George Inness and the Visionary Landscape

by Adrienne Baxter Bell

The American landscape painter George Inness (1825-1894) was one of the most thoughtful and inventive artists of his generation. George Inness and the Visionary Landscape presents both a concise overview of Inness's life and work and a focused examination of his philosophical and religious preoccupations. It shows how Inness, inspired by the ideas of the scientist-mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688- 1772), devised a new artistic vocabulary to convey his understanding of the personal visionary experience. Moreover, it reveals commonalities between Inness's prescient work and efforts by the psychologist- philosopher William James (1842-1910) to validate mystical states of mind. It explains for the first time how Inness treated landscape painting as a form of philosophical inquiry that could communicate his holistic belief in the unity of nature and spirit. Full-color and black-and-white reproductions throughout

Genres: Art, Art History, History

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[John]

Excellent book describing the visionary approach G. Inness used and believed in during the 1800's, he was a brilliant light in the darkness of that century. Beautiful plates of his wonderfully sensitive work that I enjoyed seeing.

[nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

the section on Inness's attachment to Swedenborg was particularly good