Publications

The French Academy: Classicism and Its Antagonists

June Hargrove, ed. Newark: University of Delaware Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1990. 231 pages, index.

OUT OF PRINT
This book can be obtained Amazon.com by selecting here.

This volume examines the relationship between the classical ideal and the institution of the academy over three centuries. It demonstrates that the notion of classicism as espoused by "academic" strictures may not be as relentlessly conservative as popularly thought. The essays contribute to the vision of an institution that went through successive mutations as it served as a forum for artistic theory and practice.

Contents:

  • June Hargrove, "Introduction"
  • Antoine Schnapper, "The Debut of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture"
  • Gail S. Davidson, "Nicolas Poussin, Jacques Stella, and the Classical Style in 1640: The Altar Paintings for the Chapel of Saint Louis at Saint-Germain-en-Laye"
  • Henry Millon, "The French Academy of Architecture: Foundation and Program"
  • Haydn T. Mason, "Diderot and French Classicism: Aesthetics in the Theater"
  • Else Marie Bukdahl, "Diderot's Conception of Classical Art and Its Theoretical Foundation"
  • Marian Hobson, "Diderot, the Academy, and Manner"
  • Jean-Pierre Mouilleseaux, "David: A Classical Painter against the Academy and a Teacher of the French School"
  • Antoinette Le Normand-Romain, "The Weight of Tradition"
  • Gerald M. Ackerman, "The Néo-Grecs: A Chink in the Wall of Neoclassicism"
  • David van Zanten, "The Ecole, the Academy, and the French Government Architectural Services"
  • Thomas Gaehtgens, "The Tradition of Antiacademism in Eighteenth-Century French Art"