Republic of Taste – Art, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America Kelly

Republic of TasteArt, Politics, and Everyday Life in Early America\nAuthor(s): Catherine E. Kelly\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, United States\nImprint: University of Pennsylvania Press\nISBN-13: 9780812248234, 978-0812248234\nSynopsis\nSince the early decades of the eighteenth century, European, and especially British, thinkers were preoccupied with questions of taste. Whether Americans believed that taste was innate-and therefore a marker of breeding and station-or acquired-and thus the product of application and study-all could appreciate that taste was grounded in, demonstrated through, and confirmed by reading, writing, and looking. It was widely believed that shared aesthetic sensibilities connected like-minded individuals and that shared affinities advanced the public good and held great promise for the American republic.\n Exploring the intersection of the early republic's material, visual, literary, and political cultures, Catherine E. Kelly .