The document provides an overview of art and visual culture in America from 1900-1930. It discusses the Ashcan School artists who sought to depict urban reality in the early 20th century. It also covers the emergence of modernism through exhibitions like the Armory Show. Major developments included the rise of cinema, photography addressing social issues, and Art Deco style in the 1920s reflecting the exuberance of the postwar era.
1. A visit to America 20+ years of the 20 th Century Introduction to American Art and Visual Culture – Lecture 3
2. Defining ‘modern’ ‘ modernization’ – artists are reacting to dominant traditions and change occurs in reaction to industry, urbanization, technology, and nationalism. ‘ modernism’ – the culture that emerged in the 19c that includes the ideas, beliefs and modes of perception which formed a movement to reject convention. Contemporary?
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4. It is December 31, 1899… you can make one wish for the 20 th century. What would you wish for if you could go back in time?
6. Art Schools in 1900 Chicago Art Institute 1879 Art Student’s League NYC 1875 Harvard 1874 (Charles Elliot Norton) National Academy of Art and Design, NYC 1825 Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia 1805
7. The “Eight” [Ashcan School] • unified by subject matter rather than style • 1908 exhibition Arthur Davies William Glackens *Robert Henri Ernest Lawson *George Luks *Maurice Prendergast Everett Shinn *John Sloan
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9. The critics said: ” Apostles of Ugliness” “ pictures of [garbage] cans”
10. Why do art styles seem to move forward through reaction to a previous style. Is this strategy still possible in the 21c?
11. Ashcan School Defining an American Style The Ash Can School was more revolutionary in its subject matter rather than its style. The Ash Can school artists sought to paint "real life" and urban reality. These artists believed what was real and true in life was what was beautiful and what constituted "art." They painted gritty urban scenes and the poor and disenfranchised in America.
23. John Sloan (1871-1951) Dust Storm on 5 th Avenue (1906) In 1906, the leading Ashcan artist Sloan moved with his wife to quarters on New York's West 23rd Street, a block and a half west of Madison Square and the renowned Fuller ("Flatiron") Building. On June 10, 1906, Sloan noted in his diary: "In the afternoon, walking on Fifth Avenue, we were on the edge of a beautiful wind storm, the air full of dust and a sort of panicky terror in all the living things in sight." A day later, he had begun to paint the scene, emphasizing the hurly-burly elicited by the swirl of dust. Sloan also tells a story about the city's growth. Indeed, it was the presence of the Flatiron Building—completed in 1902 and the only skyscraper in a low-rise neighborhood—that created the wind-tunnel effect in Madison Square that Sloan described.
52. Louis Sullivan 1856- 1924 Defining American Architecture an American architect , who has been called the "father of modernism ." He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper , was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School , was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright , and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School .
75. Most Significant in Becoming “Modern” in America 1913 Armory Show in NYC that brought European Avant-Garde to America
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77. Most Significant in Becoming “Modern” in America Alfred Stieglitz, his magazine “Camera Work,” and his exhibitions at 291 Gallery of Matisse, Picasso, Rodin, and Cezanne Read more at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_9_89/ai_78334694/ Picasso and Braque Exhibition (1915)
78. Most Significant in Becoming “Modern” in America Duchamp’s antics Read more: http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/27/duchamp.php
80. Charles Sheeler Marsden Hartley Man Ray (Radnitsky) Frank Stella Georgia O’Keefe Arthur Dove
81. Photography had a new use…it was used to call attention to social issues Progressive Photography
82. Child Labor The 1890 census revealed that more than one million children, ten to fifteen years old, worked in America. That number increased to two million by 1910. Industries employed children as young as five or six to work as many as eighteen to twenty hours a day.
It was the pinnacle of efforts by the National Guard and local strike-breakers under the command of the Rockefeller family to suppress a strike of twelve thousand workers Issues concerning labor had dogged the United States for many years preceding World War I and had resulted in widespread strike action, especially in the West of the country. Tensions rose to a melting point when a union activist was killed in late 1913 resulting in workers at the Rockefeller family owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation’s (CF+I) going on strike. Miners evacuated the coal camps on September 23rd in protest against low wages, poor working conditions and continued victimization of union activists. This was to mark the beginning of what was to be a harsh seven months of continued brutality and repression at the hands of their bosses.
A further acquaintance with Vuillard and Bonnard placed him firmly in the postimpressionist camp. He developed and continued to elaborate a highly personal style, with boldly contrasting, jewel-like colors, and flattened, patternlike forms rhythmically arranged on a canvas. Forms were radically simplified and presented in flat areas of bright, unmodulated color. His paintings have been aptly described as tapestry-like or resembling mosaics. A trip to Venice in 1898 exposed him to the delightful genre scenes of Vittore Carpaccio and encouraged him toward even more complex and rhythmic arrangements. He also became one of the first Americans to espouse the work of Cézanne and to understand and utilize his expressive use of form and color.Prendergast typically painted people involved in leisurely activities. At the Armory Show in 1913, he displayed seven works that showed his stylistic maturity. Although he predominantly worked in watercolors, he began using oils in his later career. He also produced a large number of monotypes between 1891 and 1902.