20世纪之交见证了夜曲和夜景在美国艺术中的诞生和流行。在这本**的，发人深省的书中，赫莲•瓦朗斯（HélèneValance）研究了为何当下的艺术家和观众对夜晚如此着迷。《夜曲》通过当时占主导地位的科学发展和社会问题的视角审视了詹姆斯•麦克尼尔•惠斯勒，柴尔德•哈桑，温斯洛•荷马，弗雷德里克•雷明顿，爱德华•史提琴和亨利•奥萨瓦•坦纳等艺术家的作品。瓦朗斯认为，这种类型的成功和夜晚与影响时代的众多因素之间的共鸣有关，其中包括扩大了可见范围的技术进步，例如电照明和摄影；吉姆•克劳（Jim Crow）–种族关系；美国封闭边界和在国外的帝国主义；以及在快速的城市化进程中，人们对身份和社会价值日益严重的担忧。这项引人入胜的研究包括150幅插图，包括绘画，照片，版画，科学插图，广告和流行媒介，以探索人们对作为时代标志的夜晚意象的偏爱。

he book presents a series of new works produced by Adel Abdessemed for the MAC’s/Museum of Contemporary Arts in Grand-Hornu.

The Algerian-born French artist Adel Abdessemed (b. 1971) works in a wide variety of media including animation, installation, performance, sculpture, and video; through his art he addresses contemporary themes and he reflects the bleak picture of the present day.   His works, unsettling in their simultaneous beauty and raw reality, have made Abdessemed one of the most visible international artists of our time. This volume is composed of two distinct parts, each showcasing and examining one of two series of brand new, site-specific works created by Abdessemed for the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Grand-Hornu and the Musée d’Art Contemporain in Lyon.