Joseph Wright of Derby
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Painter of Darkness
Matthew Craske
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Format: HardcoverPrice: $60.00
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A revelatory study of one of the 18th century’s greatest artists, which places him in relation to the darker side of the English Enlightenment
Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), though conventionally known as a ‘painter of light’, returned repeatedly to nocturnal images. His essential preoccupations were dark and melancholy, and he had an enduring concern with death, ruin, old age, loss of innocence, isolation and tragedy.
In this long-awaited book, Matthew Craske adopts a fresh approach to Wright, which takes seriously contemporary reports of his melancholia and nervous disposition, and goes on to question accepted understandings of the artist. Long seen as a quintessentially modern and progressive figure – one of the artistic icons of the English Enlightenment – Craske overturns this traditional view of the artist. He demonstrates the extent to which Wright, rather than being a spokesman for scientific progress, was actually a melancholic and sceptical outsider, who increasingly retreated into a solitary, rural world of philosophical and poetic reflection, and whose artistic vision was correspondingly dark and meditative.
Craske offers a succession of new and powerful interpretations of the artist’s paintings, including some of his most famous masterpieces. In doing so, he recovers Wright’s deep engagement with the landscape, with the pleasures and sufferings of solitude, and with the themes of time, history and mortality.
In this book, Joseph Wright of Derby emerges not only as one of Britain’s most ambitious and innovative artists, but also as one of its most profound.
Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797), though conventionally known as a ‘painter of light’, returned repeatedly to nocturnal images. His essential preoccupations were dark and melancholy, and he had an enduring concern with death, ruin, old age, loss of innocence, isolation and tragedy.
In this long-awaited book, Matthew Craske adopts a fresh approach to Wright, which takes seriously contemporary reports of his melancholia and nervous disposition, and goes on to question accepted understandings of the artist. Long seen as a quintessentially modern and progressive figure – one of the artistic icons of the English Enlightenment – Craske overturns this traditional view of the artist. He demonstrates the extent to which Wright, rather than being a spokesman for scientific progress, was actually a melancholic and sceptical outsider, who increasingly retreated into a solitary, rural world of philosophical and poetic reflection, and whose artistic vision was correspondingly dark and meditative.
Craske offers a succession of new and powerful interpretations of the artist’s paintings, including some of his most famous masterpieces. In doing so, he recovers Wright’s deep engagement with the landscape, with the pleasures and sufferings of solitude, and with the themes of time, history and mortality.
In this book, Joseph Wright of Derby emerges not only as one of Britain’s most ambitious and innovative artists, but also as one of its most profound.
Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Matthew Craske is reader in art history at Oxford Brookes University.
“A bold, punchy thesis, sure to ruffle academic feathers, and one that Craske, a reader in art history at Oxford Brookes, has been mulling for some time”—Alistair Sooke, The Daily Telegraph
“In this beautifully illustrated volume Matthew Craske takes a fresh approach to one of Britain’s most exceptional and profoundly thoughtful painters.”—Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times ‘Best Art Books of the Year 2020’
“The “darkness” identified in the subtitle of this perception-shifting book was in the artist’s personality as well as on the canvas.”—Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times 'Best Art Books of 2020'
ISBN: 9781913107123
Publication Date: November 24, 2020
Publishing Partner: Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Publication Date: November 24, 2020
Publishing Partner: Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
368 pages, 9 1/2 x 11
195 color + b/w illus.
195 color + b/w illus.
