American Genre Painting The Politics of Everyday Life

In this engrossing study of American genre painting, Elizabeth Johns probes beneath the generalizations of its 'everyday blissfulness' to uncover a darker, more conflicted connection to the American character in the pre-Civil War years. Analyzing works of various antebellum artists, Johns reveals that these paintings did not reflect faith in the common man but rather served to reinforce feelings of superiority among the political and social leaders of America before the Civil War.Johns, Elizabeth is the author of 'American Genre Painting The Politics of Everyday Life', published 1993 under ISBN 9780300057546 and ISBN 0300057547.