Sugaring Off: The Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson

56 pages; 28 color illustrations. The author makes interesting points about Johnson's attempts at metaphor and the enthusiasm, or lack of, by patrons.

From Publisher:

This lovely book provides the first comprehensive examination of Eastman Johnson's vivid paintings of a quintessential New England theme--the making of maple sugar. This series of pictures, executed during the 1860s, is perhaps the most ambitious project in the artist's career.

Brian T. Allen discusses the ways in which Johnson's maple sugar paintings reflect a New England on the edge of vast changes, both in the technology of farming and in the social structures of small communities. He notes how Johnson conveys the tense, shifting relationship that existed between industrial innovation and New England's distinctive brand of community spirit, evident through maple sugar's close association with free labor, as opposed to cane sugar's connection with slavery.

Presented here in full color, Johnson's maple sugar paintings are both a celebration of New England and a commentary on a bygone era.

Product Info

ISBN: 0300103514

ISBN-13: 9780300103519

Publisher: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Year: 2004

Type: Used

Binding: Softcover

First Edition

Seller Info

UltramarineBooks

Address: 44 South Portland Ave Brooklyn, New York

Website: https://www.ultramarinebooks.com

Country: United States