American picturesque

"The picturesque, as defined by John Conron, is America's first aesthetic, one that permeated all aspects of the nation's culture during the nineteenth century. Twenty years in the making, this book presents the picturseque as the common thread holding together American art, architecture, landscape architecture, and literature. Focusing on the peak years of the aesthetic, 1830-1880, Conron shows how the picturesque transformed not only American perceptions but also American spaces.". "American Picturesque offers a magisterial account of the concept of the picturesque and its manifestation in many aspects of nineteenth-century American life. Conron's study ranges over the entire phenomenon, tracing the development of the picturesque aesthetic in genre, landscape, and topographical painting, rural cottages and villas."--BOOK JACKET.