Frank Duveneck

Edited by Julie Aronson
Introduction by Barbara Dayer Gallati
Contributions by Julie Aronson, André Dombrowski , Sarah Burns, Colm Tóibín, Kristin L. Spangenberg, and Elizabeth A. Simmons

Frank Duveneck was one of the most influential and widely respected American artists of the late 19th century. Seeing the bold, confident handling with which he infuses life into his subjects can be breathtaking. Beloved to his students, Duveneck was lauded by many Gilded Age luminaries such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Henry James. Yet a century after his death, he is largely known only for a single, brilliant painting, The Whistling Boy.

By contextualizing his work in the artistic, cultural and social milieus of the time, this volume offers diverse perspectives on Duveneck’s life, work, subjects and reputation. The essays span his beginnings as a painter of dark realism to his later impressionistic work and examine his significance as a printmaker and draftsman. The lavishly illustrated volume includes a chronology and selected bibliography.

An accompanying exhibition Frank Duveneck: American Master will be on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum, December 18, 2020–March 28, 2021.

Author biographies

Julie Aronson is Curator of American Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings, Cincinnati Art Museum
Barbara Dayer Gallati is Curator Emerita of American Art, Brooklyn Museum
André Dombrowski is Associate Professor, Department of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
Sarah Burns is Ruth N. Halls Professor, Department of Art History, Indiana University
Colm Tóibín is an acclaimed author and is Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Kristin L. Spangenberg is Curator of Prints, Cincinnati Art Museum
Elizabeth A. Simmons is Curatorial Research Assistant, Cincinnati Art Museum

Table of contents

1. Foreword
2. Acknowledgments
3. Abbreviations in the Notes and Catalogue
4. Introduction: Duveneck Reconsidered by Barbara Dayer Gallati
5. A Tale of Two Cities: Cincinnati, Boston, and Duveneck’s Reputation by Julie Aronson
6. “Everything Is Moist”: Frank Duveneck and Munich’s Painterly Realism by André Dombrowski
7. A Dangerous Class of Painting: Ugliness, Masculinity, and the Munich Style in Gilded Age America by Sarah Burns
8. Frank Duveneck and Henry James by Colm Tóibín
9. Frank Duveneck and the Etching Revival by Kristin L. Spangenberg
10. Discovering Frank Duveneck’s Drawings by Elizabeth A. Simmons
11. Select Chronology by Elizabeth A. Simmons
12. Signatures and Monograms
13. Catalogue
14. Select Bibliography
15. Photo Credits
16. Index