Overview

Exploring a collection of wondrous objects to understand the nineteenth-century desire to preserve the perfect moment Cultural studies of the nineteenth century often categorize their subjects as being motivated by one of two opposing notions: a wholehearted embrace of progress or an antimodernist nostalgia. A Perfectionist Impulse centers a different kind of response to the period's newly intensified awareness of temporality and history: an obsession with preserving perfection. Engaging a diverse set of case studies, Ellery E. Foutch explores the era's desire to forestall the march of time and immortalize the fleeting moment through art and technology. Beginning with an investigation of artist and naturalist Titian Peale's butterfly illustrations and specimen boxes, Foutch assesses the implications of attempts to fix animal life in the ""perfect state."" She then turns to Harvard's Ware Collection of Glass Flowers, botanical models meticulously crafted to serve as instructional tools but most famous internationally as a spectacle for tourists. Finally, she scrutinizes the period's preoccupation with the fragility of the human body, examining artistic representations of the legendary bodybuilder Eugen Sandow, widely known during his time as the ""Perfect Man."" Highlighting the paradoxical way in which these attempts at preservation ultimately sap the vitality from the organic processes they seek to arrest, Foutch uses these curious objects to unpack a deep set of cultural anxieties around decay and death. By analyzing objects of mass culture and natural history using methods typically reserved for works of art, A Perfectionist Impulse provides a unique window into how nineteenth-century scientists, technologists, artists, and entertainers rendered a common desire for perfection and immortality. Itself a wondrous collection of attempts to capture the idealized moment, this extensively illustrated book serves as a shining example of our enduring fascination with the ephemeral. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.

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9781517916473

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Reviews

""Butterflies, the perfect man, glass flowers: three compelling case studies reveal the centrality of the perfectionist impulse to nineteenth century American life. A book on perfection is an impossible task, yet Ellery E. Foutch has done it; her virtuosic analysis is deeply researched, engaging, and long-awaited."" —Sarah Anne Carter, author of Object Lessons: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Learned to Make Sense of the Material World ""Rarely does one encounter a scholarly work so nimble and pleasurable to read. Crystal-bright and chock-full of fresh takes and revelations, A Perfectionist Impulse bucks the traditional narrative of nineteenth-century America as a culture torn between the ideology of progress and a drive for nostalgia. This book is a truly vibrant contribution to the history of science, education, and popular culture."" —Mark Dion, visual artist and museum provocateur

""Butterflies, the perfect man, glass flowers: three compelling case studies reveal the centrality of the perfectionist impulse to nineteenth century American life. A book on perfection is an impossible task, yet Ellery E. Foutch has done it; her virtuosic analysis is deeply researched, engaging, and long-awaited."" --Sarah Anne Carter, author of Object Lessons: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Learned to Make Sense of the Material World ""Rarely does one encounter a scholarly work so nimble and pleasurable to read. Crystal-bright and chock-full of fresh takes and revelations, A Perfectionist Impulse bucks the traditional narrative of nineteenth-century America as a culture torn between the ideology of progress and a drive for nostalgia. This book is a truly vibrant contribution to the history of science, education, and popular culture."" --Mark Dion, visual artist and museum provocateur

Author Information

Ellery Foutch is associate professor of American studies at Middlebury College.

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