Pre-Raphaelites : Victorian Art and Design /

The Pre-Raphaelites have never enjoyed the popularity in the US that the French Impressionists or even the Nabis have, but they remain the best-known artists' group in 19th-century Britain, and one of the first modern art movements. Set up in 1848, when the three principal figures (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais) were hardly out of their teens, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood went on to exert a huge influence on subsequent Victorian and Edwardian art. This book by Barringer (Yale), Rosenfeld (Marymount Manhattan College), and Smith (Tate, London) is the catalogue to a 2012-14 exhibition in London, Washington, Moscow, and Tokyo. It covers both the early realist period and the later Symbolist manner, best seen in the work of Edward Burne-Jones. It also finds space for William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, though only to touch on them in passing. The core of the book is a detailed analysis of the paintings, all reproduced in sumptuous color, along with a discussion of the group dynamics that produced this extraordinary movement. As such, it is the best general book on the subject and a fitting introduction to the Pre-Raphaelites for the 21st century. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. P. A. Stirton Bard Graduate Center

This book, accompanying an exhibition of the same name, is a re-examination of the 19th-century English art movement, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. In recent years, there has been much revisionist scholarship on all aspects of this movement and its artists, and thus the authors believe that it is time to view the art of this group in a new context. Here, their main premise is that the Pre-Raphaelite artists were the earliest of the historical avant-garde, radically changing the art and design of orthodox Victorian England. This was manifested both through the subject matter of their work, which turned to historical, mythological, and religious scenes, as well in their style and painting methods, which employed sharp lines and bright, iridescent colors drawn from early Italian Renaissance painting. The book unfolds chronologically and examines painting, drawing, sculpture, and the decorative arts (e.g., textiles and furniture) along themes such as nature, beauty, and paradise. -VERDICT With its beautiful illustrations and overview format, this book is highly recommended for readers wanting a scholarly introduction to the topic.--Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.