Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Memorial Exhibition of the Work of Abbott Handerson Thayer
Appreciation of the work of Abbott Thayer is heightened if we regard it in perspective, taking into consideration the state of American art when he began his career. Inness, La Fargo, Whistler, Vedder, and Winslow Homer were all his seniors. But he was more closely allied to them than to the men of his own generation. There was a decisive moment in the history of American art in which an old point of view gave place to a new one. It fell in the '7o's, when we discovered Europe for purposes of training. We went in for craftsmanship then, an object which many of us have pursued ever since. This choice has promoted precious gains, but they have been more favorable to the development of representative art than of creative art; the 7 o's ushered in the triumph of the brilliantly painted morceau. Thayer, who was nothing if not a man of original genius, made his own choice and it ran counter to the prevailing tide though he, too, was nominally swept into that tide. Proceeding to Paris in 1875, when he was twenty-six years old, he joined in the search after craftsmanship, yet preserved intact the almost antithetical spirit which, as I have said, allies him to the seniors aforementioned.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
