Description
Book SynopsisCharles Willson Peale (1741-1827) produced an unparalleled body of work, including the iconic The Artist in His Museum. He was a revolutionary soldier, a radical activist, an impresario of moving pictures, a natural historian, an inventor, and the proprietor of one of the first modern museums. This book presents his autobiography.
Trade Review"A masterly portrait, and an interpretive tour de force." - Charles C. Eldredge, author of Tales from the Easel "This is an invaluable critical study of Charles Willson Peale - clear, erudite, and imaginative. Ward shows what went wrong as well as right in Peale's lifelong attempts at self-fashioning, giving us a richer picture than ever before of this restless American figure." - Alexander Nemerov, author of The Body of Raphaelle Peale; "One of the hallmarks of public life after the Revolution was the desire of notable Americans to fashion their own enduring reputations. This exquisite book lucidly and compellingly investigates how Charles Willson Peale expressed and controlled his image. David C. Ward takes us on a remarkable journey through the labyrinth of a major artist's evolving self-consciousness during the early Republic." - Paul Staiti, Mount Holyoke College"
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface. Charles Willson Peale: This New Man Part I "Why Not Act the Man?" 1. Forgeries: Charles Willson Peale and His Father 2. "This Faint Spark of Genius": Fortune, Patronage, and Peale's Rise as an Artist 3. "Application Will Overcome the Greatest Difficulties": Work, Career, and Identity in Peale's Art and Life Part II "I Scrutinize the Actions of Men" 4. A Good War and a Troubled Peace: Charles Willson Peale's Search for Order, 1776-94 5. "The Medicinal Office of the Mind": The Peale Museum's Mission of Reform, 1793-1810 6. "The Hygiene of the Self": Work, Writing, and the Enlightened Body Part III "It Would Seem a Second Creation" 7. The Struggle against Dispersal: Work, Family, and Order in Peale's Family Portraits 8. "I Bring Forth into Public View": Peale's SecularApotheosis in The Artist in His Museum Notes Index
