Wednesday 29 October 2008 New Book Celebrates cultural legacy of Joan of Arc

Publication of this highly illustrated book accompanied the major exhibition Joan of Arc: Her Image in France and America, which opens at the Corcoran Gallery of Art Washington DC in November, 2007. The exhibition celebrates the cultural legacy of this 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. Nearly half a century later, at the peak of her popularity, the Catholic Church canonized her in 1920.

Born in Domremy, France, around 1412, Saint Joan’s extraordinary life has engaged generations of historians, writers, artists and—most recently—Hollywood film producers. This full-colour book, published on the occasion of Corcoran Gallery of Art’s exhibition, is the first to explore the history of Joan’s image in both 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.

Leading art historian Nora M. Heimann explores the history of Joan’s image in France from the 15th century to 1920. Heimann demonstrates that where Joan’s image appears—from public monuments to bottles of perfume—it is nearly always tied to political events and to debates around the relationship between Church and State.

European art expert Laura Coyle examines Joan’s image in America in the later 19th and early 20th century, from the Gilded Age (c1870s) through to the period immediately following World War I. Drawing on works from Mark Twain’s apologist biography and the Ringling Brothers enormous “Spectacles” to U.S. War Bond posters and Hollywood movies, Coyle shows how these images of Joan suited America’s preoccupation with self-reliance, feminism, patriotism, and self-sacrifice.

Coyle includes the history of the commissioning of the Gallery’s remarkable series of paintings of Joan’s life by the French artist and book illustrator Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel. The paintings, commissioned by Senator William A. Clark were done between 1903 and 1911. Boutet de Monvel had illustrated an immensely popular deluxe picture book Jeanne d’Arc, published in France and American in 1896, and this was the precursor to these paintings. Both Coyle and Heimann assess the reasons why de Monvel’s images of Joan were so widely admired on both sides of the Atlantic.

The volume includes a Bibliography and index.

The Authors:
Nora M. Heimann is associate professor and chair of the Department of Art at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She is a leading historian in the iconography of Joan of Arc, and the relationship between art and politics. Her most recent publications include “The Princess and the Maid of Orléans: Sculpting Spirituality during the July Monarchy,” in Joan of Arc and Spirituality (New York, 2003), and Joan of Arc in French Art and Culture (1700-1855): From Satire to Sanctity (Aldershot, 2005).

Laura Coyle, formerly curator of European Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, is now proprietor of an art services company, CURATOR-AT-LARGE. Her publications include The Shape of Color: Joan Miro’s Painted Sculpture (with William Jeffett; London,2002) and “Life Stilled: Still-Life Paintings in the Kreeger Collection,” in The Kreeger Collection (Washington, DC, 2006).


JOAN OF ARC HER IMAGE IN FRANCE AND AMERICA
Nora M. Heimann and Laura Coyle
80 pages, 9” x 7 1/2” (191 x 229mm)
70 colour and 20 black-and-white illustrations, hardback with colour dust jacket
Text: Up to 15,000 words
ISBN: 1 904832 19 9 (10 digit); 978 1 904832 19 5 (13 digit)

Price: US$24.95/UK£12.95
Publication date: January 18th, 2007
Publisher: D. Giles Limited, London

Distributed in the UK and Rest of World (excluding US and Canada) by
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For Further Information and Review Copies:
In the UK contact:
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For Illustrations and Interviews:
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC:
Tel: 1 202 639 1867
Fax: 1 202 639 1779
High-resolution digital images are available to the press via the Corcoran’s Press Image Site on http://www.corcoran.org

About the Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran is a major center of both historic and contemporary American art in Washington DC. Founded “for the purpose of encouraging American Genius,” the Corcoran’s extensive collection of 18th, 19th, and 20th century art represents most significant American artists, as well as a substantial European representation. While continuing its efforts to represent historic American works, the gallery also encourages modern European and American artists by showing and purchasing their work, paying particular attention to artists in the Washington area.