George Inness and the Visionary Landscape [Paperback]

Adrienne Baxter Bell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 2007

The American landscape painter George Inness (1825-1894) was one of the most thoughtful and inventive artists of his generation.

George Inness and the Visionary Landscape presents both a concise overview of Inness's life and work and a focused examination of his philosophical and religious preoccupations. It shows how Inness, inspired by the ideas of the scientist-mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688- 1772), devised a new artistic vocabulary to convey his understanding of the personal visionary experience. Moreover, it reveals commonalities between Inness's prescient work and efforts by the psychologist- philosopher William James (1842-1910) to validate mystical states of mind. It explains for the first time how Inness treated landscape painting as a form of philosophical inquiry that could communicate his holistic belief in the unity of nature and spirit. Full-color and black-and-white reproductions throughout

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Inspired landscape painter George Inness (1825-94) was born in New York State's beautiful Hudson Valley and could easily have been part of the world-renowned Hudson River School. Instead, as Bell argues so persuasively in this rare, invaluable, and luminously illustrated monograph, Inness was far more concerned with metaphysics than with representational depictions of nature. Sojourns in Europe brought him into sympathy with the "emotionalism and painterly practices of the Barbizon School," Bell writes, but the most crucial influence on his later work was his immersion in the writings of Swedenborg, which inspired him to paint landscapes emblematic of the Swedenborgian vision of "spiritual influx," that is, the infusion of divinity into nature. Psychologist and philosopher William James also shaped Inness' meditative aesthetics with his vision of consciousness as a "stream of thought" and his observation of how mystical experiences "soften nature's outlines and open out the strangest possibilities and perspectives." The latter provides a perfect description for Inness' transcendent landscapes--gorgeous and radiant scenes that embody life's interconnectivity, mystery, timeless beauty, and untarnished hope. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Bell's essay and catalog entries are fresh and illuminating....Not to be missed. -- Library Journal, Kraig Binkowski, 1 December 2003

Bell's sensitive portrait of a fascinating personality and far-reaching analysis of his intellectual milieu will touch anyone... -- American Arts Quarterly, Gail Leggio, Fall 2003

Handsomely illustrated, eloquently written, and well-documented....Highly recommended. -- Choice, J. Simon, 1 September 2004

[A] superlative catalogue....Inness was a pivot on which American modernity turned. -- Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight, 20 February 2004

[Bell] writes in refreshingly plain English. -- New York Times, Roberta Smith, 26 September 2003 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 174 pages
• Publisher: George Braziller, Inc. (January 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807615773
• ISBN-13: 978-0807615775
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not Great., August 8, 2004

By 

Addison Dewitt "I'm nobody's fool." (out there, in the dark) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: George Inness and the Visionary Landscape (Hardcover)

Hungry for everything I could get my hands on regarding the great Hudson River artist George Inness, I spotted this book in Borders bookstore and immediately bought it. It will be one that I visit from time to time, but not for the text. It does have several reproductions of works I had not seen previously, and they are printed excellently (albeit radically reduced in size) on very thick stock.

This is where the quality stops. One has to wonder why the size is so diminutive, especially for a color repro book. In several places, it takes a magnifying glass to view the works at their best. Why publishers skimp on size (and in many places, using black and white over color reproduction) is beyond me, and I would imagine that art lovers everywhere would agree.

Rather than give a history of the artist in full, Bell concentrates on the spiritual or religious history of the artist and does so with great detail - but includes possibly too much unecessary history of other luminaries of that era. Copious notes are in the addendum for those who love to pour over these types of things as well as list of works presented in the book (although I'm not sure why this is done in these types of books, especially when the same information is present by each piece. It's an outdated form that keeps existing long after it's usefullness.)

One rather bothersome point is how the work is not in chronological order. This is done to concentrate on several suppositions of Bells for which there is a notable lack of evidence.

One example of this is Bell's dissection of Inness' Lake Nemi work, where it is supposed that the painting is made up of triangles. I would argue that nearly any landscape could be sliced in such a manner, and there are no notes from the artist or any of his contemporaries to support this rather loose idea. Bell waxes prosaic and over-flowery on the picture descriptions throughout as well, making supposition her over-stated trademark.

If you are interested in the Swedenborgian school of thought, this is the book for you and while it may have been a great influence on Inness, Bell aims her focus on it to the point of dreariness.

I found the book rather dry to read but the imagery faithfully reproduced, although it would have been worth my money to see more and larger imagery with less text - unless the text was more about his life and techniques instead of his philosophy, regardless of the book's subtitle.

However, since there is so little of his work published and/or written about, I'll take what I can get and I am thankful this book was produced, however weak the result may be. At the very least, the paintings are there to speak for themselves, regardless of Bell's perfume-veiled mendacity.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book!, May 18, 2005

By 

samsanfran - See all my reviews

This review is from: George Inness and the Visionary Landscape (Hardcover)

A delight and pleasure to read in every way. Bell's George Inness and the Visionary Landscape is a model art book: highly informative, extremely well researched, and intelligently written. The text is divided between a lengthy introductory chapter and then several sections--such as "Science, Art, and the Visionary in Italy," "The Rhythm of the Working Hand," and "The Anonymous Figure"--that contain shorter texts describing various aspects of Inness's work and splendid color reproductions. Bell writes beautifully and reflects her obvious love of the subject. At the end, you want to go out and see all of Inness's work for yourself. A highly recommended publication!

5.0 out of 5 stars ART STUDENT RESOURCE, January 9, 2012

By 

mjohnson - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: George Inness and the Visionary Landscape (Paperback)

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS ARE BEAUTIFULLY DONE - THE RESEARCH AND WRITTEN MESSAGE REGARDING EACH OF THE PAINTINGS GIVES THE VIEWER A CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT THE ARTIST IS CONVEYING . SIZE OF BOOK IS CONVENIENT FOR CARRYING.