This book discusses the writings of three 20th-century American painters in the context of the historical discourse about inter-art analogies and rivalries. It presents Thomas Hart Benton, Marsden Hartley and Ad Reinhardt as true men of letters whose texts confirm the existence of a strong link between their painterly and writerly dispositions.

This book adds a new perspective to the study of American art by reclaiming underrated writings of three 20th-century masters, Thomas Hart Benton, Marsden Hartley and Ad Reinhardt. Their rich and diverse literary output was never before studied methodically in and beyond the context of their painting. The book's first part sets the necessary framework for discussing their texts by outlining the long history of debates about inter-art analogies and rivalries. Through systematic close reading of Benton's, Hartley's and Reinhardt's writings the study reveals novel and unique juxtapositions of visual and verbal elements at work which are present in both their paintings and writings and confirms the existence of a strong link between their painterly and writerly dispositions.

Autorentext

Edyta Frelik is Assistant Professor in the Department of American Studies at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland. She is a winner of the Terra Foundation for American Art International Essay Prize.

Inhalt

Contents: Pre-Text (Introduction) - Contexts - Ut pictura poesis (overview of debates about inter-art analogies and rivalries) - They Wrote as They Painted (overview of the history of artists' writings) - Case Studies - Thomas Hart Benton - Marsden Hartley - Ad Reinhardt - Conclusion.