The Glamour of Strangeness

Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic

Biography & Memoir, Artists, Architects & Photographers, Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Art History
Cover of the book The Glamour of Strangeness by Jamie James, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jamie James ISBN: 9780374711320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: August 9, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Jamie James
ISBN: 9780374711320
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: August 9, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

From the early days of steamship travel, artists stifled by the culture of their homelands fled to islands, jungles, and deserts in search of new creative and emotional frontiers. Their flight inspired a unique body of work that doesn't fit squarely within the Western canon, yet may be some of the most original statements we have about the range and depth of the artistic imagination.

Focusing on six principal subjects, Jamie James locates "a lost national school" of artists who left their homes for the unknown. There is Walter Spies, the devastatingly handsome German painter who remade his life in Bali; Raden Saleh, the Javanese painter who found fame in Europe; Isabelle Eberhardt, a Russian-Swiss writer who roamed the Sahara dressed as an Arab man; the American experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, who went to Haiti and became a committed follower of voodoo. From France, Paul Gauguin left for Tahiti; and Victor Segalen, a naval doctor, poet, and novelist, immersed himself in classical Chinese civilization in imperial Peking.

In The Glamour of Strangeness, James evokes these extraordinary lives in portraits that bring the transcultural artist into sharp relief. Drawing on his own career as a travel writer and years of archival research uncovering previously unpublished letters and journals, James creates a penetrating study of the powerful connection between art and the exotic.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From the early days of steamship travel, artists stifled by the culture of their homelands fled to islands, jungles, and deserts in search of new creative and emotional frontiers. Their flight inspired a unique body of work that doesn't fit squarely within the Western canon, yet may be some of the most original statements we have about the range and depth of the artistic imagination.

Focusing on six principal subjects, Jamie James locates "a lost national school" of artists who left their homes for the unknown. There is Walter Spies, the devastatingly handsome German painter who remade his life in Bali; Raden Saleh, the Javanese painter who found fame in Europe; Isabelle Eberhardt, a Russian-Swiss writer who roamed the Sahara dressed as an Arab man; the American experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, who went to Haiti and became a committed follower of voodoo. From France, Paul Gauguin left for Tahiti; and Victor Segalen, a naval doctor, poet, and novelist, immersed himself in classical Chinese civilization in imperial Peking.

In The Glamour of Strangeness, James evokes these extraordinary lives in portraits that bring the transcultural artist into sharp relief. Drawing on his own career as a travel writer and years of archival research uncovering previously unpublished letters and journals, James creates a penetrating study of the powerful connection between art and the exotic.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Bringing Down the Colonel by Jamie James
Cover of the book The Second Son by Jamie James
Cover of the book The Habit of Art by Jamie James
Cover of the book The Equity Culture by Jamie James
Cover of the book Funny How Things Change by Jamie James
Cover of the book The Fellowship by Jamie James
Cover of the book Cut Me Free by Jamie James
Cover of the book Genesis by Jamie James
Cover of the book Camouflage by Jamie James
Cover of the book Everything That Rises Must Converge by Jamie James
Cover of the book The Shadow Society by Jamie James
Cover of the book The Laws of our Fathers by Jamie James
Cover of the book Hooking Up by Jamie James
Cover of the book Fresh Complaint by Jamie James
Cover of the book Lockdown by Jamie James
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy