Francis Davis Millet: The early years of "A cosmopolitan Yankee," 1846--1884.
Item
-
Title
-
Francis Davis Millet: The early years of "A cosmopolitan Yankee," 1846--1884.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3144089
-
identifier
-
3144089
-
Creator
-
D'Angelo, Gina M.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Kevin D. Murphy
-
Date
-
2004
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Art History | Biography
-
Abstract
-
In the post Civil War era when American artists looked to European training, art, and culture to create an art of international stature, Francis Davis Millet was one of the most tenacious advocates of cosmopolitanism. After studying at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Millet readily assimilated European subjects, styles, and cultural attitudes, and sought to redefine American art and American institutions based on European precedents. This dissertation investigates the early years of Millet's life and work, analyzing the complex interweave of American and international crosscurrents, influences, and experiences that shaped his art and his contributions to American cultural life. Rich in experimentation, Millet's early work reveals his devotion to a wide range of subjects, to traditional and modern international styles, and to an idealistic and subjective aesthetic philosophy that sought a symbiotic unity between significant content and form, concerns that preoccupied him throughout his life. Also apparent in a survey of Millet's early years is his experimentation in various media, especially mural painting, and his administrative efforts to enhance American art appreciation and training. His early work as a muralist and art administrator were accomplishments that would culminate in his supervision of the mural program at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition---long recognized as having contributed to the revival of monumental mural painting in America---in Millet's subsequent career as a muralist, and in his assuming the directorship of the American Academy in Rome in 1912. More than a prologue to his later accomplishments, Millet's early years are rich with achievement, during which he created distinctive works of art that entered major American public and private collections. A close look at Millet's early work and career also reveals the complexities of the American art world during an important transitional period, as artists moved away from predominantly nativist themes to an embrace of the full range of Western art. The study is framed within the international climate of the late nineteenth century, concentrating on the aesthetic, cultural, historical and critical context in which Millet's work was produced and discussed.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
