sailor of a Cadmus, or the more recent, supple if unsubtle Duane Hanson sculptures and Chuck Close photomontage portraits, it is a strong and flourishing form of American identification. An interesting overview that covers much of what is familiar within a slightly different context and point of view.
Paula Frosch, Met-ropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Paula Frosch, Met-ropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Gold Standard on American Realism Painting,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: American Realism (Hardcover)
Edward Lucie-Smith's inimitable style of writing endears him to his readers who might just be buying art books for the pictures - the ubiquitous coffeetable book. His approach to his subject (and his catalogue of published books on art is staggering in scope) is always 'Art first, Opinion second', which is another way of saying that he lets the work describe itself in the sensitive way in which he constructs his books. AMERICAN REALISM is as much a sociological study of the American progress as it is a matrix to etch images that accompany that historical trek. In his fine introduction he sets the tone for the journey, then addresses early American art and begins his intensive presentation with the works of Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer. Subsequent chapters find new insights into American Still Life, the Impressists in America (Cassatt, Sargent, Chase, Hassam), then proceeds on through the Ashcan School, Regionalism (one of the most creative chapters), through the Urban and Social Realism of the likes of Hopper, Marsh, Soyer and Shahn. Here his style of writing diverges as he addresses the Revolution in American Art, or, what has America made that is uniquely her own. Of great interest here is his emphasis on painters such as Paul Cadmus, Philip Guston, Jared French, George Tooker, Andrew Wyeth, bringing to their works a sensitivity rarely written prior to this book. After Abstraction he once again returns to representational art and brings to life Fairfield Porter, Neil Welliver, Jane Freilicher, Larry Rivers, Richard Diebenkorn,Wayne Thiebaud, Chuck Close, John Nava, Alice Neel, Gregory Gillespie, Martha Mayer Erlebacher, Eric Fischl, Leon Golub, and yes, even Jeff Koons. The sparkling and informative dialogue of this book is enhanced by superb reproductions of paintings in both color and black and white. This book is somewhat dated now, having been published in 1994 and newly released in paperback. One hopes that Lucie-Smith will write a sequel to this volume and bring the public up to date with the many artists who belong in this company, artists - like Wes Hempel, Gerard Huber, Michael Workman, Wade Reynolds, James Doolin, Willaim Fogg, Robert Peterson, Daniel Sprick..........and of course countless others. A 'must have' for any solid library.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A much broader topic than one would have suspected,
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This review is from: American Realism (Paperback)
One of the myths of "realism" is that it is somehow less challenging than non-representational art. This terrific book takes on the broad sweep of American Realism from the Civil War through 1990. The book is full of wonderful images from so many different styles that the reader can begin to see that what is called realistic or representational has its own symbolic language and is full of its own abstractions and distortions of trying to represent aspects of our four dimensional world on a two dimensional surface.
The book is full of paintings of all types and styles within this broad topic. There are also photographs of related sculpture and even photographs that are themselves the work of art. The images contained in the book range from the sublime, to the odd and strange, through the raunchy and vulgar. The text is lively, insightful, and adds a great deal to the reader's understanding of the images included.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High quality production,
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This review is from: American Realism (Paperback)
According to the dust jacket flyleaf this is "surprisingly the first (book) on the subject". Following the introduction sixteen chapters discuss various aspects of American realism in art starting with the American Revolution, and along the way look at American Impressionism, The Ashcen School, Precisionism, Americna Scene Painting, Urban Realism, Photorealism and Postmodern Realism. the study includes notes to the text, a bibliography, list of illustrations and an index.
Among the artists considered are Edward Hopper, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Hart Benson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andrew Wyeth, Fairfield Porter, Jeff Koons, Alice Neel, Philip Pearlstein, Eric Fischl, Richard Estes, David Park, Elmer Bischoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Cadmus, Reginald Marsh, Charles Sheeler, George Bellows, Duane Hanson, and Thomas Anshutz to name just a few. In the extensive and knowledgeable yet very accessible text as one would expect from Edward Lucie-Smith follows the development and influences of American Realism, and includes a background on each artist discussed. The book is well illustrated throughout with 215 pictures, 115 in full colour, they vary in size from the quite small to a number full-page in size. The illustrations run with the text so that they appear alongside any mention of them in the text. This is a beautifully produced book on quality paper, the colour images are first class,, it is a shame that they are in the minority, albeit just, although it must be admitted that the black and white images are also of exceptionally high quality.
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