The panorama
"Invented in 1788, the panorama reached the height of its popularity at the time of the 1900 Universal Exhibition. Designed to be viewed from centrally placed platforms, these vast circular canvases were installed in purpose-built rotundas in major European and American towns, and attracted an admiring public." "This illustrated book surveys the wide variety of panoramas created in both the Old and New Worlds, from the medium's invention down to the present day. Included among views of cities are Robert Barker's groundbreaking panorama of Edinburgh, as well as depictions of Paris, Rome and Constantinople. Vistas of the Mississippi and Congo rivers are also illustrated. Among historical themes, the Crucifixion, the history of the nineteenth century and crucial moments in military campaigns proved especially popular. Bernard Comment explores these subjects as well as theoretical aspects of the panorama's history, suggesting how their makers expanded upon concepts latent in the earlier history of landscape painting."--Jacket
History
272 pages : illustrations (some color), facsimiles (some color), plans ; 28 cm
9781861891235, 9781861890429, 1861891237, 1861890427
827936614
1. The London Panoramas: From Leicester Square to the Colosseum
2. The Paris Panoramas: From Prevost to Langlois
3. Panoramas of Germany, Switzerland and the United States before 1870
4. Variations: From the Diorama to the 'Moving Panorama'
5. The New Generation, 1870-1900: The Great Exhibitions
6. Prefigurations
7. Supporters and Detractors: The Ideal Landscape
8. Representation/Illusion: A Theory of the Frame
9. The Limits of Illusion
10. From Near/From Far Away
11. What Public?
12. Memory Created: Experience Replaced
13. The Individual in the Town: Compensation and Control
14. Panoramism and Panopticism
15. Views Including Rotundas
16. Cross-sections, Elevations, Orientation Plans and Advertisements
17. Evolution and Variations
18. Panoramic Canvases, Drawings, Studies and Prints
A Genealogy of the Panorama
Revised & expanded translation of: Le XIXe siècle des panoramas, 1993