Studio of Nature: The Transformation of Artists' Studios, 1845–1910

"Studio of Nature: The Transformation of Artists' Studios, 1845–1910" examines artists' studios in Britain, France, and the United States from the advent of Realism to the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the twentieth century. I consider in particular how changing conceptions of the natural environment in the nineteenth century contributed to the emergence of new studio paradigms. The nineteenth century witnessed a dramatic rise in the number of artists who left the studio to paint outdoors. Artists associated with movements as diverse as the Barbizon School, the Hudson River School, Realism, Pre-Raphaelitism, Naturalism, and Impressionism all engaged in plein-air practice to varying degrees. A close engagement not only with physical nature but also with the ideals it represented guided artists working across a variety of artistic genres. In addition to the continued rise of landscape painting in the nineteenth century, the emergence of Realism challenged inherited notions of the studio as a place of retreat that had prevailed since the Renaissance. The positivism that informed artistic movements around midcentury encouraged a direct engagement with reality. While fragments of the natural world could be brought into the studio for study, by and large the studio separated artists from physical nature. This epistemological shift catalyzed numerous studio innovations that unfolded in the decades that followed: the studio was variously transformed into an optical instrument, a mobile apparatus, a transparent prism, and an agent of social reform. As the identity of the modern artist emerged in the nineteenth century, the studio was reimagined to meet the needs of a new generation of artists. "Studio of Nature: The Transformation of Artists' Studios, 1845–1910" foregrounds the significance of the studio as both a contributor to as well as an index of changing artistic standards in the context of modernity.

Department dc:contributor.department

History of Art

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Wallace, Amy Catherine

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cheetham, Mark A

• Landscape
• Modern Art
• Nature
• Nineteenth Century
• Studios

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1807/108229

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/108229