The United States Capitol is a national cultural icon, and among the most visually recognized seats of government in the world. The past quarter century has witnessed an explosion of scholarly interest in the art and architectural history of the Capitol. The emergence of the historic preservation movement and the maturation of the discipline of art conservation have refocused attention on the Capitol as the American “temple of liberty.” Major restoration and conservation projects have made possible a better understanding and appreciation of the building and its decoration. The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon is a product of this revival of scholarly interest. The book combines the papers from the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s first two conferences dedicated to the visual history and appreciation of this most significant of public buildings in the United States. The first six papers in the collection focus on the roles of the architects of the Capitol from the contentious and delay-ridden first decade of construction through the twentieth–century expansion and modernization. The six essays in the book’s second section examine a variety of topics relating to the Capitol's artistic decoration, including the origins of Statuary Hall, the mural Westward Ho! and other paintings and artistic embellishments.

The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon (Perspective On Art & Architect)

History

Kennon, Donald R.

Americas

Ohio University Press

The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon

American Pantheon: Sculptural and Artistic Decoration of the United States Capitol (Perspective On Art & Architect)

Like the ancient Roman Pantheon, the U.S. Capitol was designed by its political and aesthetic arbiters to memorialize the virtues, events, and persons most representative of the nation's ideals—an attempt to raise a particular version of the nation's founding to the level of myth.American Pantheon examines the influences upon not only those virtues and persons selected for inclusion in the American pantheon, but also those excluded. Two chapters address the exclusion of slavery and African Americans from the art in the Capitol, a silence made all the more deafening by the major contributions of slaves and free black workers to the construction of the building. Two other authors consider the subject of women emerging as artists, subjects, patrons, and proponents of art in the Capitol, a development that began to emerge only in the second half of the nineteenth century.The Rotunda, the Capitol's principal ceremonial space, was designed in part as an art museum of American history—at least the authorized version of it. It is explored in several of the essays, including discussions of the influence of the early-nineteenth-century Italian sculptors who provided the first sculptural reliefs for the room and the contributions of the mid-nineteenth-century Italian American artist Constantino Brumidi, to the mix of allegory, mythology, and history that permeates the space and indeed the Capitol itself.

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Like the ancient Roman Pantheon, the U.S. Capitol was designed by its political and aesthetic arbiters to memorialize the virtues, events, and persons most representative of the nation's ideals—an attempt to raise a particular version of the nation's founding to the level of myth. American Pantheon examines the influences upon not only those virtues and persons selected for inclusion in the American pantheon, but also those excluded. Two chapters address the exclusion of slavery and African Americans from the art in the Capitol, a silence made all the more deafening by the major contributions of slaves and free black workers to the construction of the building. Two other authors consider the subject of women emerging as artists, subjects, patrons, and proponents of art in the Capitol, a development that began to emerge only in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Rotunda, the Capitol's principal ceremonial space, was designed in part as an art museum of American history—at least the authorized version of it. It is explored in several of the essays, including discussions of the influence of the early-nineteenth-century Italian sculptors who provided the first sculptural reliefs for the room and the contributions of the mid-nineteenth-century Italian American artist Constantino Brumidi, to the mix of allegory, mythology, and history that permeates the space and indeed the Capitol itself.

The text of this book contains the history of Washington D.C. It traces Washington’s jagged and often turbulent development from its feeble beginning to the public magnificence that we enjoy today (1983). Few cities equal Washington in its cultural wealth. The book includes many anecdotes. The book also contains more than 150 illustrations selected from public and private collections to document the city’s growth.

Washington Past and Present: A Guide to the Nation's Capital

Science & Math

United States Capitol

Striner, Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kennon, Donald R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kennon, Donald R.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kennon, Donald R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon (Perspective On Art & Architect)

The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon

American Pantheon: Sculptural and Artistic Decoration of the United States Capitol (Perspective On Art & Architect)

American Pantheon: Sculptural and Artistic Decoration of the United States Capitol (Perspective On Art & Architect)

Washington Past and Present: A Guide to the Nation's Capital

Washington Past and Present: A Guide to the Nation's Capital