Kingdoms of Edward Hicks (Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center Series) - Hardcover

Weekley, Carolyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810912341 ISBN 13: 9780810912342

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 1999

Synopsis

Examines the historical background, symbolism, and composition of the American painter's different depictions of "Peaceable Kingdoms"

About this title

From Library Journal:

Although he is now seen as a progenitor of the "na?ve" style, during his lifetime Edward Hicks (1780-1849) was known only as a devout, impoverished Quaker minister who liked to paint. With a few exceptions, his extant body of work is made up of 62 "Peaceable Kingdom" pictures, based on Isaiah's biblical prophecy. Although these paintings, known for their charmingly wide-eyed and sensuous beasts, use potent color and effective design, they are technically unsophisticated and repetitive in the extreme. But they contain a powerfully serene devoutnessAa mood probably expressed in compensation for Hicks's guilt about an avocation viewed as frivolous by other Quakers. As the popularity of folk art boomed in the early 20th century, Hicks's homely visions were popularized and became the focus of scholarly attention, and this work is probably the best to date. Weekley, the director of museums at Colonial Williamsburg, shrewdly considers Hicks's "secular" life and art through the filter of his intense piety and copiously illustrates her large-format book with brilliant color plates. Recommended for academic libraries.ADouglas F. Smith, Oakland P.L., CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

...a scholarly history of Hicks as both minister and painter, and of the turmoil these conflicting vocations wrought on his own kingdom. -- The New York Times Book Review, Amy Todd

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0810912341
• ISBN 13: 9780810912342
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 254