British Artists and the Modernist Landscape FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book demonstrates how engagement with modernism in the landscapes and rural scenes of artists like George Clausen, Philip Wilson Steer, Augustus John, Laura Knight, J. D. Fergusson and Spencer Gore corresponds to the 'non-aesthetic interests' of the period and sets up a series of imaginary geographies of sites drawn from the home counties and Cornwall to the shores of the Mediterranean. It explores their relation to the broader culture of ruralism and re-considers simple conflations between national identity, 'Englishness' and the native landscape. The modernist scrutiny of the medium, the search for essentials, for harmony, stability and a potential order ultimately produced reassuring imagery for an age preoccupied with cultural degeneracy and bodily health - but the processes of purification were pursued at a significant cost.
SYNOPSIS
Holt (art history, U. of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK) explores the relationship between modernity and modernism, landscape painting and the culture of ruralism in Britain from the end of the 19th century to the eve of the Great War. In considering the works of a specific, small group of artists' depictions of the actual or imagined rural scene, she examines successful attempts by British artists to respond to modern aesthetic developments while at the same time maintaining an "embeddedness" in wider national, cultural, and material conditions and preoccupations. Painters discussed include George Clausen, Philip Wilson Steer, Augustus John, J. D. Ferguson, Spencer Gore, and Stanley Spencer. Illustrated with color plates and b&w reproductions. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Art & Photography
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