Pastoral Inventions : Rural Life in 19th-Century American Art and Culture

In the nineteenth century, the theme of American country life in art and literature permeated the culture at all levels. The noble yeoman, the beauty and order of the farm, and the simple dignity of agrarian labor were cherished icons of national character among increasingly urbanized and industrialized Americans. In Pastoral Inventions, Sarah Burns proposes a new interpretation of American pastoral landscapes and depictions of rural life. Challenging earlier views of the meaning of agrarian themes, her vivid portrayal of nineteenth-century American art, culture, and society argues that these pastoral images, which bore little resemblance to the reality of rural life, performed an important but little-recognized role in support of urban, capitalist, and middle-class cultural dominance in American society.

Focusing on the period from 1830 to 1900, Burns examines contemporary literature, theater, criticism, sermons, travelers’ accounts, autobiography, and social commentary to evaluate and "decode" the art of William Sidney Mount, Eastman Johnson, Winslow Homer, Currier and Ives, and others of lesser fame. At first reflecting a nostalgia for the past as well as an indictment of the evils of city life, pastoral images at mid-century implicitly reinforced Northern ideology, while images of the noble yeoman evolved into humorous portrayals of American farmers as bumpkins and peasants in support of the intellectual and cultural advantages of urban centers. Later in the century, nostalgic images of old homesteads and country children expressed the cultural anxieties of a rapidly changing society.

With 157 illustrations, Pastoral Inventions demonstrates the important role played by American pictorial art in creating and perpetuating visual equivalents to ideas and beliefs about rural life that even today remain deeply embedded in American culture.

This study, examining how 19th century American artists "masked and blunted social realities even as they exalted cultural values and ideals," primarily concerns itself with how art conveys--and falsifies--history. A professor at the School of Fine Arts of Indiana University, Burns surveys historical data and sources such as poetry, diary entries and sermons from the period 1830-1900 to illuminate how pastoral art by William Sidney Mount, Winslow Homer and others acted primarily to reinforce an outmoded but still cherished ideal of natural harmony, refusing to portray farm life as it had become by this era: big business. Displayed alongside the familiar "pastoral inventions" of Currier and Ives and the Hudson River School, the little-known black-and-white illustrations unearthed by Burns from journalistic sources (e.g., Harper's ) are not offered as an alternative 19th century tradition, but rather as documentary evidence of grueling agrarian reality. Academically dry in tone, confined in approach and repetitious in argument, Burns's case is presented conscientiously but breaks little new ground.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Many contemporary Americans consider the pining for an idealized country life a relatively recent phenomenon, but Burns corrects this view. From 1830 to 1900, vignettes created by such artists as William Sidney Mount and Winslow Homer expressed a widespread yearning for the innocent, innately good, and idyllic rural world that was to fill a void in the "psyche" of the urbanized, industrialized Northeast. Burn separates fiction from reality, identifies key symbols like the old geezer and the ancient homestead, and compares 19th-century anxieties with those of the 20th century. The text and 157 black-and-white illustrations in this scholarly offering blend beautifully. Recommended for strong American art and history collections.
- Kathleen Eagen Johnson, Historic Hudson Valley, Tarrytown, N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.