Background
Neil, J. Meredith was born on June 2, 1937 in Boise, Idaho, United States. Son of Carl Hurst and Ellen Addie (Hurt) Neil.
(Colonial America is generally considered to have been a "...)
Colonial America is generally considered to have been a "cultural desert" whose pioneering occupants were too involved in mere survival to be concerned with the "finer things" of life. Not until the mid-nineteenth century, it is assumed, did the American renaissance begin to produce a body of fine arts distinctively American in taste. J. Meredith Neil suggests, in this scholarly study of American attitudes toward the arts in the early national period, that this popular "pioneer fiction" has obfuscated what was actually taking place - a clear shift from European neoclassical traditions of "good taste" toward a proto-romanticism more supportive of American nationalism and in accord with the demonstrated American determination to be fully independent in all areas. Approaching art history from the American viewpoint, Neil has thoroughly examined contemporary periodicals as well as the writings and unpublished papers of selected national leaders, such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, for expressions of opinion on subjects ranging from architecture and interior decorating through the fine arts to the "grand tour." It becomes clear that, in most fields, Americans had moved a long way toward a nationally distinctive taste as early as 1815. Thus, America's "aesthetic pioneers" appeared at least a generation before Emerson and Greenough, who are usually thought to be the cultural pathfinders. Neil's view that taste and art are not necessarily linked, and that taste must be defined in the context not only of artistic tradition but of the social and political settings that nurture it, adds a refreshing point of view to this thoughtful reassessment of America's cultural development.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082480340X/?tag=2022091-20
Neil, J. Meredith was born on June 2, 1937 in Boise, Idaho, United States. Son of Carl Hurst and Ellen Addie (Hurt) Neil.
Bachelor of Arts, Yale University, 1959. Master of Science, University of Wisconsin, 1963. Doctor of Philosophy, Washington State University, 1966.
Assistant professor history Sam Houston State College, Huntsville, Texas, 1966-1967. Associate professor American studies University Hawaii, Honolulu, 1967-1972. Executive director Idaho Bicentennial Commission, Boise, 1972-1976.
Guest lecturer art history University Victoria, British Columbia, 1976-1977. City conservator Seattle, 1978-1981. Director Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, Wyoming, 1983-1989.
Realtor White-Riedel & Company, Boise, Idaho, 1992—2000.
(Colonial America is generally considered to have been a "...)
(Book by Neil, J.M.)
(First Edition)
Board directors KTWO Community Advisory Board, Casper, 1984-1985, Boise Allied Arts Council, 1975-1976, Idaho Historic Sites Review Board, 1974-1979. Member Wyoming Council Arts, 1985-1989. Member Boise City Historic Preservation Commission, 1997—2002.
Member Morey's Club (New Haven).
Married Virginia Mary Bivens, August 16, 1958 (divorced July 1992). Children: John-Marcus Moore.