Princeton and the Gothic Revival investigates America's changing
attitudes toward medieval art around the turn of the twentieth century
through the lens of Princeton University and its role as a major patron
of Gothic Revival art and architecture. Johanna Seasonwein charts a
shift from eclecticism to a more unified, "authentic" approach to
medieval art, and examines how the language of medieval forms was used
to articulate a new model of American higher education in campus design
and the classroom.
The catalog for an exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum,
Princeton and the Gothic Revival breaks new ground by addressing why
universities, and Princeton in particular, were so effective at bringing
together what had been disparate interests in the Middle Ages.
Revivalists and Medievalists were often at odds, yet at Princeton they
used the language of the Middle Ages to create a new identity for the
American university, one that was steeped in the traditions of Oxford
and Cambridge but also embraced the model of the German research
university.
Princeton and the Gothic Revival provides an overview of Princeton's
Romanesque and Gothic Revival architecture and examines the changing
approach to the idea of the "Gothic" by looking at three Princeton
buildings and their stained glass windows: the Marquand Chapel, Procter
Hall at the Graduate College, and the University Chapel.