Harriet Hosmer a cultural biography / Kate Culkin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Culkin, Kate, 1969- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hosmer, Harriet Goodhue, 1830-1908.

Art and society--United States--History--19th century.

Art and society.

Expatriate sculptors--Italy--Rome--Biography.

Expatriate sculptors.

Women sculptors--United States--Biography.

Women sculptors.

Sculptors--United States--Biography.

Sculptors.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 219 pages, [16] pages of plates ) illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Manufacture:

Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2012

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Harriet Hosmer (1830–1908) was celebrated as one of the country's most respected artists, credited with opening the field of sculpture to women and cited as a model of female ability and American refinement. In this biographical study, Kate Culkin explores Hosmer's life and work and places her in the context of a notable group of expatriate writers and artists who gathered in Rome in the mid nineteenth century. In 1852 Hosmer moved from Boston to Rome, where she shared a house with actress Charlotte Cushman and soon formed close friendships with such prominent expatriates as Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and fellow sculptors John Gibson, Emma Stebbins, and William Wetmore Story. References to Hosmer or characters inspired by her appear in the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Kate Field among others. Culkin argues that Hosmer's success was made possible by her extensive network of supporters, including her famous friends, boosters of American gentility, and women's rights advocates. This unlikely coalition, along with her talent, ambition, and careful maintenance of her public profile, ultimately brought her great acclaim. Culkin also addresses Hosmer's critique of women's position in nineteenth century culture through her sculpture, women's rights advocates' use of high art to promote their cause, the role Hosmer's relationships with women played in her life and success, and the complex position a female artist occupied within a country increasingly interested in proving its gentility."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: A woman of her time

1. "She will do much for the cause of womanhood"

2. "The conception of the statue is masterly"

3. "Her whole soul was filled with Zenobia"

4. "It will be a manly work"

5. "Female sculptors have ceased to be a novelty"

6. "Something has come into our love"

7. "The Isabella Road has been the longest"

8. "One of the 'Old Guard' of feminine progress"

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-61376-015-9

9781613760154 (electronic book)

OCLC:

794700490