Romanticism: Barron's Art Handbooks. - book review

Arts & Activities, April, 2002 by Jerome J. Hausman

ROMANTICISM: BARRON'S ART HANDBOOKS (2001; $9.95). Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 250 Wireless Boulevard, Hauppauge, NY 11788.

This book was originally published in Spanish ("El Romanticismo"). For the most part, it deals with the European Art created at the end of the 18th century and extending into the first half of the 19th century. Roughly speaking, this is the period from the American Revolution extending almost to our Civil War. Many of the ideas and attitudes about the fine arts in America can be traced to this period. The Romantic artist gave form and emphasis to the ideal of artistic freedom. Artists caught up in this movement offered passionate images in which the expression of feeling dominated all else. As the authors put it: "What most concerned Romantic artists was their personal freedom, as well as freedom from rules prescribed by academic and the capriciousness of patrons."

This is a compact publication--small in size and profusely illustrated with small reproductions. There are concise descriptions of the works of J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, J.A.D. Ingres, Theodore Gericault, Eugene Delacroix, Caspar David Friedrich, Francisco de Goya, William Morris, Jean Francois Millet, Gustave Courbet, and others. The book would serve as a useful resource at the high-school level.--J.J.H. For information about this publication, circle No. 399 on the Reader Service Card.