Reynolds' new masterpiece : from experiment in savagery to icon of the eighteenth century | Macquarie University ResearchOnline

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Title: Reynolds' new masterpiece : from experiment in savagery to icon of the eighteenth century
Related: Cultural and social history, Vol. 7, No. 2 (2010), p.191-212
DOI: 10.2752/147800410X12634795054612
Publisher: Berg Publishers
Date: 2010
FoR/RFCD Code(s): 210300 Historical Studies
Author/Creator: Fullagar, Kate
Description: Joshua Reynolds' 1775 portrait of Mai [Omai], the first Pacific Islander to visit Britain, has attracted much public attention since 2001, when it sold for a near record-breaking £10.3 million. Omai's recent celebrity is based on the view that it is not only an 'icon' of British art but also of crucial significance as a reminder of an enlightened world we have lost. The critical heritage of Reynolds' Omai, however, indicates a rather more complex aesthetic and historical assessment. This article analyses the sources of the disjuncture between past judgements and today's soaring esteem. In doing so, it introduces for comparison another much-neglected Reynolds portrait of a New World traveller, entitled Scyacust Ukah.
Description: 22 page(s)
Subject Keyword: 210300 Historical Studies
Subject Keyword: Joshua Reynolds
Subject Keyword: Mai [Omai]
Subject Keyword: Ostenaco
Subject Keyword: savagery
Subject Keyword: portraiture
Resource Type: journal article
Organisation: Macquarie University. Dept. of Modern History, Politics and International Relations

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