Theophile Gautier, orator to the artists; art journalism in the second republic

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2008

Theophile Gautier, orator to the artists; art journalism in the second republic.

Kearns, James.

Legenda

2007

212 pages

$79.50

Hardcover

PN5184

He was careful in his approach but impassioned in his execution, sure of his place publicly but privately conflicted, and fully aware the Second Republic would be lustrous but brief. Kearns (French, U. of Exeter) examines not only the work this most influential of critics and journalists but also the reasons behind his complexity. In an era of rapid change from the pastoral to the urban and from a producers' to a consumers' market, Gautier supported attempts to reform all the institutions of the fine arts while maintaining his own idealist aesthetic. Kearns moves Gautier from turning point to turning point in his relationship with Pradier in 1848 to the "detestable" Salon of that year, the return of Ingres, the thoroughly republican Salon of 1949, Gautier's studies on the museums of 1849 to 1850, and the near-chaos of the Salon of 1850-1851. This is a detailed, elegant, important portrait. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co.

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