Guillaume Lethière / edited by Esther Bell and Oliver Meslay ; with contributions by Alain Chevalier, Natasha Coleman ... [and 14 others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bell, Esther (Esther Susan), editor, author.

Meslay, Olivier, editor, author.

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, host institution.

Musée du Louvre, host institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lethière, Guillaume Guillon, 1760-1832--Exhibitions.

Lethière, Guillaume Guillon.

Painting, French--18th century--Exhibitions.

Painting, French.

Painting, French--19th century--Exhibitions.

Genre:

exhibition catalogs.

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

432 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour), portraits ; 31 cm

Distribution:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2024]

Place of Publication:

Williamstown, Massachusetts : Clark Art Institute, [2024]

Summary:

Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, Guillaume Lethière (1760-1832) was a key figure in the history of art during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The son of a formerly enslaved woman of color and a white government official and plantation owner, Lethière moved to France with his father at age fourteen. He trained as an artist and navigated the tumult of the French Revolution and its aftermath in order to achieve the highest levels of recognition in his time. A favorite artist of Napoleon's brother, Lucien Bonaparte, Lethière also held positions at the Académie de France in Rome, Institut de France, and École des Beaux-Arts. He operated a studio that rivaled those of his contemporaries Jacques-Louis David and Antoine-Jean Gros. Despite his accomplishments and corpus of paintings and drawings, Lethière is relatively unknown today. This study serves to introduce Lethière to new and broader audiences and restore him to his place as one of the most eminent artist of his generation. An international group of scholars offers the first comprehensive view of Lethière's career in its political, social, and art historical context, addressing issues of colonialism, slavery, and diaspora, as well as shedding new light on the presence and reception of Caribbean artists in France during this time.

Contents:

Directors' foreword

Acknowledgments

Lenders to the exhibition

Notes to the reader

The worlds of Guillaume Lethière / Esther Bell

"Né à la Guadeloupe": Guillaume Lethière, free person of color / Frédéric Régent

Friendships and fidelity / Olivier Meslay

Considering Lethière as draftsman / Marie-Pierre Salé

Art and politics: revolutions in pigment (1770-1830) / Anne Lafont

Lethière and the community of Caribbean artists in Paris / Christelle Lozère

Scenes from the atelier: Lethière's pedagogical legacy / C. C. McKee

Catalogue / Esther Bell, Alain Chevalier, Natasha Coleman, Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Sophie Kerwin, Mehdi Korchane, Frédéric Régent, Olivier Meslay, Marie-Pierre Salé, Aaron Wile, Richard Wrigley

Appendices / Marie-Isabelle Pinet

Chronology / Sophie Kerwin

Checklist

Bibliography

Exhibitions

Contributors

Index

Photography credits.

Notes:

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, June 15th - October 14th, 2024, and the Museé du Louvre, Paris, November 13th, 2024 - February 17th, 2025.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780300275780

0300275781

9781935998600 (Clark Art Institute)

1935998609 (Clark Art Institute)

OCLC:

1432333577

Publisher Number:

9780300275780