Title: Some call it Kitsch: masterpieces of bourgeois realism.
Authors: Čelebonović, Aleksa.
Publisher: H. N. Abrams
Year: 1974
Subjects: Kitsch.; Painting, Modern; Academic art
Abstract: Some Call it Kitsch revives the delightful and evocative art our parents and grandparents cherished. These Victorian and Edwardian masterworks were the pride of great museums around the world, and a lightly disguised source of erotic stimulation to their viewers. But after the victory of Impressionism over Academic painting and the rise of "modern" art, these eloquent narrative depicting historical events, mythological scenes, religious tableaux, adn erotic landscapes gradually sank into total disfavor and were relegated to dusty storage bins and dismissed as Kitsch - the epitome of oversentimentality, pretentiousness, and bad taste. Today these paintings are once again taken seriously for their imaginative content and technical brilliance as well as for their nostalgic and often sensual charm. Prices are skyrocketing and exhibitions draw large and enthusiastic crows. Some Call It Kitsch is the first full-scale exploration of Bourgeois Realist painting in terms of present-day critical standards. Among the artists represented are Alma-Tadema (Greek and Roman scenes of splendor and debauchery), Tissot (upper-middle-class high life), Lord Leighton (icily Classical but thoroughly erotic nudes), and Boldini (portraits of Edwardian aesthetes and titled beauties). The author, Aleksa C̆elebonović, is Yogoslavia's leading book publisher and a distinguished art historian. Writing with great perception and wit, he brings to life a group of fascinating painters, some well known today, others forgotten for more than a century. French, German, Italian, English, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, and American artists are represented, the majority for the first time in full color. A valuable feature of the volume is a section devoted to brief biographies of the artists. -- from dust jacket.
Contents: An unrecognized trend -- Bourgeois realism: the art-historical context -- Historical objectivity -- Art as a record of the past -- The reassessment of bourgeois realism -- Bourgeois realism and modern art -- The triumphant middle class -- Eclecticism as the expression of a moral compromise -- Sources and style -- Reality and symbolism -- Photography and art nouveau -- Religion -- A new form of piety -- The influence of positivism -- The temptations of this world -- Devotional pictures -- Torture and mortification -- Religious practice -- The cult of the dead -- Mythology and antiquity -- Objective and subjective realism -- Gesture and eroticism -- Reconstruction of the life of antiquity -- The empire of the night -- The trade in women -- Legend and history -- The vitalist aesthetic -- The pleasure of the senses -- Medieval legend -- Life in fancy dress -- Political trends -- Influence of official history and literature -- Gallantry -- Warlike patriotism -- Panache and jingoism -- Orientalism -- Social and family life -- Formal parties -- Select gatherings -- Love and marriage -- Woman in the home -- The love of children -- The family crises -- Politics, science and the arts -- The portrait -- In evening dress -- In everyday dress -- In the open air -- Meditative poses -- Epilogue.