Reconsidering GérômeScott Allan, Mary G. Morton Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904) was an undisputed professional success during his lifetime. Crowds flocked to see his vividly rendered historical and Orientalist compositions, and thanks to the mass marketing of his work through mechanical reproduction, he reached audiences on an unprecedented scale. From the outset, however, his success met with critical hostility. Émile Zola, champion of Édouard Manet, dismissed Gérôme as a cynical manufacturer of anecdotal images for popular consumption--a critique repeatedly echoed by historians of modern art. In light of revisionist and postmodern trends over the past four decades, however, Gérôme's work is now being approached with unprecedented seriousness and refreshing creativity. The ten essays in this volume go far in challenging critical biases against the artist and suggesting new avenues of research. These papers indeed suggest that we are just beginning to learn how to "read" Gérôme's paintings in their full complexity. |
Common terms and phrases
1859 And cAesAR Abdülaziz Ackerman aesthetic anecdotal artist atelier audience Ave Caesar Bashi-Bazouks beaux-arts Belvedere Torso Boulanger Castagnary century cinema Claudine Mitchell cliché clues collection composition contemporary corpse costume critics crowd culture Dancing Death of Caesar Delaroche depicted Dolmabahçe Palace École EMERSON BOWYER Émile Zola EMILY BEENY emperor essay ethnographic realism exhibited Exposition universelle Fanny Field Hering figure film France French Gautier note genre Gerald Gérôme’s painting gladiator GÜLRU ÇAKMAK Gustave Moreau Hering's history painting Ibid Istanbul Jean-Léon Gérôme Léon Gérôme Levant Herald Linda Nochlin Marc Gotlieb Marshal Ney Michelangelo modern Musée Museum narrative nineteenth nineteenth-century Oil on canvas Omphale Orient Orientalist Ottoman Empire Ottoman palace painter painting’s Paris Paul Delaroche peintre Peter Cooke photograph photogravures plate political Pollice Verso published Quo Vadis reproduction Roman scene Scott Allan sculpture senator Snake Charmer spectacle studio Sultan Théophile Gautier Torso trans Vestals viewer vols York Zeybeks