Lauren S. Weingarden has been awarded a Publication Grant from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association to cover image permission costs for her forthcoming academic book, A ‘Neuroarthistory’ of Nineteenth-Century Painters: Embodying Baudelairean Modernity. Routledge will publish the book in its “Science and the Arts since 1750” series in 2024.

A “Neuroarthistory” of Nineteenth-Century Painters: Embodying Baudelairean Modernity takes a transdisciplinary approach—combining art history, literary studies, and neuroaesthetics—to examine the modern urban experience of nineteenth-century Paris through language and images of fragmentation and transformation. “Using this multifocal lens, I reformulate our understanding of Haussmannization (after Paris urban designer Georges-Eugène Haussmann), when nineteenth-century Parisians witnessed the demolition of their old city and its rebuilding as a modern metropolis,” said Weingarden. “The book will shed new light on the responses of writers, most importantly Charles Baudelaire, and visual artists, such as Edouard Manet, who theorized this modernity and reflected upon its impact.” Her project, she said, also demonstrates how current methods of neuroscience can be employed to reconstruct the lived, embodied experience of nineteenth-century Paris, thus building upon and reframing more traditional historical analyses of this transformative chapter in European modernity.

“I am grateful to the Textbook & Academic Authors Association for awarding me $300 to pay for images and permissions required for the book publication,” she said. “This is a particularly challenging time for independent academic authors. Academic presses have shifted manuscript preparation (editing, indexing) and the related costs from in-house processing to the authors. Art museums have outsourced their rights and reproduction licensing to commercial entities, making the costs of acquiring rights and images exorbitant. Given these challenges, I am extremely indebted to the TAA for providing financial relief. Thanks to this grant, I have been able to reach the finish line in preparing the manuscript of A “Neuroarthistory” of Nineteenth-Century Painters in time for publication in 2024.”

TAA Publication Grants provide reimbursement for eligible expenses directly related to bringing an academic book, textbook, or journal article to publication. Apply for a TAA Publication Grant. The next deadline is October 31, 2024.