Charles Willson Peale: Art and Selfhood in the Early Republic (Ahmanson Murphy Fine Arts Imprint)

Rating:
Summary: A masterful exercise in balance.
Review: As Peale was a wonderfully typical yet extraordinary Enlightenment man, so David C. Ward reflects these sometimes complex combinations in his multi-layered style. Written with elegant poeticism yet laiden with fact and academic detail, this book is a joy to read. A wonderful balance between autobiographical insight into Peale's character and a scholarly take on 'enlightened' American society, Ward triumphally balances both the subject and the reader's attention. By applying, for example, philosophical insight to his subject, to art and to historical events with seamless ease, Ward makes a great contribution to the study of an age and a man.