For more than a century, a Gilded Age mansion on the south side of New York City's Gramercy Park has been home to the National Arts Club (NAC), its magnificent interior a refuge from hectic city life. In this special catalog, Lowrey, curator of the club's permanent collection, documents selected works by Artist Life Members, artists who were given lifetime memberships in the club in exchange for one of their works (the program ended in 1950 with the advent of the abstract expressionists). The father of well-known American sculptor Alexander Calder, Alexander Stirling Calder, was an Artist Life Member, and his sculpture of the painter George Bellows is among the many artworks included here. Also featured are an A-to-Z listing of Artist Life Members and a brief history of the NAC. The catalog section includes full-color reproductions and descriptions of the artworks as well as brief biographies of the artist. Many members' works show European influences, particularly impressionism and the Barbizon school, while others are distinctly American, as in the Ash Can school. A fine and fitting tribute to the NAC legacy that will be of interest to club, academic, and large public libraries. 75 colour & 175 b/w illustrations

Defining an artistic era or movement is often a difficult task, as one tries to group individualistic expressions and artwork under one broad brush. Such is the case with impressionism, which culls together the art of a multitude of painters in the mid-19th century, including Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, Degas, and van Gogh. Basically, impressionism involved the shedding of traditional painting methods. The subjects of art were taken from everyday life, as opposed to the pages of mythology and history. In addition, each artist painted to express feelings of the moment instead of hewing to time-honoured standards. This description of impressionism, obviously, is quite broad and can apply to a wide array of styles. Nonetheless, it remains a very important school in the annals of art. Any current or budding art aficionado should become familiar with the impressionist movement and its impact on the art world. This book presents a sweeping study of this artistic period, from its origins to its manifestations in the works of some of art history's most revered painters. Following this overview is a substantial and selective bibliography, featuring access through author, title, and subject indexes.

A native Midwesterner's timeless portrayals of a fragile sanctuary The Indiana Dunes Revealed offers the first comprehensive examination of a widely collected, much loved, and ecologically significant artist. Described by art historian William Gerdts as "one of the finest painters working in the Midwest in the first decades of the twentieth century," Frank V. Dudley (1868-1957) was a native of Wisconsin who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before going on to establish a long exhibition record both there and across the country. He also dedicated over forty years of his professional life as a landscape painter to the promotion and preservation the Indiana Dunes. Today, thanks in part to Dudley's efforts, this unique geographical region enjoys state and federal protection and provides ecologists from around the world with a living laboratory unlike anything else. The Indiana Dunes Revealed serves as the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition of Dudley's work showing from August 15 to November 30, 2006 at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University. Featuring 150 color and 70 black-and-white images, it celebrates Dudley's unique artistic legacy, documents the exhibition, and demonstrates the painter's importance to environmentalists and naturalists, especially during the many years of national debate over the designation of parts of the dunes as a national park. In some areas, Dudley's painting may be the only record of a lost dunescape, and as the struggle between development and preservation continues, his enduring art reminds us of the need for a sustainable environment for the Great Lakes.