{"product_id":"art-and-the-higher-life-painting-and-evolutionary-thought-in-late-nineteenthcentury-america-9780292765719","title":"Art and the Higher Life: Painting and Evolutionary Thought in Late Nineteenth-Century America","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs the nineteenth century drew to a close  many Americans were deeply troubled by the theories of Charles Darwin  which contradicted both traditional Christian teachings and the general view of human supremacy over nature  and by an influx of foreign immigrants  who challenged the supremacy of the old Anglo-Saxon elite. In response  many people drew comfort from the theories of British philosopher Herbert Spencer  who held that human society inevitably develops towards higher and more spiritual forms. In this illuminating study  Kathleen Pyne explores how Spencers theories came to influence a generation of American artists. She shows how the painters of the 1880s and 1890s  particularly John La Farge  James McNeill Whistler  Thomas Dewing and the Boston school  and the impressionist painters of the Ten  developed a kind of art that was dedicated to social refinement and spiritual ideals and to defending the embattled position of the Anglo-Saxon elite of which they were members. Linking visual culture to the problematic conditions of American life  the book thus offers a radically new interpretation of the most important trends in late nineteenth-century American painting. It will be of interest to a wide interdisciplinary audience in American intellectual  social  and art history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651511214133,"sku":"ByrdShop_0292765711","price":168.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780292765719.jpg?v=1781835301","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/art-and-the-higher-life-painting-and-evolutionary-thought-in-late-nineteenthcentury-america-9780292765719","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}