Americans in Paris 1850-1910: The Academy, the Salon, the Studio, and the Artists Colony

Americans in Paris 1850–1910 represents the profound French influence—both in style and subject—on American painters following the Civil War. There was a great deal of French art in America, mainly in the hands of urban industrialists and financiers eager to display their wealth. Meanwhile, American artists traveled to France to study under the masters, either at the École des Beaux-Arts or at one of the independent academies or studios. Paris proved immensely appealing as a locale in which artists were supported and valued, cultural life was rich, the surrounding countryside ispiring, and the cost of living relatively low. The landscapes and human figures favored by French painters offered a nostalgic appeal that American artists translated into a national vernacular.

Alternating beautiful color plates of some of the most influential artists from America and France—among them, James McNeill Whistler, Kenyon Cox, Mary Cassatt, Camille Cordot, and Honoré Daumier—with informative essays describing biographical, historical, and stylistic influences, this volume brings to life this pivotal and creatively vibrant moment in art history.