Past Exhibition

Romantic Spirits: Nineteenth Century Paintings of the South from the Johnson Collection

August 11–November 6, 2016

Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN 37916

About the Exhibition

The late Clement Eaton once observed that the nineteenth-century romantic spirit, which “subtly permeated the society of the Old South,” was borne out most vividly in the region’s “arts and social manners.” Having had its genesis in Europe, romanticism found its way into the cultural output of the young republic, both North and South. The same ideals that imbued the canvases of the Hudson River School also colored the art of painters who found their inspiration and audience in the American South. A generously illustrated study of thirty-two artists working between 1810 and 1896, Romantic Spirits delineates the historical, social, and cultural forces that profoundly influenced those painters' aesthetic sensibilities. Noted art historian and author Estill Curtis Pennington examines the core concepts of the romantic movement as it unfolded in the American South: the heroic individual, an idealized chivalric code of personal honor, the sublime quality of nature, and the inevitability of change in an imperfect world. The volume also includes insightful biographies on the featured artists, as well as extensive bibliographic resources.

Other Venues

The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA 31906

November 22, 2015–March 6, 2016
Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, Blowing Rock, NC 28605

August 8–November 2, 2015
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC 29601

March 25–May 31, 2015
Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA 31401

July 25, 2014–February 15, 2015
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL 36123

April 10–July 6, 2014
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC 29401

January 16–March 23, 2014
Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA 30901

March 1–May 26, 2013