Customer Reviews

Art of the Gold Rush

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The Art of the Gold Rush was written, I believe, as a companion to the art exhibit that toured the nation in commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill.

To scholars of California history, the reproduced paintings and text in the book are worth more than all the Gold dredged out of California's Motherlode. The images are stunning, depicting scenes of early California in the detailed, realistic style of the pre-impressionists. The paintings show us San Francisco as a bucolic village at the mouth of a beautiful bay. They also give us a clear, in-color idea of how the 49ers looked, what they wore, and how amazing a wilderness California was before it was logged and paved over.

The text in the book is as riveting as the paintings it describes. The authors introduce each painting with a discussion of its historical context, a brief biography of the artist, and an analysis of the paitning's structure and use of color and symbolism. Even for someone who, like me, slept through art appreciation, the text is fascinating.

In summary, if you are at all interested in California History, you will relish every page of this book.

I found this book to contain a dry discussion of art during this time period. For someone who claims to have the expertise of a true connaisseur of art of this time period, the analysis of the purpose of mirgrating artists seems to remain too general to derive any real meaning. In the future I would suggest that you include the purspose of these geographically migrating artists in the text if it is to be as informational as claimed.