George Inness: A Catalogue Raisonne (2 volumes)

During his time, George Inness (1825–1894) was considered the leading American landscape painter. Today he is ranked among the greatest American artists. The fifty years between his first exhibited painting in 1844 and his last in 1894 were years of constant artistic growth. Always open to new ideas, ever pushing himself to improve, he steadily gained the ability to put more evocative feeling into his classic interpretations of the American landscape.

This catalogue raisonné of Inness’s drawings, watercolors, and paintings makes available many works that have never before been exhibited or published and vividly illustrates the wide range of his art. Individual entries for each work are based on the author’s direct study and research. The entries discuss technique, relation to other works, history, artistic interpretation, and significance. New attention to Inness’s drawings, watercolors, and oil paint sketches reveals the everyday development of his ideas. The major works are discussed in great detail, with full literature citations for further research. Numerous large color plates draw attention to Inness’s remarkable talents as a colorist, in his celebrated depictions of sunrise and sunset, summer afternoons and autumn splendors. These and other large black-and-white reproductions convey the force of his frequently dramatic middle-period landscapes of storms clearing off and the serene balance of his late masterworks.

Each volume includes a general introduction to Inness’s stylistic and thematic trends, his changing patronage, significant events in his life, contemporary influences, and changes in his technique and style. In addition, introductions to the works of each decade discuss the works and the developments during that decade in greater detail. These essays also draw conclusions about Inness’s intentions in related works and, when appropriate, the spiritual vision he brought to particular landscapes.

A deserved tribute to an artist who stands as a central figure in the development of American painting during the late nineteenth century, this definitive catalogue will serve as the foundation for all future interpretations of this great artist’s work, as well as an essential source for those interested in American landscape painting.

Michael Quick has had a lengthy museum career, including seventeen years as a curator of American art and department head at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has published significant studies on topics in American art, notably on the artists George Inness, Frank Duveneck, and George Bellows.