author
John C. Van Dyke
1856–1932
A lively early voice in American art history, he wrote about painting, nature, and the American landscape in a way that welcomed general readers as well as students. His books helped shape how many people looked at art in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
7 Audiobooks
A Text-Book of the History of Painting
by John C. Van Dyke
The meaning of pictures : Six lectures given for Columbia University at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
by John C. Van Dyke
The Mentor: Angels in Art, Vol. 1, Num. 40
by John C. Van Dyke
The Mentor: Rembrandt, Vol. 4, Num. 20, Serial No. 120, December 1, 1916
by John C. Van Dyke
The Mentor: The National Gallery—London, Vol. 4, Num. 4, Serial No. 104, April 1, 1916 Great Galleries of the World
by John C. Van Dyke
The desert : Further studies in natural appearances
by John C. Van Dyke
About the author
Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1856, John C. Van Dyke studied at Columbia and spent years in Europe before turning from law toward art, criticism, and writing. He became one of the early academic figures in American art history and served as the first professor of art history at Rutgers.
Van Dyke wrote widely on painting and aesthetics, but he was not limited to museum subjects. He also published books on the desert and the American West, bringing the same close attention to landscape that he brought to art. That mix of scholarship and vivid description helped make his work appealing to both serious readers and the broader public.
He died in 1932, leaving behind a body of work that reflects a formative period in American cultural life. Today he is remembered as an art historian, critic, educator, and author who helped introduce many readers to ways of seeing both art and nature more carefully.