Revolutionary Ideas

Revolutionary Ideas: Nineteenth Century European Art is an innovative, assignment-focused anthology that helps students critically examine the impact of major world events on European art, the effect of artistic innovations on the world, and their continuing effects in society today.

The collection is organized thematically into six parts. Part I focuses on historical events as captured by artists who lived through them, notably the French Revolution and the Biedermeier period. Part II revolves around the nude, capturing different art movements and the changing avatar of the nude in the nineteenth century, highlighting social and political influences on creation of nudes. Part III explores the rise of the modern city and pieces inspired by development and progress. Part IV analyzes works born of machines, motion, and modernity in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. Part V explores the connection of landscape painting with national pride, Protestant values, the bourgeoisie, and more. The final part examines the prevailing mood at the end of the nineteenth century, one of pessimism, angst, and fear, and the provocative, memorable works borne of it.

Cross-disciplinary in nature, Revolutionary Ideas is a valuable supplementary reader for foundational courses in art history, cultural studies, anthropology, and archaeology.