The Sweet Life: Julius LeBlanc Stewart and Painting the Belle Epoque - Hardcover

by James W. Tottis (Editor), Michael Crane (Contribution by), William DeGregorio (Contribution by)

An entirely new exploration of the life and career of the expat American artist Julius LeBlanc Stewart (1855-1919), who spent nearly all his life in Paris, and whose oil paintings feature in private collections and those of many major museums on both sides of the Atlantic.

Stewart's paintings are highly engaging and attractive, covering a broad cross-section of later nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American Expat Parisian high society, its genteel past-times, and travel, in a style of painting that was uniquely his own, and that was lauded in both Europe and America. This new volume presents over seventy major paintings, pastels and drawings across thematic sections, with a new introduction to Stewart's life, career, and world through essays by major specialists on nineteenth and early twentieth century American art and history.

The authors look variously at Stewart's early career and training at the École des Beaux-Arts, his later tutelage under French and Spanish masters, Eduardo Zamacoïs, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Raimundo Madrazo, his family's involvement in the production of sugar; then the world of the American Expat society in which Stewart circulated, and the evolution Stewart's later style, in the mid 1880s towards multi-figured, narrative scenes of his family, friends and meticulous depictions of their costumes; then for a brief period later the sensuous Arcadian nudes bathed in sunlight, celebrating the attributes of Diana and the Bachenates. Collectively these provide the first major exploration of Stewart's world and work with, new contribution to our understanding of the importance and legacy of his art, and his advocation for his community of fellow American artists in France.

Author Biography

James W. Tottis is a museum consultant and former curator of American Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Valerie Ann Leeds is an independent scholar and curator.

Barbara Dayer Gallati is curator emerita of American Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY.

Jacqueline Francis is professor and dean, Humanities and Sciences Division, California College of the Arts.

Michael Craneis, past curator for the Detroit Institute of Arts, and currently the curator of Collections at the Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit, MI.

Vincent DiGirolamo is an associate professor of history at Baruch College of the City University of New York.

William DeGregorio is the associate curator, The Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Campbell Mobley is a curator at Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, FL.