Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting 1710-1920, Three Volumes: The East and the Mid-Atlantic, The South and the Midwest, The Plains States and the West [Hardcover]

William H. Gerdts (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558590331 | ISBN-13: 978-1558590335 | Publication Date: October 15, 1990 | Edition: First Edition

With over 800 artists represented by over 1,000 illustrations, the three volumes of Art Across America chronicle the development of painting in cities and towns from their beginnings to 1920. This monumental study is a landmark of scholarship, a revelation of the creative spirit that has flourished throughout this country. Three volumes, slipcased. Over 1,000 illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Gerdts, a respected and prolific art historian at CUNY, has produced not a coffee-table book but the coffee-table itself. His three volumes, adding up to more than 1200 large pages, are roughly comparable in reach, if not structure, to the standard work by George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America 1564- 1860 (Yale Univ. Pr., 1957) , although Gerdts disregards the few early artists and carries forward to cover those active by 1920. These volumes are not dictionaries, but rather geographically arranged, more selective, narratives. (The author specifically excludes artists chiefly active in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.) There are very brief introductions to regions and illuminating summaries about art institutions and art activities embedded in the various state-by-state essays; coverage varies according to material, from four pages (Nevada) to 120 (northern and southern California). Gerdts provides no overarching conclusions but rather vast amounts of distilled information on even the smallest art centers. The extensive bibliographies, also geographically arranged, will be an aid to further research. Some 900 of the 1000 artists discussed are illustrated. Typography and layout are generous and helpful; the plates are generally good; a few typographical errors appear in names and dates. Most of the artists are of primarily local interest, and libraries will probably find the volume covering their region heavily used while the other two languish. At this price, recommended for strong art reference collections and local history collections in centers with art traditions.
- Jack Perry Brown, Ryerson & Burnham Libs., Art Inst. of Chicago
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1213 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Pr; First Edition edition (October 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558590331
• ISBN-13: 978-1558590335
• Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 11.6 x 5.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 26.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,639,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art Across America: Outstanding, April 26, 2009

By 

avid gardener (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Across America: Two Centuries of Regional Painting 1710-1920, Three Volumes: The East and the Mid-Atlantic, The South and the Midwest, The Plains States and the West (Hardcover)

Library Journal said the author "... produced not a coffee-table book but the coffee-table itself ..."
The coffee table indeed. These are large, heavy books full of color plates and the reader will need a table or stand upon which to set each book to read it. The physical quality of the set and its slipcase is superb.

I bought this set in 1990 and I still refer to it regularly. As an artist and as a reader, I rate this set as absolutely outstanding and without peer as an encyclopedic historic survey of American painting. Its focus is on painters who worked outside the New York-Boston-Philadelphia area, or outside the recognized mainstream of painting. It is not a source for in-depth coverage of any one artist but rather a sweeping and inclusive survey of painters and painting communities in America for the last two hundred years.

The set is organized by region so that some painters are mentioned in more than one of the three volumes if they were active in more than one region. For instance, Georgia O'Keeffe is mentioned in volumes 2 and 3. In her case, the author does not give her more than a few paragraphs as her work is already well-documented, but he does document where she worked in South Carolina and Texas, and the community of artists in New Mexico with which she associated.

This gorgeous set of books, of all the thousands of books I own, occupies a space of honor amongst the others in my library. I cannot recommend it more highly.