The New York Market for French Art in the Gilded Age, 1867-1893

Description

This transatlantic study analyses a missing chapter in the history of art collecting, the first art market bubble in the United States. In the decades following the Civil War, French art monopolized art collections across the United States. During this "Gilded Age picture rush," the commercial art system-art dealers, galleries, auction houses, exhibitions, museums, art journals, press coverage, art histories, and collection catalogues-established a strong foothold it has not relinquished to this day. In addition, a pervasive concern for improving aesthetics and providing the best contemporary art to educate the masses led to the formation not only of private art collections, but also of institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to the publication of art histories. Richly informed by collectors' and art dealers' diaries, letters, stock books, journals, and hitherto neglected art histories, The New York Market for French Art in the Gilded Age, 1867-1893 offers a fresh perspective on this trailblazing era.

Dr. Leanne Zalewski has published articles on art collections, participated in numerous conferences on early Gilded Age art collecting, and received support for her research from the Getty Research Institute, Huntington Library, Center for the History of Collecting in America at the Frick Art Collection, and the American Association of University Professors.

This book is the definitive account of the passionate love affair between the opulent collectors of America's 'gilded age' and the dazzling art made by 19th-century French academic painters. Richly textured, thoroughly researched, lavishly documented and vividly written; it is a real treat for readers. * Jan Dirk Baetens, Assistant Professor of 19th-Century Art History, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands * Leanne Zalewski's thoroughly researched book surveys relations among wealthy American collectors of French Academic art and international art dealers in the period between Paris's 1867 Universal Exposition and Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition. Analyzing auction catalogs, media, markets, private collections, and dealers' stock books, Zalewski presents a fascinating, innovative contribution to studies of art collecting and the art market. * Julie Codell, Professor of Art History, Arizona State University, USA * The famed 'Gilded Age Picture Rush' spurred the creation of renowned American private and public collections. Examining this pivotal moment, Zalewski provides a thoughtful and theoretically significant contribution to the History of the American Art Market. * Agnes Penot, PhD, Independent Researcher, USA * With impeccable research that evokes the temper of the times, Leanne Zalewski has produced an essential study on what she has coined as 'the Gilded Age Picture Rush', a cultural moment when American collectors were finding their way in the international art market and defining their roles as cultural leaders. In doing so, she offers a wealth of detail through specific examples that illuminate marketing, dealing, and exhibition practices, while never losing sight of the overarching theme of the book which promotes the view that American collectors embraced a uniquely philanthropic approach to their collecting, aiming to have their collections benefit the general public through the institutionalization of art collections for the benefit of many. This is a much needed and significant contribution to the literature on the history of collecting in the United States. * Inge Reist, Director Emerita of the Center for the History of Collecting, The Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library, USA * Zalewski's engaging narrative of America's cultural coming of age after the Civil War comprises a cast of privileged collectors, astute dealers, salon artists and diverse publications - some well known today, most less so - who transformed American taste from the provincial to the worldly. The 'Gilded Age picture rush' introduced contemporary French academic art as a standard for artistic excellence, starting from the Paris Exposition of 1867. Ironically, that important chapter in French art began to lose its critical favor by Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893, a judgment that is only now being redressed. Zalewski describes in fascinating detail an important, if often overlooked, period in American art history. * J. David Farmer, Director of Exhibitions, Dahesh Museum of Art, USA * In her richly detailed study, Zalewski demonstrates that a turn towards French academic and Barbizon school painting exemplified the 'Gilded Age picture rush' from 1867 to 1893, in a welcome contribution to the scholarship of collecting, art markets, and the institutionalization of artistic culture in the United States in the later 19th century. * Catherine B. Scallen, Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emerita in the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University, USA *