The New York Market for French Art in the Gilded Age, 1867–1893

Abstract

A lively, informative and meticulously researched empirical consideration of the American taste for nineteenth-century French art in the Gilded Age, Leanne M. Zalewski’s volume is a worthy and welcome contribution to the body of existing scholarship on the topic. Focusing on the post-Civil War period, the volume examines the American enthusiasm for contemporary French academic painting and the creation of a commercial and museal infrastructure that allowed the market for it to flourish. A fundamental question underpinning the book is that of the philanthropic endeavours of the collectors under scrutiny, together with their role and that of their collections in the formation of the institutions that have shaped New York’s cultural landscape. One of the many strengths of the volume lies in its clear chronological chapter structure, which expertly traces the rise of the taste for French academic art and its ultimate demise in favour of Impressionist works. The introductory chapter introduces the key research questions and positions the study within the body of existing research. Taking as a starting point the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, the second chapter analyses the critical and often scathing reception of American art, and the overall perceived failure of the American contribution to the exhibition. The episode was a catalyst for the American taste for French Salon paintings; the chapter sheds intelligent light on its pivotal importance in the changing commercial fortunes of French contemporary paintings and the voracious appetite of outre-Atlantique collectors for acquiring them. The third chapter offers an examination of the commercial networks of exchange that underpinned purchases, and the dealers who facilitated such transactions. While the chapter adequately considers key auction sales and the impact of taxation on the fortunes of French academic art in America, the reader is nevertheless left wanting to know more about the relationships between dealers and artists, a topic that is almost entirely skimmed over.