Problem Pictures: Women and Men in Victorian Painting / Edition 1

by PamelaGerrish Nunn

Overview

During the Victorian period there developed a new anxiety about male-female relations and roles in modern society, as described by a member of the Athenaeum in 1858, ’the distinction of man and woman, their separate as well as their joint rights, begins to occupy the attention of our whole community, and with no small effect’. These essays examine Victorian painting in the light of this 'woman question' by analysing the change in representation of the family, romance, social issues such as emigration and colonialism, the use of the female nude and the traditions of portraiture, history-painting and still life. The art and artists are considered in a socio-political context, and the connections between Victorian sexism, racism and classism are examined. These essays bring to light much previously unknown work (especially by women) and reappraise many well-known paintings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859281529
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/15/1996
Series:	The Nineteenth Century Series
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pamela Gerrish Nunn

Table of Contents

Contents: List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Gentlemen, geniuses and interlopers; ’Delightful but limited’; Trouble in paradise; Broken blossoms; The Domestication of history; ’Look homeward, angel!’; In Venus’ train; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

Pamela Gerrish Nunn is to be praised for her examination of various types of problem pictures for Victorian women artists and general viewers Women Artist News Book Review Problem Pictures is wide-ranging in its scope, opening up a number of new areas while pursuing a consistent theme. Many lost paintings are brought into the scholarly arena...a pioneering study Apollo

From the Publisher

A study of the consequences of rising Victorian feminism, and its inherent sexual politics, on the art of that era. Examines the significance of the woman question on critical judgments, pictorial trends, individual reputations, and specific works. Includes 50 b&w illustrations. Distributed by Ashgate. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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