The first English-language study of mountains as subject matter and inspiration for the visual arts

The Mountains in Art History is the first English-language work to focus on mountains as subject matter and source of aesthetic and spiritual inspiration for painters. This collection of original essays is written entirely by Wesleyan University students of art history. The essays examine how artistic representation of mountains has varied through the lens of specific depictions in English and American literature, and consider how images of mountains functioned in conjunction with religion, the sublime, and Romanticism. These essays by student authors adeptly ruminate on works by individuals such as William Wordsworth, John Frederick Kensett, Alexander van Humboldt, Emil Nolde, and Arnold Fanck. Includes an introduction by professor Peter Mark and a helpful appendix of the course syllabus and narrative description.

A cultural historian of West Africa, PETER MARK is a lifelong hiker, cross-country skier and mountain climber, and an avid reader and collector of mountaineering literature. He is a professor of art history at Wesleyan University.