Customer Reviews

The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and Catalogue Raisonne

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In his preface to this all-around superb work, a true gift to lovers of American Art, Professor Stebbins mentions how during his course work in the History of Art at Harvard in the sixties the University offered NO CLASSES IN AMERICAN PAINTING! Amazingly enough this shallow presumptiousness of American inferiority in painting at Harvard existed side-by-side with the universal acceptance of contemporary American painting's dominance around the art world!

So much for turning to academia for keeping up with the arts!

Stebbins' outstanding book breaks down into two major sections,

1). A historical and critical overview of Heade's life and works.

A) A Long Apprenticeship
B) A New Life
C) Painter of the Tropics
D) Success in Landscape and Still Life
E) Florida and the Late Work

- After a short three section appendix - including 15 pages of fine printed notes -

2). Catalogue Raisonne

A) Figurative Works
B) Landscapes
C) Still Lifes
D) Drawings and Prints

There follows an excellent Bibliography, List of Owners, a General Index, and a separate Index of Heade's Works.

The cost of the volume may be off-setting, but this revised edition of an earlier work must be judged the major work on this artist, and with it's superb and invaluable catalogue must be counted near the top of any short list of books on 19th century American painters.

Filled with illustrations, and some color examples, in the first half of the book, the second half catalogue has a black and white illustration for each painting, complete with a listing of all exhibitions. The usefulness of so complete a listing for doing research is mind-boggling, and as such any decent university art library should purchase this book.

Those of you Hudson River Shcool Fans who can find this at a reasonable price might consider it as a special purchase.

Unfortunately, many general works on the Hudson River School, such as the wonderful "American Sublime, Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820-1880" American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States 1820-1880 have few examples of Heade's work. Too, sadly, many of the best of these beautiful books, such as "American Sublime", with their near mystical images, are now out of print and frightfully expensive.

There are other less expensive books showcasing Heade's art. For Heade's last years in Florida there's an excellent work by Roberta Smith Favis Martin Johnson Heade in Florida A more expensive volume put together by Stebbins to accompany the 1999 Heade exhibit, not quite as dear as Stebbins' major work, is this one listed below, another huge marvelous book filled to over-flowing with fabulous reproductions, and many superb tropical images.Martin Johnson Heade

The definitive work on Heade. Excellent plates, nice coverage and organization. The contemporary critical reception of the early works is quite interesting.