History of American Painting - Volume Three: That Wilder Image

Excellent book on the history of 19th-century American art. Flexner is infectiously enthusiastic about the subject, and has put together a very readable, very informative work.

Sadly, the book has been out of print since the late 80s (originally published in 1962) and the pictures (at least in my 1970 paperback copy) are in black and white. However, it is easy enough to get a cheap copy used and I'm sure a majority of the pictures are available online in color. It could also use a little updating, as, for example, Church's Heart of the Andes is no longer "obscured with grime as it hangs unloved on the walls of the Metropolitan Museum". But the appreciation and criticism contained herein is still valid, and the book deserves its place on the bookstore shelf.

I do have to feel for poor Flexner; he argued first and convincingly that the "Rocky Mountain School" of Bierstadt and Moran should be considered distinct from the "Hudson River School" of Cole and Church, yet the most recent Hudson River School book (although a rerelease from the 70s), American Wilderness, has a Bierstadt on the cover. I guess he lost that argument.