Teresa A. Carbone

John Singer Sargent’s approach to watercolour was unconventional. Disregarding late-nineteenth-century aesthetic standards that called for carefully delineated and composed landscapes filled with transparent washes, his confidently bold, dense strokes and loosely defined forms startled critics and fellow practitioners alike. One reviewer in England, where Sargent spent much of his adult life, called his work ‘swagger watercolours’. For Sargent, however, the watercolours were not so much about swagger as about a new way of thinking. In watercolour as opposed to oils his vision became more personal and his works more interconnected. Presenting nearly 100 works of art, this book is the first major publication of Sargent’s watercolours in twenty years. Each chapter highlights a different subject or theme that attracted the artist’s attention during his travels through Europe and the Middle East: sunlight on stone, figures reclining on grass, patterns of light and shadow. Insightful essays by the world’s leading experts enhance this book and introduce readers to the full sweep of Sargent’s accomplishments in the medium, in works that delight the eye as well as challenge our understanding of this prodigiously gifted artist.

This new volume accompanies and complements the publication of the major new 2-volume catalogue the Brooklyn Museum's collection American paintings by artists born before 1876. It provides a richly illustrated general survey of American painting, aimed at the nonspecialist, from the late Colonial era to the early years of the twentieth century as it is presented in 64 of the Museum's most significant paintings by American artists.Each painting is illustrated in colour, many with accompanying colour details and comparative images. The selected works are arranged in four thematic sections: early American art, art of the 1830's to 50's, American painting in the Civil War Era, and painting of the late 19th and early 20th Century. Extended captions discuss the key features of each painting, information about the artist, and the wider artistic context of the work and the period in which it was produced. The volume features a Chronology, which focuses on wider key moments, movements and styles that developed in American art post-Independence. Special attention is also given to works by individual artists who heavily influenced the development of American painting, such as Copley, Cole and Eakins. AUTHOR: Teresa A. Carbone is Andrew W. Mellon Curator and chair of American Art at the Brooklyn Museum. She organized the exhibition Eastman Johnson: Painting America (1999) and edited the accompanying book, which won the 18th annual Henry Allen Moe Prize, awarded by the New York State Historical Association to the outstanding museum catalogue of the year. Dr. Carbone served as Project Director for American Identities: A New Look (2001), a major reinstallation of the Brooklyn Museum's American Galleries incorporating paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts along with Native American and Spanish Colonial Material. 85 colour & 20 b/w illustrations

This handsome two-volume set by curators Carbone and Barbara Dayer Gallati and Linda S. Ferber (vice-president & director, Museum at the New York Historical Soc.; coauthor, Homer: Illustrating America ) chronicles the beginnings of the Brooklyn Museum. The nearly 700 paintings represented are by 340 artists, among them John Singer Sargent, Maurice Prendergast, and Mary Cassatt. Volume 1 provides background information on the museum's founding; a chronology of curators and directors who helped shape its growth; and 160 full-page, full-color plates that are followed by an extensive catalog of artists' biographies, black-and-white reproductions, interpretative essays, painting dimensions, source of acquisition, and, where possible, plate number. There are also technical notes that further examine the condition of the painting and a list of where the work has been exhibited. Volume 2 contains a guide to technical notes, a glossary of technical terms, and an index. Readable and comprehensive in scope, these volumes make a valuable reference source for anyone interested in American art, from curators researching provenance to students and librarians looking for answers to specific questions. With its impressive acquisitions, the museum provides through this set a general introduction to early American art. Highly recommended. Ellen Bates, New York Volume 1: 160 colour & 325 b/w illustrations Volume 2: 535 b/w illustrations