Emerson and the Luminist Painters
A Study of Their Styles
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9349065 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gayle L Smith (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1985 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 193-193 |
| Publication date | 1985-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0678 • E-ISSN: 1080-6490 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2712898 |
| OpenAlex | W2317685947 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
WHEN THE EXHIBITION AMERICAN LIGHT: THE LUMINIST MOVEMENT, 1850-1875 appeared in National Gallery in 1980, quotations from Thoreau, Whitman, and especially from Emerson virtually led viewer through exhibition. It is not difficult to imagine appropriateness of Emerson's words here, as he seems to have been almost as preoccupied with light and as were luminist painters themselves. F. 0. Matthiessen was among first to explore the effect of nineteenth century's stress on seeing and the connection, real if somewhat intangible, between emphasis on vision and that put on light by advancing arts of photography and open-air painting.' Most recently, Barbara Packer has argued that Emerson developed an important system of symbols from field of optics, especially from David Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton (183 1).2 More crucial here, those who have attempted to relate luminism to other aspects of nineteenth-century culture have consistently linked it with Emersonian transcendentalism, at times even luminism as a direct product of transcendentalism. It appears to be almost impossible to write about luminist painters' attitudes toward nature and role of artist without citing Emerson's famous transparent eye-ball passage from Nature (1836)
Art · Art history · Painting · Archaeology and Natural History · Historical and Literary Studies
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1989 - 2019 (31) |
| Highly cited | No |