Naming of America

Joan of ArcHer Image in France and America

Nora M. Heimann and Laura Coyle

Published by GILES in association with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Joan of  Arc - Book cover

Joan of  Arc - Double page spread

Joan of  Arc - Double page spread

Publish Date — November 2006 (UK and USA)

Dimensions — 80 pages, 191mm x 229mm (9 x 7 1/2 in.), landscape

Illustrations — 70 colour and 30 b&w illustrations

Hardback price — UK£12.95/US$24.00

ISBN — 1-904832-19-9

ISBN — 978-1-940832-19-5

Book Details (pdf) — Joan_of_Arc_ai.pdf

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Press Release — New Book Celebrates cultural legacy of Joan of

Sales Points

Presents major new research on the history and wider context of the portrayal of Joan of Arc in France and America

Draws on a huge range of carefully researched images of Joan of Arc, many never seen before, from museum, libraries and archives in France and the U.S.

An invaluable resource for those interested in the cultural legacy of Joan of Arc

About the Book

Joan of Arc: Her Image in France and America celebrates the cultural legacy of a medieval French heroine who led the armies of her nation to victory against the English, who was tried on charges of heresy, and who was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. Two decades after her death, her trial was reopened and the court reversed the verdict. But it was not until the pinnacle of her popularity, nearly 500 years later, that the Catholic Church canonized her.

Born in Domremy, France, around 1412, Saint Joan endures as one of the most famous people of the Middle Ages, and her extraordinary life has engaged generations of historians, writers, artists and—most recently—Hollywood film producers, many of whom have used her image to stir an astonishing array of passions. This highly illustrated book, published on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, is the first to explore the history of Joan’s image both in France and the United States. For several centuries representations of Joan have reflected the historical contexts in which they were created, and have been used to promote a huge variety of political, cultural and religious views. These range from icons of martial ascendancy and nationalist unity to paragons of humble piety and maidenly purity, supporting both the power of the people, and the divine right of kings.

About the Author(s)

Nora M. Heimann is associate professor, Department of Art at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and guest curator, European Paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She is a leading art historian and teacher of art theory, and previous publications include Joan of Arc in French Art and Culture: From Medieval Maiden to Modern Icon (2004), and Inheritors of a Legacy: Charles Lang Freer and the Washington vant-Garde(1999). Laura Coyle, formerly curator of European Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. is an independent scholar.