With its stunning coastlines, mountains, lakes, forests, and scenic villages, New England has been an inspiration for American artists since the 19th century. This lively book considers the
ways in which painters have responded to the region’s summer beauty as well as to its social and cultural preoccupations and characteristics. Works by such artists as Fitz Henry Lane, John
Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Hans Hofmann, Andrew Wyeth, Alex Katz, and Yvonne Jacquette depict subjects as wide ranging as the bucolic
delights of farms and fields to the atmospheric light of New England’s rugged coasts to the ethnic and social diversity of urban street life.
Painting Summer in New England highlights the various styles and influences revealed in these works, including photographic realism, Impressionism, Expressionism, and
abstraction. In addition, Trevor Fairbrother discusses the tremendous array of works covered by the concept of “painting” and the remarkable richness of thematic imagery that can be seen
and understood as “New England.”
This engaging book is a delightful and invaluable resource for those who live in or are admirers of New England and American art.