The Victorian Artist: Artists' Life Writings in Britain, c.1870-1910

by Julie F. Codell

Overview

This study examines the origins, development and explosion of biographical literature on artists in Britain between 1870 and 1910. It analyzes a variety of narrative modes, including gossip, anecdotes, and serialization, as well as the differences among genres (autobiographies, family biographies, biographical histories and dictionaries.) Julie Codell discerns the multiple, often conflicting identities that were ascribed to artists collectively, and as individuals. Her book serves as a timely sociological and cultural overview of the art world in Britain in the decades before World War I.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521817578
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/14/2003
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.10(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction: the artists as text; 1. Biographical functions, mediations and exchanges; 2. The Victorian typology of artists: from prelapsarian to professional; 3. Artists' autobiographies: Cellini, Res Gestae, jouissance, and the collective life; 4. Family biographies: domestic authority, social order, and the artist's body; 5. Biography as history: anecdotage, serialization, and national identity; Conclusion: gifting art: from Bohemians to benefactors.

Editorial Reviews

"...a North American pioneer of the critical study of Victorian art and culture....a valuable discussion of autobiographies of women artists...The strength of Codell's book, besides it scope, is in its consistenc of themes stressed throughout: how biography formulates cultural identity; full and naturalized recognition given to writings on and by women; the pervasiveness of issues of natinalism in the construction of British Art; the role of Institutions in guiding the period; professionalism and its limitations....Codell's use of theory is relevant, concise, and clear, never slowing the smooth pace of the book. It is persuasive and not intrusive....To read this book is to be helped in thinking anew about so many apects of artistic culture in Britain....contributes greatly to the expansion of our understanding of nineteenth-and early twentieth-century art. The foundation for a fuller and more pluralistic understanding of the period." Jason Rosefeld, Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies

"In this masterful study, Julie Codell argues for the pivotal role of life writing in the achievement of professional status for Victorian artists....The years devoted to research on this project show in the depth and comprehensiveness of its chapters....For scholars of autobiography, Codell's study suggest a rethinking of some widely held assumptions about gender and genre....If The Victorian Artist challenges scholarly commonplaces, it also raises questions about the relation of Victorian life writings to the development of professions." Linda Peterson, Victorian Studies

"The ground covered is extensive..." Jan Marsh, Times Literary Supplement

"An essential addition to collections on the study of the Victorian art world." The Art Book

"This study relates lifewriting to wider trends, such as the growth in the number of professional women artists during the period....this is a revealing and enjoyable book." Burlington Magazine

"her study contains important source material and original observations about the relationship between artistic identity, self-fashioning, commerce, and artistic production..." CAA Review David Getsy

"Her book provides a sociological and cultural overview of the art world in Britain in the decades before World War I."
—Journal

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