The West of the Imagination - Hardcover

William H. Goetzmann; William N. Goetzmann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806135336 ISBN 13: 9780806135335

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009

Synopsis

For many people, “western art” immediately conjures images by Frederic Remington or Georgia O’Keeffe—but there’s so much more. From early explorers’ first sketches of the Rockies to the modern earth sculptures of Michael Heizer, images of the American West are as multifaceted as its cultures. This remarkable book embraces them all.

A landmark overview of western American art, the original edition of The West of the Imagination brought the region to wide public attention as a companion to a popular PBS series of the same name. This book, significantly expanded and updated, shows that the West is a vibrant mirror of American cultural diversity. Through 450 illustrations—more than 300 in color—the authors trace the visual evolution of the myth of the American West, from unknown frontier to repository of American values, covering popular and high arts alike.

An unrivaled survey, The West of the Imagination is an immensely informative and pleasurable volume for anyone with an interest in the region’s creative legacy.

About this title

From the Publisher:

William H. Goetzmann is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who has authored and edited more than a dozen volumes. Before his retirement he was the Jack S. Blanton Chair in American Studies and History at the University of Texas, Austin.

William N. Goetzmann is Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Director of the International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management. A former museum director, he has published scores of articles on finance, real estate, and the economics of art.

From Publishers Weekly:

The explorer-artists who documented the American West were obsessed and determined. George Catlin lived on borrowed money and sales of "souvenir albums" while fulfilling his dream of recording vanishing Native American cultures. "Blond giant" Frederic Remington, a failed Kansas sheepherder, became the primary mythmaker of the Old West, portraying its trappers, punchers and vaqueros and elevating the cowboy to an epic hero. Swiss view-painter Karl Bodmer, in search of a "savage America," risked his life to paint bloody Indian battles and explore Mississippi steamboat culture. With 370 plates, nearly half in color, this companion volume to an upcoming PBS-TV series glorifies the legends of the Wild West even as it dissects them. Artists of European descent who recorded Hispanic settlements in the Southwest are highlighted. The authorsWilliam H. Goetzmann is a Pulitzer Prizewinning historian; William N. Goetzmann is a museum curatoralso trace the role of filmmakers in shaping the popular image of the frontier.
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About this edition

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0806135336
• ISBN 13: 9780806135335
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 640