Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette – 3/12/19
Dr. Jeanne Willette unfortunately passed away in early 2019. She supported thousands of students in their exploration of art history during her career and was a valued colleague. This site, Art History Unstuffed, was one of her major contributions to those studying this field. Without Dr. Willette this site is not being updated with new content. While her web master, with support from her two sons, continues to maintain the site for the time being, a new generation of Art Historians is needed to carry the site into the future. If you are interested in participating or have other suggestions for this site, please click here to leave a note.
On line. At your convenience. In your own time. On your own terms.
For too long art history has been held hostage by scholars speaking to scholars and not to people. The purpose of this site is to educate and to inform and to do so with respect to the intelligence of the readers. Designed as a site for serious students of art history in need of solid substantive material, Art History Unstuffed is written for Twenty-First-century learners who prefer reading “text-bytes” and “sound-bytes” of targeted information.
Written by Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette, a published scholar who has researched and consolidated both well-respected classical sources and vetted the latest research, this site creates a middle ground between arcane scholarly jargon and informed discourse and presents a detailed account of Modern, Postmodern, Philosophy and Theory that is accessible to all readers interested in the history of the modern and contemporary periods.
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Art History Unstuffed is listed on the ACI Scholarly Blog Index.
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Episode 34: Painting 1 – Preface to the Avant-Garde
Advanced Guard before the Avant-Garde
There is some historical disagreement over when and where the avant-garde movement in the visual arts began. But it is clear that that the notion that changes in art come from the margins not the center came into existence and began to impact painting by the middle of the nineteenth century. What were the aesthetic and cultural conditions that made the avant-garde possible?
Episode 33: Whistler, Part Three
WHISTLER AND ART FOR ART’S SAKE
Part Three
Whistler was unusual among artists of his time in that he answered back to critics and took pains to establish his own discourse on his own art. His unique way of painting, without the meticulous detail of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, seemed immoral and insulting to the art critic John Ruskin who made accusatory statements about Whistler. Fiercely independent and willing to lose a patron for the sake of his artistic vision, the artist sued when the aging British critic. Although the jury agreed with Whistler on the point of artistic freedom, it gave him only a farthing as a payment. But the publicity shone light on the quarrel over the rights of the avant-garde artists and what the public wanted to enjoy. The resulting trial established a new definition for Modernist art, with Whistler following up with his now-famous “Ten O’Clock Lecture.”
Also listen to “Whistler, Part One” and “Whistler Part Two”
Episode 32: Whistler, Part Two
WHISTLER AND THE PEACOCK ROOM
Part Two
The term “artistic freedom” may seem like a given but for nearly a century after Kant established the principal, “freedom” was rarely practiced. But Whistler took the concept seriously and set out to test it, clashing with the critics, the public, and, most famously with his patron, Frederick Leyland. The Peacock Room was an exercise in art-for-art’s sake and an illustration of the primacy of the will of the artist, who risked all – his reputation, his income, his client – in order to take over an architect’s commission and impose his vision of a total work of art.
Also listen to “Whistler Part One” and “Whistler, Part Three”
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The Construction of a Discourse, 1910-1914
Creating a Culture of Cyber Criticism
Volume One: Blindness (Volume 1)
Dr. Willette is currently completing an entirely new kind of book on design, a book that is multi-modal. Offering multiple modes of output, this book offers the readers several ways of receiving information, slide shows, podcasts, texts and images. The interactive book, Design and the Avant-Garde, 1920-1940, will be divided into several volumes. Volume One will focus on the interconnections between art and design at the fine-de-siècle period, leading up to the creation of “modern” design.