The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (205 page)
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Greenaway , Kate
(1846–1901).
English artist famous for her illustrations for children's books. Her delicate skill and fragile sentimentality, often imitated but never rivalled, won her many distinguished admirers, including
Ruskin
, and (perhaps for her feeling for flat pattern)
Gauguin
. She often illustrated her own texts, issuing for example a series of
Kate Greenaway's Almanacs
, and her work became so popular that the quaint clothes that are such a feature of her illustrations influenced children's costume.
English artist famous for her illustrations for children's books. Her delicate skill and fragile sentimentality, often imitated but never rivalled, won her many distinguished admirers, including
Ruskin
, and (perhaps for her feeling for flat pattern)
Gauguin
. She often illustrated her own texts, issuing for example a series of
Kate Greenaway's Almanacs
, and her work became so popular that the quaint clothes that are such a feature of her illustrations influenced children's costume.
Greenberg , Clement
(1909–94).
American art critic. With Harold
Rosenberg
he was his country's most influential writer on contemporary art in the post-war years when American painting and sculpture first achieved a dominant position in world art. His approach to criticism is sometimes described as
formalist
, and the artists to whose works he gave the most powerful advocacy were chiefly uncompromising abstractionists—most famously Jackson
Pollock
and David
Smith
, and later the
Post-Painterly Abstractionists
(Greenberg coined this term) and the British sculptor Anthony
Caro
. In painting he laid particular stress on the flatness of the picture surface and the rejection of any kind of illusionistic modelling, and he opposed the mere ‘novelty’ art of painters such as
Rauschenberg
. Although he regarded aesthetic judgements as autonomous, he also believed that history possessed order and purpose (the result of early contacts with Marxism) and this allowed him to endow his ‘disinterested aesthetic’ verdicts on art with a claim for historical certainty. His influence was at its height in the 1950s and 1960s, but thereafter it waned in the face of such developments as
Conceptual art
and
New Figuration
. His best-known book is probably
Art and Culture
(1961), an anthology of his writings; his other books include monographs on
Miró
(1948),
Matisse
(1953), and
Hofmann
(1961).
American art critic. With Harold
Rosenberg
he was his country's most influential writer on contemporary art in the post-war years when American painting and sculpture first achieved a dominant position in world art. His approach to criticism is sometimes described as
formalist
, and the artists to whose works he gave the most powerful advocacy were chiefly uncompromising abstractionists—most famously Jackson
Pollock
and David
Smith
, and later the
Post-Painterly Abstractionists
(Greenberg coined this term) and the British sculptor Anthony
Caro
. In painting he laid particular stress on the flatness of the picture surface and the rejection of any kind of illusionistic modelling, and he opposed the mere ‘novelty’ art of painters such as
Rauschenberg
. Although he regarded aesthetic judgements as autonomous, he also believed that history possessed order and purpose (the result of early contacts with Marxism) and this allowed him to endow his ‘disinterested aesthetic’ verdicts on art with a claim for historical certainty. His influence was at its height in the 1950s and 1960s, but thereafter it waned in the face of such developments as
Conceptual art
and
New Figuration
. His best-known book is probably
Art and Culture
(1961), an anthology of his writings; his other books include monographs on
Miró
(1948),
Matisse
(1953), and
Hofmann
(1961).
Greene , Balcomb
.
.
Greenough , Horatio
(1805–52).
American
Neoclassical
sculptor who spent the greater part of his working life in Italy. He is sometimes said to be the first professional American sculptor and his major work, the colossal marble figure of George Washington (1833–41), was the first important state commission given to an American sculptor. It was originally intended for the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, but is now in the Smithsonian Institution. The seated figure is based on
Phidias
’ celebrated statue of Zeus at Olympia, but the head follows
Houdon's
portrait of Washington—an uneasy mixture of idealism and naturalism. Greenough's work is in general rather stodgy and uninventive, and his writings on art are usually considered more interesting; his views on architecture have been claimed as precursors of modern functionalism. Greenough's brother,
Richard Saltonstall Greenough
(1819–1904), was also a sculptor, best known for his statue of Benjamin Franklin outside Boston City Hall.
American
Neoclassical
sculptor who spent the greater part of his working life in Italy. He is sometimes said to be the first professional American sculptor and his major work, the colossal marble figure of George Washington (1833–41), was the first important state commission given to an American sculptor. It was originally intended for the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, but is now in the Smithsonian Institution. The seated figure is based on
Phidias
’ celebrated statue of Zeus at Olympia, but the head follows
Houdon's
portrait of Washington—an uneasy mixture of idealism and naturalism. Greenough's work is in general rather stodgy and uninventive, and his writings on art are usually considered more interesting; his views on architecture have been claimed as precursors of modern functionalism. Greenough's brother,
Richard Saltonstall Greenough
(1819–1904), was also a sculptor, best known for his statue of Benjamin Franklin outside Boston City Hall.
Greuze , Jean-Baptiste
(1725–1805).
French painter. He had a great success at the 1755
Salon
with his
Father Reading the Bible to His Children
(Louvre, Paris) and went on to win enormous popularity with similar sentimental and melodramatic genre scenes. His work was praised by
Diderot
as ‘morality in paint’ and as representing the highest ideal of painting in his day. He also wished to succeed as a history painter, but his
Septimius Severus Reproaching Caracalla
(Louvre, 1769) was rejected by the Salon, causing him acute embarrassment. Much of Greuze's later work consisted of titillating pictures of young girls, which contain thinly veiled sexual allusions under their surface appearance of mawkish innocence;
The Broken Pitcher
(Louvre), for example, alludes to loss of virginity. With the swing of taste towards
Neoclassicism
his work went out of fashion and he sank into obscurity at the Revolution in 1789. At the very end of his career he received a commission to paint a portrait of Napoleon (Versailles, 1804–5), but he died in poverty. His huge output is particularly well represented in the Louvre, the Wallace Collection in London, the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, and in the museum dedicated to him in Tournus, his native town.
French painter. He had a great success at the 1755
Salon
with his
Father Reading the Bible to His Children
(Louvre, Paris) and went on to win enormous popularity with similar sentimental and melodramatic genre scenes. His work was praised by
Diderot
as ‘morality in paint’ and as representing the highest ideal of painting in his day. He also wished to succeed as a history painter, but his
Septimius Severus Reproaching Caracalla
(Louvre, 1769) was rejected by the Salon, causing him acute embarrassment. Much of Greuze's later work consisted of titillating pictures of young girls, which contain thinly veiled sexual allusions under their surface appearance of mawkish innocence;
The Broken Pitcher
(Louvre), for example, alludes to loss of virginity. With the swing of taste towards
Neoclassicism
his work went out of fashion and he sank into obscurity at the Revolution in 1789. At the very end of his career he received a commission to paint a portrait of Napoleon (Versailles, 1804–5), but he died in poverty. His huge output is particularly well represented in the Louvre, the Wallace Collection in London, the Musée Fabre in Montpellier, and in the museum dedicated to him in Tournus, his native town.
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