Picturing Imperial Power

“Picturing Imperial Power attracts interest by usefully creating a bridge between disciplines; it is well written, well illustrated, and historically intriguing in promising new insights on the well-traversed subject of colonialism.” - Max Quanchi , Journal of World History

“[A] strikingly successful study that will be of lasting interest to historians of Britain and the British Empire and to historians of art.” - David Armitage , Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“[T]he questions that [Tobin] raises in this book, and the attention that she accords to little-known, intriguing material, will undoubtedly enliven the future course of this conversation.” - Chloe Chard , Albion

“The chapter on cultural cross-dressing by British officials in North America would contribute an interesting perspective to either an art hisory or colonial history course. Creative museum curators are also sure to find kernels of provocative exhibitions for works previously relegated to storage.” - Sara Watson Parsons , The Art Book

“Tobin has given us the opportunity to extend our thinking about works that, with few exceptions, are little known even to art historians. Her arguments are provocative and conceptually rich, well-grounded theoretically and supported by substantial and wide-ranging empirical evidence in the form of an impressive array of contemporary sources. This is a must read not only for those engaged in postcolonial studies, but also for art historians and others interested in reformulating traditional approaches to art based on narrowly defined notions of the nation state.” - K. Dian Kriz , CAA Review

“While scholarly in content, these short essays are readable and could be included in an undergraduate syllabus. The volume is crisply edited; many of the essays refer to each other. I highly recommend the volume for college and graduate courses. The essays invite comparison of different regions, in addition to offering intriguing lessons about the multiple ways that identities evolved in the colonial era.” - Deborah Kanter , The Americas

“Picturing Imperial Power offers quite wonderful readings of various visual cultural productions, illustrating beautifully the variety and complexity of British colonialism. A valuable and excellent book.” - Inderpal Grewal, author of Home and Harem: Nation, Gender, Empire and the Cultures of Travel

“Tobin combines an exacting and often lyrical evocation of visual effects in the paintings she considers with the explication of a remarkable range of historical occasions, situations, and transitions. Through her patient accounting of individual images, she opens up wide vistas on the operations of British colonialism while still rendering those operations with dimensionality and great nuance.”
  - Jill Campbell, author of Nature’s Masques: Gender and Identity in Fielding’s Plays and Novels