Rival Sisters, Art and Music at the Birth of Modernism, 1815-1915

Introducing the concept of music and painting as 'rival sisters' during the nineteenth century, this interdisciplinary collection explores the productive exchange-from rivalry to inspiration to collaboration-between the two media in the age of Romanticism and Modernism. The volume traces the relationship between art and music, from the opposing claims for superiority of the early nineteenth century, to the emergence of the concept of synesthesia around 1900. This collection puts forward a more complex history of the relationship between art and music than has been described in earlier works, including an intermixing of models and distinctions between approaches to them. Individual essays from art history, musicology, and literature examine the growing influence of art upon music, and vice versa, in the works of Berlioz, Courbet, Manet, Fantin-Latour, Rodin, Debussy, and the Pre-Raphaelites, among other artists.

'An elegant collection of essays written with breadth and insight on the intersections of music and painting in modernism.' Lydia Goehr, Columbia University, USA

’At once historically grounded and theoretically sophisticated, this book offers new approaches to modernism's paradigmatic "rival sisters".’ Juliet Bellow, American University, USA and author of Modernism on Stage

"An increasing number of scholarly studies have explored the interrelations of music and the visual arts during the nineteenth century...Among the best of recent books on this topic is this collection of essays edited by James H. Rubin and Olivia Mattis." Peter L. Schmunk, Wofford College, USA, H-France Review

James H. Rubin is Professor of Art History and former department chair at Stony Brook University, New York. He is the author of 12 books and over 60 articles focused on nineteenth-century art. Olivia Mattis is a musicologist and co-author of the exhibition catalogue Visual Music. She has curated numerous music-art exhibitions and is a recipient of an NEH Fellowship and an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award.

Introducing the concept of music and painting as 'rival sisters' during the nineteenth century, this interdisciplinary collection explores the productive exchange-from rivalry to inspiration to collaboration-between the two media in the age of Romanticism and Modernism. The volume traces the relationship between art and music, from the opposing claims for superiority of the early nineteenth century, to the emergence of the concept of synesthesia around 1900.This collection puts forward a more complex history of the relationship between art and music than has been described in earlier works, including an intermixing of models and distinctions between approaches to them. Individual essays from art history, musicology, and literature examine the growing influence of art upon music, and vice versa, in the works of Berlioz, Courbet, Manet, Fantin-Latour, Rodin, Debussy, and the Pre-Raphaelites, among other artists.

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