The Shaping of Art and Architecture in Nineteenth-Century America

In conjunction with its centennial exhibitions "Nineteenth-Century America" and "The Rise of an American Architecture," the Metropolitan Museum in May 1970 hosted a four-day gathering of scholars, historians, critics, and collectors. This was the first formal exchange of ideas about nineteenth-century American art by such a group. Unfashionable American paintings for years remained in the storerooms and basements of museums; many buildings and interiors of the nineteenth century were condemned to demolition or consigned to the rubbish heap.

The eleven papers in this symposium volume, the core of the symposium and all presented by leading scholars in the field of American art, throw new light on our art and architecture. For example, the interaction between American and European art and architecture during the nineteenth century was reviewed and proved to be much more complicated than was thought before; and some new principles for art history, in which style was related to political, social, and philosphical movements, presented us with a particularly challenging problem. [This book was originally published in 1972 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]