Nineteenth Century American Painting

256 pp. With 230 reproductions, including 60 in color. Although Mr. Flexner concedes the charm and talents of the naive artists of the period--in particular Porter, Hicks, Field and Elmer--he challenges the widely held view that they were more "American" than more sophisticated painters or, indeed, genuine folk artists. He finds much to admire in those artists of Indian life and the frontier: Catlin, Bodmer and Miller.