For many decades, impressionism has occupied a central place in the canon of art history, but new transnational approaches to the study of nineteenth-century art have complicated the perpetuation of Francocentric histories. As the field’s attention has increasingly turned to places outside of France, including Britain, the United States, Australia, and beyond, the time is ripe to place impressionism within a global context.

In this collection of 14 essays, a distinguished group of scholars deploy new methodological tools, theories, and paradigms to explore how impressionism as an artistic language simultaneously operated locally, nationally, and internationally around the world; how Europe, especially Paris, has existed as a privileged center of modernity and modern art; how a transnational network of artists, critics, scholars, curators, and dealers worked across linguistic, institutional, geographical, and political boundaries; and much more. These texts, while not abandoning France and French impressionism, contribute to the ongoing work to dismantle the franco-centrism of impressionism studies and the anglocentrism of art history as a discipline.

This born-digital publication is available exclusively on the A&AePortal.

Ecocriticism is an interdisciplinary mode of inquiry that examines the environmental significance of art, literature, and other creative endeavors. In Implication: An Ecocritical Dictionary for Art History, Alan C. Braddock, a pioneer in art historical ecocriticism, presents a fascinating group of key terms and case studies to demonstrate that all art is ecological in its interconnectedness with the world.

The book adopts a dictionary-style format, although not in a conventional sense. Drawing inspiration from French surrealist writer Georges Bataille, this dictionary presents carefully selected words that link art history to the environmental humanities—not only ecocriticism, but also environmental history, science, politics, and critical animal studies. A wide array of creative works from different cultures and time periods reveal the import of these terms and the inescapable entanglement of art with ecology. Ancient Roman mosaics, Song dynasty Taihu rocks, a Tlaxcalan lienzo, early modern European engravings and altarpieces, a Kongo dibondo, nineteenth-century landscape paintings by African American artist Edward Mitchell Bannister, French Impressionist urban scenes, and contemporary activist art, among other works, here disclose the intrinsic ecological conditions of art.

 
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
“Its enlightening and eclectic case studies in the visual arts suggest that this is a thoroughly mature book in the sense that it doesn’t pretend to (or need to) introduce the field but seeks rather to deepen and expand its reach, its implications.”—Mark A. Cheetham, Professor of Art History, University of Toronto


*This born-digital publication is available exclusively on the A&AePortal.*