William Harnett's Curious Objects: Still-Life Painting after the American Civil War

American painter William Harnett (1848–1892) was intellectually ambitious and technically skilled. His first scholarly monograph, William Harnetts Curious Objects, explores his career-long effort to position still life as a serious art. Nika Elder's book shows how Harnett experimented with inanimate objects and pictorial techniques to represent the human condition without depicting the human body. His paintings illustrate late nineteenth-century American material culture, Reconstruction, interiority, death and life, and the imagination, reimagining history painting for the modern era.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 08 November 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

William Harnett, an American painter renowned for his trompe loeil style, possessed an intellectual ambition that matched his technical prowess. The first comprehensive scholarly monograph on the artist, titled "William Harnett's Curious Objects," delves into Harnett's lifelong endeavor to elevate still life to the status of a serious art form. Nika Elder's exploration of Harnett's work challenges the notion that he abandoned his academic training. By examining his still lifes in the context of wartime visual culture, literary realism, museum display, and industrial design, Elder demonstrates how Harnett experimented with inanimate objects and pictorial techniques to represent the human condition without depicting the human body. His paintings, which capture the essence of late nineteenth-century American material culture, also serve as a reflection of Reconstruction, interiority, death, and life, as well as the power of imagination. By addressing such profound themes, Harnett reimagined history painting for the modern era. His artistic achievements place Gilded Age art and culture in the profound shadow of the Civil War and its political implications.

William Harnett, an American painter renowned for his trompe loeil style, possessed an intellectual ambition that matched his technical prowess. The first comprehensive scholarly monograph on the artist, titled "William Harnett's Curious Objects," delves into Harnett's lifelong endeavor to elevate still life to the status of a serious art form. Nika Elder's exploration of Harnett's work challenges the notion that he abandoned his academic training. By examining his still lifes in the context of wartime visual culture, literary realism, museum display, and industrial design, Elder demonstrates how Harnett experimented with inanimate objects and pictorial techniques to represent the human condition without depicting the human body. His paintings, which capture the essence of late nineteenth-century American material culture, also serve as a reflection of Reconstruction, interiority, death, and life, as well as the power of imagination. By addressing such profound themes, Harnett reimagined history painting for the modern era. His artistic achievements place Gilded Age art and culture in the profound shadow of the Civil War and its political implications.

Weight: 816g
Dimension: 254 x 178 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520386419