Impressionism and the Modern Landscape: Productivity, Technology, and Urbanization from Manet to Van Gogh / Edition 1

by James H. Rubin

Overview

This book offers a major reevaluation of one of art history's most popular and important art movements. In Impressionism and the Modern Landscape, James Rubin shifts the focus from familiar scenes of pleasure—the beautiful countryside, people at leisure—to a landscape changing as the result of productivity, technology, and urbanization. He demonstrates not only that the industrial and demographic revolutions of the nineteenth century had a profound impact on art, but also that impressionism was the first art historical movement to embrace such changes. Looking principally at Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Armand Guillaumin, and Gustave Caillebotte, Rubin has selected works in four categories: industrial waterways, trains, factories, and photographic viewpoints in the modern city. The examples convey not only these major themes but also the painters' belief in the progress of civilization through science and industry. The book thus expands the scope of impressionist celebrations of modernity to include "impressionism's other landscape."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520248014
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	04/03/2008
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

James Rubin is Professor of Art History at Stony Brook, the State University of New York, and Adjunct Professor of Art History at the Cooper Union. He is the author of eight books, including Courbet, Impressionism, and Impressionist Cats and Dogs: Pets in the Painting of Modern Life.

Table of Contents

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: IMPRESSIONISM’S OTHER LANDSCAPE

1. Renovation and Modern Viewpoints: Roads, Bridges, and City Spaces
2. Art and Technology: Impressionism and Photography
3. Industrial Waterways: Ports, Rivers, and Canals
4. Railways and Stations: Trains and Tracks
5. Factories and Work Sites: City and Country
6. Revival and Renewal in the Next Generation
7. Political Frames and Aspirations: Realism to Utopia
8. Performing Representation: Modernism and Modernity

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
NOTES
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INDEX

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A fresh perspective into a little-noticed aspect of the impressionist movement. . . . Refreshingly insightful."—Art Times / Css Publications

Editorial Reviews

A fresh perspective into a little-noticed aspect of the impressionist movement. . . . Refreshingly insightful.

Art Times / Css Publications