George Inness (1825-94) is considered one of America's greatest landscape painters. A complicated artist and thinker, he painted stunning, evocative views of the American countryside.Throughout his career, Inness struggled to make visible what was invisible to the human eye by combining a deep interest in nineteenth-century scientific inquiry - including optics, psychology, physiology, and mathematics - with an idiosyncratic brand of mysticism. Rachael Ziady DeLue's "George Inness and the Science of Landscape" - the first in-depth examination of Inness' career to appear in several decades - demonstrates how the artistic, spiritual, and scientific aspects of Inness' art found expression in his masterly landscapes. In fact, Inness' practice was not merely shaped by his preoccupation with the nature and limits of human perception; he conceived of his labor as a science in its own right. This beautifully illustrated work reveals Inness' profound investment in the science and philosophy of his time and illuminates the complex manner in which the fields of art and science intersected in nineteenth-century America.
About the AuthorRachael Ziady DeLue is assistant professor of art history at Princeton University.
Reviews"Rachael Ziady DeLue undertakes the Herculean task of plumbing the depths of a highly complex and multifaceted mind to uncover many of the whys surrounding this often misunderstood artist.... Chapter by chapter, DeLue peels back the layers of a very complex man, revealing Inness's tireless pursuit of the perfect landscape model through which God could be revealed." - Kraig Binkowski, Art Documentation"
Book InformationISBN 9780226142302
Author Rachael Z. DeLueFormat Paperback
Page Count 350
Imprint University of Chicago PressPublisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 1049g
Dimensions(mm) 25mm * 22mm * 2mm