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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A must-have volume for those interested in early US painters
I found this book was able to shed some much needed light on America's first master painters.I found Flexner's writing to be beautiful and the result of reading this book has been several trips to view the works of the artists featured within. I heartily recommend this title to all who are interested in this period of American/art history, or to those who would likee to be! ... Read more

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A book for both the general reader of American history and the student of art, Flexner's study of Copley (1738-1815), brings into vivid detail the struggle the artist endured against an unfavorable environment in the New World, his rise to fame, the development of his unique style, and the personal growth of the man who rose to critical acclaim and then sank to obscurity.

Copley's life began in the humble surroundings of Boston's waterfront. As poor boy growing up in a city where no formal art instruction was available and the conventional response of Boston society was a Puritanical mistrust of such activity, rigorous self-instruction was Copley's only means to his goal of becoming a painter. Through laborious work Copley mastered his craft; the portraits he produced between 1753 and 1774, at the height of his fame, were distinguished by the fully rounded modeling and realism which make the personalities of his sujects come alive. His paintings in these years were the best works a colonial American artist had ever produced. Yet his personal letters reveal that he found life in Boston limited, as he cites the dearth of great art from which to learn and by which to be inspired and, complains of what he perceives to be the underappreciation of his patrons.

The Boston Tea Part and other events led inexorably towards theRevolution. Copley was unwillingly drawn into the troubled politicalarena; his loyalist connections made his life in Boston increasinglyturbulent and precarious. In 1774, at the suggestion of Joshu Reynoldsand Benjamin West, Copley became convinced he was wasting his talentsin the colonies and moved to London to study the Europeanmasters. This decision marked the second period of his life, lasting40 years, and instigated a no less dramatic shift in the style andsubject of his art. Copley's tour of European cities and galleriesbroadened the range and scope of his work. He produced large canvasesof sweeping historical scenes glorifying war, political subjects, andreligious subjects considered taboo in the colonies. Copley's famesoared to world-wide recognition as a historical painter. 1802 marksthe beginning of Copley's ascent. In his later work Copley seems tohave lost his strong sense of composition; eventually, even hisdraftsmanship seemed to fail him. The rejection and scorn of criticsstung Copley, who, nearing seventy years old, spent the last years ofhis life struggling to regain his former acclaim. ... Read more

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Subtitle: With Notices of His Works, and Reminiscences of His Son, Lord Lyndhurst, Lord High Chancellor of Great BritainGeneral Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1882Original Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin and CompanyNotes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free.Excerpt: CHAPTER II.MARRIED LIFE.1769-1774.Mrs. Copley's Ancestry. -- " Winslow Farm," Afterward Occupied By Daniel Webster. -- Her Personal AppearAnce And Character. -- Boston Home, And Copley's Work There. -- Sympathy With American Independence. -- DeParture For England In 1774. -- First Impressions Of The Mother Country. -- Kind Reception In London. -- Departure For Italy.With this union Copley's career of prosperity and success in his art was confirmed, and so much influence did this lady exercise, most unconsciously, over the future life of the artist that any record of him without some account of her would be very incomplete. Her mother, the wife of Richard Clarke, was Elizabeth Winslow, who was married May 3, 1732, and died September 3, 1765. She had fourteen children, seven girls and seven boys, of whom Mrs. Copley was the ninth child and fifth daughter.She inherited from her mother what every native of New England would esteem the fairest birthright, a lineal descent from Mary Chilton, who came from Portsmouth, England, 1620, in the Mayflower, and, according to tradition, was the first woman to set foot on our shores, havingjumped from the boat and waded to the rock. She married John Winslow, brother of the first governor of the colony, the most respectable, according to Hutchinson, of all that came from England at that time; she was thus connected with the celebrated Anne Hutchinson,6 so often mentioned in the early history... ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Catalogue of the Exhibiton: John Singleton Copley andMargaret Kemble Gage, Turkish Fashion in 18th Century America. ... Read more

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John Singleton Copley was the leading portraitist of the American colonial era. This volume, which accompanies a major exhibition of Copley's work organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, focuses on the paintings, miniatures and pastels which Copley produced before he moved to London in 1774. In four principal essays, a team of experts places Copley's work in historical and social context, and brings new critical methods to bear upon traditional aspects of the study of portraits and portraiture. Among the conclusions are that Copley's portraits helped to shape pre-Revolutionary culture, and that their content was market-driven in a relentlessly consumerist, anglophile society. Four shorter texts treat Copley's use of costumes in his portraits, his achievement as a miniaturist, his pastels, and the frames he used for his work. Catalogue entries on the colourplates detail the sitters' lives, decode the emblematic language that reflected status in colonial society, and reveal the way Copley contrived to enhance his subjects' status.The exhibition with which the book is timed to coincide opens in June 1995 in Boston and in September 1995 in New York, and travels subsequently to Houston and Milwaukee. ... Read more

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Brief biographies of five early American painters including Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, and John Trumbull. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An enjoyable introduction to America's earliest great artists
James Flexner first wrote this book (since revised) in 1939, when he says that it was agreed that the United States had produced no worthy art, certainly not back in the late 18th and early 19th century when the four artists discussed here were painting, i.e., Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale and Gilbert Stuart.All of the artists were initially self-taught, or trained by artists inferior to themselves, but did later get European training.Nonetheless, Flexner maintains that at their best, they retained uniquely American characteristics, in particular an sense of realism in an era when idealization was much praised. They spent most of their time doing portraits, although some of them hated it, because Americans had no interest in landscapes, or the history paintings that were then consider particularly high-brow art.

The book has been revised before this edition was published, and some color plates were added.The plates are often rather muddy (perhaps this is because I have the book club edition.) This was later reissued in the 1990s, so perhaps the illustrations have been upgraded.

Flexner is an agreeably genial guide. Perhaps because he was initially defending works that were considered worthless when he began to write, although they were often highly regarded in their own time, he warns the reader against assuming that current taste in art is "correct." He points out the historical changes in taste, and sometimes admits to finding some works not to his own taste, but he isn't oppressively didactic.In recounting the lives of the painters, he sometimes points out obvious errors, but instead of using them to accuse the autobiographer/biographer of being a pathological liar, as many biographers do, he is willing to attribute them to honest lapses of memory if possible.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. ... Read more

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General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1910Original Publisher: The Garden press, W. B. LibbySubjects: Art / Individual ArtistNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or an index.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more