Dabbs Julia - May Alcott Nieriker Author And Advocate Travel Writing And Transformation In The Late Nineteenth Century - Hardcover

Binding: Hardcover
Description: May Alcott Nierike Author and Advocate examines in - depth the writings on art and travel by the youngest sister of famed novelist Louisa May Alcott. Like other American women in the later nineteenth century May was unable to receive the advanced training and exhibition opportunities in the US a that she needed to become a notable professional painter due to her gender. An additional obstacle for Alcott Nieriker was her family's insecure financial status making it difficult to travel or study abroad for training. Fortunately following Louisa's early publishing success May was able to make three trips to London and Paris to immerse herself more fully in the art world and eventually attained the prestigious honor of having two paintings accepted into the Paris Salon. However the book argues that Alcott Nieriker's main contributions to cultural history were not necessarily her artistic creations but rather her publications on travel and art specifically four articles for the Boston Evening Transcript and an 1879 guidebook Studying Art Abroad and How To Do It Cheaply. The book examines the art and travel writings of May Alcott Nieriker from three distinct but interrelated perspectives: (1) how Alcott Nieriker's writings both relate to and yet stand apart from standard travel writing of the later nineteenth century; (2) how Alcott Nieriker's travel writings smartly interweave art criticism and social as well as cultural advocacy including her concerns about the lack of access to free museums in the US a; and (3) how Alcott Nieriker's writings critique the social and cultural norms of the day in respect to equal opportunity for women artists and in turn seek to empower women of modest means to navigate these obstacles and pursue careers as professional artists. In addition the book provides more insight in general to the fields of nineteenth - century American art and art criticism travel writing gender studies and American cultural studies. In sum May Alcott Nieriker's writings a number of which are republished here for the first time since the 1870s deserve further attention and interpretation because her texts give voice to critical social and cultural concerns of the nineteenth century such as gender and class discrimination that still resonate today.
Title: May Alcott Nieriker Author And Advocate Travel Writing And Transformation In The Late Nineteenth Century
Author(s): Dabbs Julia
Publisher: Anthem Press
Barcode: 9781785278648
Pages: 232 Pages
Publication Date: 3/1/2022
Series: Anthem Studies in Travel
Category: Literature: History & Criticism