Alice Neel was one of the great portrait painters of the 20th century. She reinvented the genre of portraiture by expressing the inner landscape of her varied sitters, among them Andy Warhol, Annie Sprinkle, Bella Abzug, and Allen Ginsberg. Filmmaker Andrew Neel, Alice Neel’s grandson, puts together the pieces of the painter's personal life and career to tell Neel’s story, exploring the struggles she faced as a woman artist, a single mother, and...

In this illustrated volume, including a number of stunning color prints, the author explains that for fifty extraordinary years, American society bestowed in the idea of Nature its most cherished ideals. Between 1825 and 1875 all kinds of Americans, artists, writers, scientists, as well as everyday citizens, believed that God in Nature could resolve human contradictions, and that nature itself confirmed the American destiny. During these years Nature,...

Overview of painting over the last 800 years, including more than 450 color reproductions and an in depth analysis of over 30 of the most famous paintings.

George Inness (1825-94), long considered one of America's greatest landscape painters, has yet to receive his full due from scholars and critics. A complicated artist and thinker, Inness painted stunningly beautiful, evocative views of the American countryside. Less interested in representing the details of a particular place than in rendering the "subjective mystery of nature," Inness believed that capturing the spirit or essence of a natural scene...

"Once a common part of the American landscape, trains are increasingly fading from public view. Though photographs can accurately convey the details of 'what, where, and when,' sometimes paintings can better convey the deeper truths of an era. Collecting more than thirty years of paintings and renderings, Railroads, Art, and American Life tells the story of rail transportation in America through the life and works of artist J. Craig Thorpe. Commissioned...