sga art history

Art in the 21st Century: "Identity" (part 2)

2010-05-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

Kerry James Marshall
Kerry James Marshall was born in 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama, and educated at the Otis Art Institute in California, where he received a bachelor of fine arts degree and an honorary doctorate. The subject matter of his paintings, installation s and public projects is often drawn from African American popular culture and rooted in the geography of his upbringing: “You can’t be born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1955 and grow up in South Central (Los Angeles) near the Black Panthers’ headquarters, and not feel like you’ve got some kind of social responsibility,” says Marshall. In his Mementos series of paintings and sculptures, Marshall pays tribute to the civil rights movement, with mammoth printing stamps featuring bold slogans of the era (e.g., “Black Power!”) and paintings of middle-class living rooms where ordinary black citizens tend a domestic scene populated by the ghosts of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and other heroes of the 1960s. Marshall’s work evokes a broad range of art history, from the grand tradition of narrative Renaissance painting to black folk art. A striking aspect of Marshall’s work is the emphatically black skin tone of his figures that he thinks is really beautiful. Marshall lives in Illinois, where he is an instructor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Before Viewing
Make a list of those things that are connected to their identity (e.g., people, experiences, race, religious values, interests, objects, places). Another way of asking this question is, “What makes you, you?”

After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• Marshall says he wants to “reclaim the image of blackness as an image of power.” What do you think he means and how does he try to do this?
• What do you learn about Marshall’s identity from this segment?
• Marshall says that he is either working with a set of conventions that have already been established or he is working against a set of conventions. Pick at least two works by Marshall that you saw in the video and tell which view you think they express and why.
• Do you think artists look at works in a museum differently than other people? How so? What connections exist between art of the past and the work Marshall is doing today?
• What inspired Marshall to create comic strips? How are Marshall’s comic books different from other comic books?
• What social responsibilities does Marshall assume? What social responsibilities do you have?

• For more information on Kerry James Marshall, see www.carnegieinternational.org/html/art/marshall.htm

Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911. She studied art at various schools there, including the Ecole du Louvre, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Académie Julian, and Atelier Fernand Léger. In 1938, she emigrated to the United States and continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York. Though she began as an engraver and painter, by the 1940s she had turned to sculptural work, for which she is now recognized as a twentieth-century leader. Greatly influenced by the influx of European Surrealist artists who immigrated to the United States after World War II, Bourgeois’s early sculpture was composed of groupings of abstract and organic shapes, often carved from wood. By the 1960s she began to execute her work in rubber, bronze and stone, and the pieces themselves became larger and more referential to what has become the dominant theme of her work — her childhood. The anthropomorphic shapes her pieces take—the female and male bodies are continually referenced and remade—are charged with sexuality and innocence and the interplay between the two. Bourgeois’s work is in the collections of most major museums around the world. She lives in New York.

Before Viewing
Discuss with students: Is it necessary to understand the artist’s meaning in a work of art in order to appreciate it? (Bourgeois herself has said, “A work of art doesn’t have to be explained. If it doesn’t touch you, I have failed.”)

After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• Bourgeois has said, “I am not what I am. I am what I do with my hands.” Discuss the meaning of this statement and reflect on why you think hands are such an important element in Bourgeois’s work.
• As a student at the Sorbonne, Bourgeois studied mathematics and geometry. How is this knowledge reflected in her work?
• Bourgeois states that it might be true that an artist has “something in them that either refuses or is unable to grow up.” What do you think she means by this?
• What is Bourgeois’s concern in putting her sculpture outside in a public setting? How does she resolve this issue?
• Develop a list of materials one might use for a sculpture. Compare and contrast the characteristics of each of these materials. Tell which you would select for a self-portrait and why.

Images on the Web
• Eyes at www.metmuseum.org/collections/view1.asp?dep=21&full=0&item=1986%2E397
• The Nest at www.sfmoma.org/collections/recentacquisitions/macollbourgeois.html
• Ste. Sebastienne, second version, State VI at www.moma.org/docs/collection/printsbooks/c48.htm
• The Blind Leading the Blind at www.walkerart.org/resources/resmsgmapframe.html

Art in the 21st Century: "Identity"

2010-05-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

Identity, from the PBS series "Art:21"

The theme: the questions “who am I?” and “who are we?” are central throughout our lives. Viewers are introduced to the varied artistic explorations of Maya Lin as she considers the degree to which she is an artist or architect, having achieved national fame as a young graduate student when her now famous design was selected for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Kerry James Marshall’s paintings and installations emerge from and reflect his deep ties to family as well as his lifelong study of art history. Louise Bourgeois’s work examines the importance of memory as a foundation of identity. The densely psychological videos, sculptures and installations of Bruce Nauman consider the relationships among artist, viewer and society.

The opening: The opening is a collaboration between comedian, writer and art collector Steve Martin and artist William Wegman. Wegman graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art with a bachelor of fine arts (painting) degree and then enrolled in a painting and printmaking program at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where he received a master of fine arts degree. After teaching at various universities, Wegman became interested in other media and began to explore photography and the then infant medium of video. While living in California, Wegman began a long collaboration with his weimaraner dog, Man Ray, who became a central figure in his work and renowned worldwide for his endearing deadpan presence. In 1972, Wegman and Man Ray moved to New York and continued to collaborate for another 12 years. In 1986, Wegman acquired a new dog, Fay Ray, and began another famous collaboration, marked by Wegman’s use of the Polaroid 20x24 camera. With the birth of Fay’s litter in 1989 and her daughter’s litter in 1995, Wegman’s cast grew.

Questions for Before viewing:
Who am I? How do we show others who we are? Do we have a single identity?

After viewing:
What makes the opening of this program funny?
What role do the dogs play?
What role does Steve Martin play as host, and how does this compare to the personality of other television hosts, for example, on game shows or the news?
What kind of identity do these hosts project?

What are some ways in which people express their identity? In literature? In music? In clothing? In their homes?

Each of the individuals featured in this program is identified as an artist. What makes someone an artist?

How do the artists’ identities come through in their art?

Compare and contrast Lin and Nauman with respect to how their different cultural backgrounds might affect their work.

All artists tell us something about themselves in their work. Compare the art of Marshall and Bourgeois with respect to how their art reflects their lives.

BRUCE NAUMAN
Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bruce Nauman has been recognized as one of the most innovative and provocative of America’s contemporary artists. Nauman finds inspiration in the activities, speech and materials of everyday life. Confronted with what “to do” in his studio soon after graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of California at Davis, Nauman had the simple but profound realization that if “I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art .” Working in sculpture, video, film, printmaking, performance and installation, Nauman’s art centers less on the development of a characteristic style and more on the way in which a process or activity can transform or become a work of art. The text from an early neon work proclaims, “The artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.” Whether or not we—or even Nauman—agree with this statement, the underlying subtext of the piece suggests the way in which the audience, artist and culture at large are all implicated in the resonance a work of art will have. Nauman lives in New Mexico where in addition to making art, he breeds and trains quarter horses.

Before Viewing
Much of Nauman’s work emerges from his daily life experiences. At any given moment he is likely to be working on a number of different pieces in a variety of media. Assign students the task of trying to learn as much as they can about Nauman’s life simply by watching this segment. This will mean paying careful attention and may require more than one viewing.

After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• What are the ways in which Nauman makes you, the viewer, pay attention?
• Were you paying attention? List the different media Nauman works in and discuss the connections, if any, among them. How do you think the use of varied media affects his view of himself as an artist as well as other people’s view of him as an artist? Is it important for society to be able to categorize an artist? Why or why not?
• Discuss Nauman’s statement: “Whatever I was doing in the studio must be art.” Is this statement different from “If I am in the classroom, then whatever I am doing must be educational”? Defend your views.
• Nauman remarks that “accidents keep it real.” In general, what role do you think accidents play in art? How do you reconcile his interest in accidents with his statement that “You have to be clear about what you are trying to do?”

Images on the Web
• Vices and Virtues at stuart collection.ucsd.edu/nauman/index.html
• Double Poke in the Eye II at www.kemperart.org/perm.html

MAYA LIN
Born in 1959 in Athens, Ohio, Maya Lin catapulted into the public eye when, as a senior at Yale University, she submitted the winning design to a national competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be built in Washington, D.C. Writing about the memorial, a black granite wedge that emerges from and disappears into the ground, she says it “does not force or dictate how you should think. In that sense it’s very Eastern. . . . It reflects me and my parents.” Her father was the dean of fine arts at Ohio State University, and her mother, Julia Chang Lin, is a professor of literature at Ohio University. “As the child of immigrants you have that sense of ‘Where are you? Where’s home?’” notes Lin, “and of trying to make a home.” Trained as an artist and architect, Lin’s sculptures, parks, monuments and architectural projects are linked by a common ideal of making a place for individuals within the landscape. She draws inspiration from culturally diverse sources including Japanese gardens, Hopewell Indian earthen mounds and works by American Earth-artists of the 1960s and 1970s

Before Viewing
Since Lin is probably best known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, find out what students think about the memorial as a means of providing identity to the soldiers who died in the war. Discuss these questions: What is a memorial? What should a memorial achieve? What must an artist consider in designing a monument?

After Viewing
To Think About and Discuss
• Select any sculpture, architecture or memorial by Lin and analyze how you think it expresses her identity.
• Lin works in varied media. Discuss why you think artists do this and how it benefits them rather than working in a single medium.
• How does Lin use shape to define a landscape? Compare her three-dimensional landscapes with a traditional landscape painting with respect to the use of color, space, shape, light and line.
• Lin describes art as “everything you have ever known and everything you’ve ever done somehow percolating up with ideas you might want to explore.” What do you think she means by this? Give an example from her work seen in the segment.
• How is Lin’s skating rink different from ones you know?
Images on the Web
• Topologies at www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/maya/index.html
• To learn more about Maya Lin and her work, go to www.greatbuildings.com and use the Search feature under either Architects or Buildings.

The Feminist art movement (1960s-80s), an overview

2010-05-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Feminist art movement (1960s-80s), an overview: (Click on images to view them full-size)

It is an indisputable fact that women have always played some role as artists in the past. The significance or extent of that contribution at specific times was usually inhibited by male domination over social behavior, taste and value. So although individual women have contributed a great deal to the history of art, they have usually suffered undeserving neglect of their accomplishments. With the freeing of women politically through suffrage and the consequential progress made in accessing formerly male domains, such as business and sports, they are being recognized for the quality of their art along with that of male artists. The early phase of this recognition took the form of appreciating women's domestic arts on as high a level as that of the graphic, sculptural and architectural arts. Exhibits in museums, galleries and private spaces helped to accomplish the assessment of women's domestic arts as “fine art”. Now, as a matter of course, they are accepted and recognized in all media by the quality of their creations. Judy Chicago (b. 1939) and Miriam Schapiro (b. 1923) were two important co-founders of the Feminist Art Movement (1960s) in San Diego.

Feminist artists deal with many issues in their work: stereotypes about women; issues of gender, discrimination, society's expectations for women, violence against women, etc. They also explored many questions: Do women have a different way of sharing their experiences in life than men? Are men and women intrinsically different? What does equality with men look like? What does it mean to be “female”? It also became clear over time that: not all feminists had/have the same goals; not all women artists are feminist artists; not all art by feminist artists is feminist.

Much of the feminist art was collaborative (strength in numbers), and much of it was meant to be offensive in order to get people's attention and confront inequality, past wrongs and present-day committed against women, and to let the world know what women (as individuals and as a group) wanted. And by creating large, colorful artwork with explicit, offensive, and/or provocative subject matter, women also broke free from the constrictive restraints that society had bound them in for so long. Moreover, if the pieces were ugly or made the viewer uncomfortable, it was because many of the pieces dealt with ugly subject matter: rape and domestic violence were shameful, whispered words at that time. One main goal of this art movement was to raise awareness about these crimes and enact changes to protect women.

Many feminist artists were simply striving to have their voices heard, to correct injustice and work toward a more equal society- one where women aren't taken advantage of, aren't spoken down to, are given the same opportunities as men, are taken seriously, etc. Of course, many feminist artists took the movement “too far” by calling for a reversal of gender roles, desiring a society that was ruled by women, with the men being subservient; others went so far as to say men weren't needed at all and we'd be better off without them. Obviously this is not the solution to the problem of inequality between the sexes, but it is important to remember that this movement is the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of years of, for the most part, men exerting forceful control over women; there was a lot of pent-up anger.

“From the beginning until the 1970s, the women's art movement challenged the entire valuative system of American Modernism: the feminist art movement reclaimed craft, insisted on the importance of content, contested the mythology of history, favored collective over individual production, asserted a place for the autobiographical, and, perhaps most radically, refuted the idea that art is ever neutral or universal because the movement discovered that the voice previously called universal was actually nothing more than the voice of a Euro-American man.” - Laura Cottingham, critic

Miriam Schapiro was a NY-based abstract expressionist field painter before she moved to Southern California in the late 1960s to teach art at UCSD. While she and Judy Chicago were teaching there, they helped female students to restructure an old house into a completely feminine environment. These artist-teachers' interests had been aroused by the long history of women's beautiful and often intricate designs or patterns for domestic applications, such as sewing, weaving, and crocheting. Wanting to bring attention to this long-neglected domestic art tradition, Schapiro began to make abstract and semi-representational collages of women's craft and needlework materials. She called these “femmages”. These works, beyond their qualities as art, may be interpreted as analogies or symbols of the long-devalued role of women's arts in general. Schapiro continued through the 1980s and 1990s to create lively, colorful images, usually with discernible but sometimes ambiguous content. Many are related to searches for self-identity and melancholy at the gradual dissolution of the women's movement using metaphorical images of other female artists of the past such as Mary Cassat, Berthe Morrisot, and the Mexican artist Freda Kahlo, along with her own. Above left, “Heartland”, 1985. What kinds of "feminine" crafts are combined in this image? How is this image "feminine"?

Judy Chicago is an extremely influential and well-known artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans four decades.

In the early seventies after a decade of professional art practice, Chicago pioneered Feminist Art and art education through a unique program for women at California State University, Fresno, a pedagogical (academic) approach that she has continued to develop over the years. She then brought her program to Cal-Arts, where she team-taught with Miriam Schapiro, producing with their students the ground-breaking Womanhouse project.

In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the subject of women's history to create her most well-known work, The Dinner Party, which was executed between 1974 and 1979 with the participation of hundreds of volunteers. This monumental multimedia project, a symbolic history of women in Western Civilization, has been seen by more than one million viewers during its sixteen exhibitions held at venues spanning six countries.

The principal component of The Dinner Party is a massive ceremonial banquet arranged in the shape of an open triangle—a symbol of equality—measuring forty-eight feet on each side with a total of thirty-nine place settings. The "guests of honor" commemorated on the table are designated by means of intricately embroidered runners, each executed in a historically specific manner. Upon these are placed, for each setting, a gold ceramic chalice and utensils, a napkin with an embroidered edge, and a fourteen-inch china-painted plate with a central motif. Each place setting is rendered in a style appropriate to the individual woman being honored.

Wing One of the table begins in prehistory with the Primordial Goddess and continues chronologically with the development of Judaism; it then moves to early Greek societies to the Roman Empire, marking the decline in women's power, signified by Hypatia's place setting. Wing Two represents early Christianity through the Reformation, depicting women who signify early expressions of the fight for equal rights, from Marcella to Anna van Schurman. Wing Three begins with Anne Hutchinson and addresses the American Revolution, Suffragism, and the movement toward women's increased individual creative expression, symbolized at last by Georgia O'Keeffe. View the entire collection online (Parental preview and accompaniment suggested) http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/home.php

The Guerrilla Girls (established 1985) are a group of anonymous women who protested the sexist attitudes and actions of the art world by assembling together and wearing gorilla masks, carrying signs and distributing flyers. These signs were usually humorous in tone, but serious in content, such as their “Ten Reasons” poster. Others gave shocking statistics revealing the discrimination against women in museum and gallery shows, such as “When racism...” Given that well over half the art students in undergraduate programs at colleges and universities across the United States were/are women, their severe under-representation in museums and galleries was/is clearly due to discrimination, not lack of skilled women artists.

Barbara Kruger: In “Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face,” (1981) a stone bust of nondescript everywoman takes the focus, her bright white outline contrasting sharply with the pitch black background. With no arms or legs, the woman has little agency. She blankly stares ahead, away from the viewer. The viewer’s gaze, then, literally hits the side of her face. “Your gaze hits the side of my face,” her thoughts seemingly echo. With the text superimposed on the image, this leaves the viewer in an uncomfortable position: as the image draws the viewer’s eyes to the woman, the viewer feels somewhat a voyeur: apparently, the woman does not want the attention, but she has no choice but to oblige the viewer’s eyes. The wording choice of gaze also connotes the “male gaze”, which according to feminist criticisms, objectifies women while normalizing men, which seemingly occurs in this image.

Pop art

2010-05-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Text and images from "Art Across Time" and "Gilbert's Living with Art". Click on the image to view it full-size (it will be readable)

Some American landscape artists

2010-04-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Georgia O'Keeffe - http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/her-life.aspx
Georgia O’Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887, the second of seven children, and grew up on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. As a child she received art lessons at home, and her abilities were quickly recognized and encouraged by teachers throughout her school years. By the time she graduated from high school in 1905, O'Keeffe had determined to make her way as an artist.

O'Keeffe pursued studies at the Art Institute of Chicago (1905–1906) and at the Art Students League, New York (1907–1908), where she was quick to master the principles of the approach to art-making that then formed the basis of the curriculum—imitative realism. In 1908, she won the League's William Merritt Chase still-life prize for her oil painting Untitled (Dead Rabbit with Copper Pot). Shortly thereafter, however, O'Keeffe quit making art, saying later that she had known then that she could never achieve distinction working within this tradition.

Her interest in art was rekindled four years later (1912) when she took a summer course for art teachers at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, where she met artist and art educator Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow believed that the goal of art was the expression of the artist's personal ideas and feelings and that such subject matter was best realized through harmonious arrangements of line, color, and notan (the Japanese system of lights and darks). Dow's ideas offered O'Keeffe an alternative to imitative realism, and she experimented with them for two years.

In an attempt to discover a personal language through which she could express her own feelings and ideas, she began a series of abstract charcoal drawings. She mailed some of these drawings to a former classmate, who showed them to the internationally known photographer and art impresario, Alfred Stieglitz, in 1916.

Stieglitz began corresponding with O'Keeffe, and exhibited 10 of her charcoal abstractions in May at his famous avant-garde gallery, 291. The two were married in 1924, and subsequently lived and worked together in New York (winter and spring) and at the Stieglitz family estate at Lake George, New York (summer and fall) until 1929, when O'Keeffe spent the first of many summers painting in New Mexico.

From 1923 until his death in 1946, Stieglitz worked assiduously and effectively to promote O'Keeffe and her work, organizing annual exhibitions of her art at galleries. As early as the mid-1920s, when O'Keeffe first began painting New York skyscrapers as well as large-scale depictions of flowers as if seen close up, she had become recognized as one of America's most important and successful artists.

Three years after Stieglitz's death, O'Keeffe moved from New York to New Mexico, whose stunning vistas and stark landscape configurations had inspired her work since 1929. Her ability to capture the essence of the natural beauty of northern New Mexico desert, its vast skies, richly colored landscape configurations and unusual architectural forms, has identified the area as “O’Keeffe Country.” She painted there from 1929 until 1984, when failing eyesight forced her into retirement.

From Faraway, Nearby, 1937
In 1935 O'Keeffe began to experiment with compositions that combined bones and landscapes, without regard to relative size, scale, or perspective. Despite her realistic painting technique, there is no verisimilitude to this scene. The poetic title—conveying longing and loneliness—suggests that the odd juxtaposition of words and images depicts an emotional state of mind as well as a physical location.

Red and Yellow Cliffs, 1940
In 1940, the year this painting was made, O'Keeffe purchased a house on eight acres at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. The views from the property were spectacular. From the front, the Cerro Pedernal (a flat-topped mesa) could be seen in the distance. The backyard faced seven-hundred-foot-high striated cliffs, pictured here in their true colors of red and yellow. Their immensity allows only the smallest sliver of blue sky to show at the top left.

Flower paintings: O'Keeffe's flower paintings often depict the tiny, delicate inner parts of blossoms on an enormous scale, and usually in a very bold and colorful manner.

Poppies, Red Canna
Here's the video we weren't able to watch in class.

Eyvind Earle - http://eyvindearle.com/Bio.aspx
Born in New York in 1916, Eyvind Earle began his prolific career at the age of ten when his father, Ferdinand Earle, gave him a challenging choice: read 50 pages of a book or paint a picture every day. Earle choose both. From the time of his first one-man showing in France when he was 14, Earle’s fame had grown steadily. At the age of 21, Earle bicycled across country from Hollywood to New York, paying his way by painting 42 watercolors. His earliest work was strictly realistic, but after having studied the work of a variety of masters such as Van Gogh, Cézanne, Rockwell, Kent and Georgia O’Keeffe, Earle by the age of 21, came into his own unique style. His oeuvre is characterized by a simplicity, directness and surety of handling.

In 1951 Earle joined Walt Disney studios as an assistant background painter. Earle intrigued Disney in 1953 when he created the look of “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom”, an animated short that won an Academy Award and a Cannes Film Festival Award. Disney kept the artist busy for the rest of decade, painting the settings for such stories as “Peter Pan” and “Lady and the Tramp”. Earle was responsible for the styling, background and colors for the highly acclaimed movie “Sleeping Beauty” and gave the movie its magical, medieval look.

After about 15 years creating animated art, Earle returned to painting full time in 1966 and kept working until the end of his life. In addition to his watercolors, oils, sculptures, drawings and scratchboards, in 1974 he began making limited edition serigraphs. Eyvind Earle had a totally original perception of landscape. He successfully synthesizes seemingly incongruent aspects into a singularly distinctive style: a style, which is at once mysterious, primitive, disciplined, moody and nostalgic. He captures the grandeur of simplicity of the American countryside, and represents these glimpses of the American scene with a direct lyric ardor. His landscapes are remarkable for their suggestion of distances, landmasses and weather moods. “For 70 years,” Earle wrote in 1996, “I’ve painted paintings, and I’m constantly and everlastingly overwhelmed at the stupendous infinity of Nature. Wherever I turn and look, there I see creation. Art is creating...Art is the search for truth.”

Eyvind Earle passed away on July 20, 2000 at the age of 84.

“Being a painter, I will tell you just what I try to do when I paint. Beauty is the thing we are all searching for. Exactly what beauty is I have never known anyone to be able to say. As far as I know, truth is beauty, but often the truth is not beautiful. In nature when I look I see trees, some of them are such that they thrill me with their perfection and their sweeping lines and certain mood they seem to have. Windswept plains give me something that can’t be seen. In every tree I feel as though I could see the soul of that tree. It is alive. It is a person. And if beauty be related to the truth, harmony and balance must be there, and there must be movement because in nature all things move. And there are certain laws such as the law of duality. Everything has its opposite. Nothing is without its opposite. If I want a bright light in a painting, I must have a dark shadow. If I want a color to look very warm, I must have also a very cold color, and so on and on forever. But when I paint, I forget the things I know. I just sit there painting away, trying to get the feeling into my painting that I feel inside. Whatever beauty is, I feel it, and as long as I can I shall try to find more and more beauty, and to put it down so that others can see what I have seen.”
.

Ansel Adams - http://www.anseladams.com/content/ansel_info/anseladams_biography2.html
(Feb. 20 1902 — Apr. 22, 1984) Ansel Adams, photographer and environmentalist, was born in San Francisco, California. Adams grew up in a house set amid the sand dunes of the Golden Gate. An only child, Adams was born when his mother was nearly forty. His relatively elderly parents, affluent family history, and the live-in presence of his mother's maiden sister and aged father all combined to create an environment that was decidedly Victorian and both socially and emotionally conservative. Early on he found great joy in nature, as evidenced by his taking long walks in the still-wild reaches of the Golden Gate nearly every day.

When Adams was twelve he taught himself to play the piano and read music. Soon he was taking lessons, and passionately pursued music. For the next dozen years the piano was Adams's primary occupation and, by 1920, his intended profession. Although he ultimately gave up music for photography, the piano brought substance, discipline, and structure to his frustrating and erratic youth. Moreover, the careful training and exacting craft required of a musician profoundly informed his visual artistry, as well as his influential writings and teachings on photography.

If Adams's love of nature was nurtured in the Golden Gate, his life was, in his words, "colored and modulated by the great earth gesture" of the Yosemite Sierra. He spent substantial time there every year from 1916 until his death. From his first visit, Adams was transfixed and transformed. He began using the Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie his parents had given him. In 1919 he joined the Sierra Club and spent the first of four summers in Yosemite Valley, as "keeper" of the club's LeConte Memorial Lodge. He became friends with many of the club's leaders, who were founders of America's nascent conservation movement. He met his wife, Virginia Best, in Yosemite; they were married in 1928. The couple had two children.

The Sierra Club was vital to Adams's early success as a photographer. His first published photographs and writings appeared in the club's 1922 Bulletin, and he had his first one man exhibition in 1928 at the club's San Francisco headquarters. Each summer the club conducted a month-long High Trip, usually in the Sierra Nevada. As photographer of these outings, in the late 1920s, Adams began to realize that he could earn enough to survive — indeed, that he was far more likely to prosper as a photographer than as a concert pianist. By 1934 Adams had been elected to the club's board of directors and was well established as both the artist of the Sierra Nevada and the defender of Yosemite.

1927 was the pivotal year of Adams's life. He made his first fully visualized photograph, Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, and took his first High Trip. More important, he came under the influence of Albert M. Bender, a San Francisco insurance magnate and patron of arts and artists. Soon after they met, Bender set in motion the preparation and publication of Adams' first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras. Bender's friendship, encouragement, and tactful financial support changed Adams's life dramatically. His creative energies and abilities as a photographer blossomed, and he began to have the confidence to pursue his dreams.

Although Adams's transition from musician to photographer did not happen at once, his passion shifted rapidly after Bender came into his life, and the projects and possibilities multiplied. Adams also met photographer Paul Strand, whose images had a powerful impact on Adams and helped to move him away from the "pictorial" style he had favored in the 1920s. Adams began to pursue "straight photography," in which the clarity of the lens was emphasized.

Adams's star rose rapidly in the early 1930s, propelled in part by his ability and in part by his effusive energy and activity. He made his first visit to New York in 1933, on a pilgrimage to meet photographer Alfred Stieglitz, the artist whose work and philosophy Adams most admired and whose life of commitment to the medium he consciously emulated. Although profoundly a man of the West, Adams spent a considerable amount of time in New York during the 1930s and 1940s, and the Stieglitz circle played a vital role in his artistic life. Most important, in 1936 Stieglitz gave Adams a one-man show at An American Place.

Adams described himself as a photographer — lecturer — writer. It would perhaps be more accurate to say that he was simply — indeed, compulsively — a communicator. He endlessly traveled the country in pursuit of both the natural beauty he revered and photographed and the audiences he required. Adams felt an intense commitment to promoting photography as a fine art and played a key role in the establishment of the first museum department of photography, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The work at the museum fostered the closest relationships of Adams's life, with Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, a historian and museum administrator and a writer-designer, respectively.

Adams was an unremitting activist for the cause of wilderness and the environment. Over the years he attended innumerable meetings and wrote thousands of letters in support of his conservation. However, his greatest influence came from his photography. His images became the symbols of wild America. When people thought about the national parks of the Sierra Club or nature of the environment itself, they often envisioned them in terms of an Ansel Adams photograph. His black-and-white images were not "realistic" documents of nature. Instead, they sought an intensification and purification of the psychological experience of natural beauty. He created a sense of the sublime magnificence of nature that infused the viewer with the emotional equivalent of wilderness, often more powerful than the actual thing.

Though wilderness and the environment were his grand passions, photography was his calling. Adams never made a creative photograph specifically for environmental purposes. He was often criticized for failing to include humans or evidence of "humanity" in his landscape photographs. The great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson made the well-known comment that "the world is falling to pieces and all Adams photographs is rocks and trees". Reviewers frequently characterize Adams as a photographer of an idealized wilderness that no longer exists. On the contrary, the places that Adams photographed are, with few exceptions, precisely those wilderness and park areas that have been preserved for all time. There is a vast amount of true and truly protected wilderness in America, much of it saved because of the efforts of Adams and his colleagues.

Seen in a more traditional art history context, Adams was the last and defining figure in the romantic tradition of nineteenth-century American landscape painting and photography. Adams always claimed he was not "influenced," but, consciously or unconsciously, he was firmly in the tradition of Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, and others. And he was the direct philosophical heir of the American Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir. He grew up in a time and place where his ideals were formed by the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and "muscular" Americanism and the pervading sense of manifest destiny. Adams died in Monterey, California.

Adams channeled his energies in ways that served his fellow citizens, personified in his lifelong effort to preserve the American wilderness. Above all, Adams's philosophy and optimism struck a chord in the national phsyche. Adams believed in both the possibility and the probability of humankind living in harmony and balance with its environment. It is difficult to imagine Ansel Adams occurring in a European country or culture and equally difficult to conjure an artist more completely American, either in art of personality.

“Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space. I know of no sculpture, painting or music that exceeds the compelling spiritual command of the soaring shape of granite cliff and dome, of patina of light on rock and forest, and of the thunder and whispering of the falling, flowing waters. At first the colossal aspect may dominate; then we perceive and respond to the delicate and persuasive complex of nature.”

Questions to keep in mind:

Is this photograph/painting more realistic or abstract?
How has the artist stylized the landscape?
- How does the artist use this stylization to emphasize different parts of the landscape?
- What does this stylization show about the artist's feelings toward nature?

What does he/she seem to be interested in showing us?
What is the mood?

How does he/she show distance?

20-B Martin Puryear, Ladder for Booker T. Washington, 1996

2010-04-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

20-B Martin Puryear, Ladder for Booker T. Washington, 1996
- How is it different from most ladders? It curves and gets narrower at the top.
- Describe the side rails and rungs of this ladder. The side rails are crooked, like the organic shape of the trees from which they were made. The rungs are thicker in the middle. The whole ladder is polished and assembled with fine craftsmanship.
- What does this ladder rest on? It does not stand on the floor. It is suspended from the ceiling and held in place by very fine wires. It seems to float about two and one-half feet above the floor.
- Can you see the wires holding it in place? Notice the shadows created by the ladder.
- What illusion does Puryear create by making the ladder narrower at the top than bottom? It makes it seem even taller than it is.
- Remember the African American spiritual “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” Does this ladder seem tall enough to reach to the heavens?
- Would the ladder be difficult to climb and why. It would be very difficult because it is long and curving and it gets very narrow at the top.
-Discuss what ladders can symbolize. Remember phrases like “climbing the ladder to success” and “getting to the top.” Pay attention to the title of this sculpture, Ladder for Booker T. Washington. The title of Washington’s autobiography was Up from Slavery. Why is this ladder an appropriate symbol for this title? (Think about the climb from slavery to attaining equal civil rights was as difficult as it would be to climb this ladder.)
- How does the fine craftsmanship of this ladder represent some of Washington’s beliefs? In addition to intellectual skills, Washington believed that students should learn manual skills, like the woodworking represented by this ladder, in order to support themselves.
- Where does the ladder lead? It leads to the light.
- What might the fact that the ladder is raised off the ground symbolize? You have to pull yourself up to the place where the ladder starts.
- Discuss how a person might climb this ladder to success, and where it might lead.

the first several minutes of this video provide information about martin puryear, some of his work, his ideas, and his methods: http://video.pbs.org/video/1237794459

That Profile, Martin Puryear, 1999
Stainless steel, bronze; 540 x 360 x 136 in.
- Take a close look at Martin Puryear’s sculpture That Profile. Describe the sculpture and its immediate environment.
- What factors do you think Puryear took into consideration when he was designing this work?
- Do you think his concept is successful?
- Imagine observing That Profile at two different times of the day or at two different times of the year. How would daily and seasonal changes at the Getty Center affect your experience of the sculpture?
- The sculpture is titled That Profile. Why do you think Puryear chose this title for his sculpture?
- If you were to give your own title to this work of art, what would it be? In answering this question, consider the physical structure, form, and the surrounding environment of this object.

Background Information
A marvel of artistry and engineering, Martin Puryear's sculpture rises on six slender legs to a height of forty-five feet above the broad expanse of travertine pavement on the plaza at the Getty Center. Stout strands of silver-patinated bronze bind the joints of the airy network of welded sandblasted stainless steel tubes, two and three inches in diameter. Elegant in its apparent simplicity, the sculpture's complex structure reveals its true character only slowly. The sculpture's meaning likewise resists a fixed identity, suggesting both a delicate fishnet cast against the sky and a human head in profile. From some viewpoints, it appears to be fully round, but its south face is flat, while the north face curves gently through the air.

Puryear’s inventive sculpture is one among many artworks that are “site specific”—meaning they are particularly designed with the look and feel of the Getty Center architecture and location in mind. In this case the clean, modern design of Richard Meier’s architecture inspired Puryear to create an abstract, sculptural shape. Steel and bronze support this giant work of art, which appears light and effervescent against the blue of the sky, due to its skillful design.

About the Artist
Martin Puryear (born 1941, Washington, D.C.)

A desire to "make things rather than representations of them" led Martin Puryear from his early training in painting and drawing to sculpture. A video about That Profile for the Getty Center details his fascination with the process of making sculpture: http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/videoDetails?cat=3&segid=1722.

Puryear graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1963. Afterwards he joined the Peace Corps, which sent him to Sierra Leone where West African craftsmen educated him in their traditions. Acting on a parallel interest in Scandinavian design and woodworking, Puryear later moved to Stockholm, where he attended the Swedish Royal Academy of Art. His return to the United States coincided with significant new developments in sculpture, such as Minimalism, which played an important role in his development. Puryear uses craftsmanship to construct forms that often embody contradictions, such as the play of interior and exterior form, or geometry and organic irregularity.

In the mid 1970s Puryear set up a studio in Brooklyn, New York. A fire destroyed it in 1977, and he relocated to Chicago the following year. Still exhibiting his work internationally, he has now moved to rural Accord, New York.

20-A Richard Diebenkorn, Cityscape I, 1963

2010-04-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

20-A Richard Diebenkorn, Cityscape I, 1963

Look carefully at the foreground, background, and sides of this landscape.

- Identify triangles, trapezoids, and rectangles in this cityscape. They are in the fields, buildings, and shadows.

- Locate trees, windows, and a flight of steps in this scene. Trees are near the top, windows are in a white building on the left, and steps are near the lower left.

- Where might Diebenkorn have been when he saw the cityscape for this painting? He could have been in a tall building, on a high hill, or in a low-flying airplane. (He was impressed with the view from a plane when he was a young man.)

- How do the two sides of the road in Diebenkorn’s painting differ? Which side is man-made and which is undeveloped? The left side is filled with gray and white buildings while the right side is undeveloped fields of green and gold.

- Describe the land in this scene. It’s hilly with green fields and gold earth.

- How did Diebenkorn create a sense of depth in this scene? Distant shadows and buildings are lighter and higher in the composition than those close to us.

- Is this painting is more like life (realistic) or simplified (abstract)? It is more abstract.

- How are the buildings and fields different from what you might actually see? They are basic shapes and have very few details.

- By painting this scene abstractly rather than realistically, what message has Diebenkorn shown in this painting? He focuses our attention on interesting colors, light, and geometric shapes.

- Follow the road back into this scene. How does Diebenkorn slow their eye movement through this landscape? Horizontal shadow and light shapes slow the visual movement.

- What time of day might it be in Diebenkorn’s painting? Why do you think this? The long shadows suggest that it’s early morning or late afternoon.

- What factors affect the color and lightness of an actual landscape? The weather, sunlight, and humidity or pollution in the air all affect how much light shines on a scene.

- Describe the weather and air quality of this scene. It’s clear and dry.

- Why was abstract painting popular in the United States after World War II? Abstract art, with its energy and creativity, complemented the dynamism of the United States as it became a world leader. Also, abstract art demonstrated that in a democracy artists could express themselves freely, unlike artists in totalitarian countries who had to create art supporting government ideologies.

Abstract Expressionism

2010-04-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Abstract Expressionism

In the years after World War II, a group of New York artists formed the first American movement to exert major influence internationally: abstract expressionism. This term, which had first been used in 1919 in Berlin, was used again in 1946 by Robert Coates in The New York Times, and was taken up by the two major art critics of that time, Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg. It has always been criticized as too large and paradoxical, yet the common definition implies the use of abstract art to express feelings, emotions, what is within the artist, and not what stands without.

The first generation of abstract expressionists was composed of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Hans Hofmann, and others. Though the numerous artists encompassed by this label had widely different styles, contemporary critics found several common points between them.

There was an emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation. The movement's name is derived from the combination of the emotional intensity and self-denial of the German Expressionists with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Additionally, it has an image of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and, some feel, nihilistic. In practice, the term is applied to any number of artists working (mostly) in New York who had quite different styles and even to work that is neither especially abstract nor expressionist. Pollock's energetic "action paintings", with their "busy" feel, are different, both technically and aesthetically, from the violent and grotesque Women series of Willem de Kooning's figurative paintings) and the rectangles of color in Mark Rothko's Color Field paintings (which are not what would usually be called expressionist and which Rothko denied were abstract). Yet all three artists are classified as abstract expressionists.

Many first generation abstract expressionists were influenced both by the Cubists' works (black & white copies in art reviews and the works themselves at the 291 Gallery or the Armory Show), and by the European Surrealists, most of them abandoned formal composition and representation of real objects; and by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Often the abstract expressionists decided to try instinctual, intuitive, spontaneous arrangements of space, line, shape and color. Abstract Expressionism can be characterized by two major elements - the large size of the canvases used, (partially inspired by Mexican frescoes and the works they made for the WPA- works progress administration- in the 1930s), and the strong and unusual use of brushstrokes and experimental paint application with a new understanding of process.

The emphasis and intensification of color and large open expanses of surface were two of the principles applied to the movement called Color field Painting. Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman were categorized as such painters. Another movement was called Action Painting, characterized by spontaneous reaction, powerful brushstrokes, dripped and splashed paint and the strong physical movements used in the production of a painting. Jackson Pollock is an example of an Action Painter: his creative process, incorporating thrown and dripped paint from a stick or poured directly from the can; he revolutionized painting methods. Willem de Kooning famously said about Pollock, "he broke the ice for the rest of us." Ironically Pollock's large repetitious expanses of linear fields are also characteristic of Color Field painting as well. Despite the disagreements between art critics, Abstract Expressionism marks a turning-point in the history of American art: the 1940s and 1950s saw international attention shift from European -Parisian- art, to American -New York- art.

Color field painting went on as a movement: artists in the 1950s, such as Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and in the 1960s Helen Frankenthaler, sought to make paintings which would eliminate superfluous rhetoric with large, flat areas of color.

Hans Hoffman – (1880-1966) http://www.pbs.org/hanshofmann/biography_001.html
Playing with Linear perspective- the technique used to create the illusion of space in a painting or drawing- has served as the golden rule for artists since the Italians developed it during the Renaissance. Developing a technique he called “push and pull,” Hofmann proved that the illusion of space, depth, and even movement on a canvas could be created abstractly using color and shape, rather than representational forms.

With “push and pull”, shapes interact to create not only the feeling of space, but of movement as well. Warm colors appear to advance, cool ones seem to recede. Light and dark values and overlapping shapes all help to create the illusion that the composition in is motion, or “breathing”, leading the eye to each part of the picture rather than letting it rest in one spot. In this way, the viewer becomes actively engaged with the picture- a goal Hofmann claimed all artists should strive for.

Jackson Pollock – (1912-1956) Pollock was the first “all-over” painter, pouring paint rather than using brushes and a palette, and abandoning all conventions of a central motif. He danced in semi-ecstasy over canvases spread across the floor, lost in his patternings, dripping and dribbling with total control. He said: “The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through.” He painted no image, just “action”, though “action painting” seems an inadequate term for the finished result of his creative process. Lavender Mist (1950) is nearly 10 ft wide, a vast expanse on a heroic scale. It is alive with colored scribble, spattered lines moving this way and that, now thickening, now trailing off to a slender line. The eye moves energetically, not allowed to rest on any particular area. Pollock has put his hands into paint and placed them at the top right-- an instinctive gesture eerily reminiscent of cave painters who did the same (he was heavily influenced by native American art and sand paintings).

Mark Rothko – (1903-1970) In their manifesto in the New York Times, Rothko and a fellow artist, Gottlieb, had written: "We favor the simple expression of the complex thought. We are for the large shape because it has the impact of the unequivocal. We wish to reassert the picture plane. We are for flat forms because they destroy illusion and reveal truth." By 1947 Rothko had virtually eliminated all elements of surrealism or mythic imagery from his works, and nonobjective compositions of indeterminate shapes emerged.

Rothko largely abandoned conventional titles in 1947, sometimes resorting to numbers or colors in order to distinguish one work from another. The artist also now resisted explaining the meaning of his work. "Silence is so accurate," he said, fearing that words would only paralyze the viewer's mind and imagination. http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/

Barnett Newman – (1905-1970) one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters.

Newman proclaimed Onement, I (1948) to be his artistic breakthrough, giving the work an importance belied by its modest size. This is the first time the artist used a vertical band to define the spatial structure of his work. This band, later dubbed a "zip," became Newman's signature mark. The artist applied the light cadmium red zip atop a strip of masking tape with a palette knife. This thick, irregular band on the smooth field of Indian Red simultaneously divides and unites the composition.

Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950- The Latin title of this painting can be translated as "Man, heroic and sublime." It refers to Newman’s essay "The Sublime is Now.” Newman hoped that the viewer would stand close to this expansive work, and he likened the experience to a human encounter: "It's no different, really, from meeting another person. One has a reaction to the person physically. Also, there’s a metaphysical thing, and if a meeting of people is meaningful, it affects both their lives."

Franz Kline – (1910-1962) As with Jackson Pollock and other Abstract Expressionists, he was labeled an "action painter" because of his seemingly spontaneous and intense style, focusing less, or not at all, on figures or imagery, but on the actual brush strokes and use of canvas. For most of Kline's [mature and representative] work, however, as the phrase goes, "spontaneity is practiced". He would prepare many draft sketches – notably, commonly on refuse telephone book pages – before going to make his "spontaneous" work. You can also see that his work was inspired by Japanese calligraphy.

Robert Motherwell – (1915-1991) In 1941, after traveling to Mexico with Chilean surrealist Matta Echaurren, Motherwell decided to paint full time and moved to Greenwich Village. During this decade, he was most influenced by European surrealists. Interested in the unconscious mind, Motherwell explored theories of automatism by creating free-association collages that he sometimes used as underpinnings for future painting compositions. Automatism also offered Motherwell “an active principle for painting, specifically designed to explore unknown possibilities.” Experimenting with this technique, Motherwell developed a loose yet vigorous brushwork that resonated with emotion.

Motherwell’s art displayed his passion for history, literature, and the human condition. From the beginning he strove to evoke a moral and political experience through his art. As an example, the artist drew on the writing of James Joyce for titles to his paintings, drawings, and prints throughout his career. A poem by Spanish poet Frederico García Lorca gave him the theme of the Elegy to the Spanish Republic, which Motherwell explored in over 200 works. (http://www.hollistaggart.com/artists/biography/robert_motherwell/)

Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 108 describes a stately passage of the organic and the geometric, the accidental and the deliberate. Like other Abstract Expressionists, Motherwell was attracted to the Surrealist principle of automatism—of methods that escaped the artist's conscious intention—and his brushwork has an emotional charge, but within an overall structure of a certain severity. In fact Motherwell saw careful arrangements of color and form as the heart of abstract art, which, he said, "is stripped bare of other things in order to intensify it, its rhythms, spatial intervals, and color structure."

Motherwell intended his Elegies to the Spanish Republic (over 100 paintings, completed between 1948 and 1967) as a "lamentation or funeral song" after the Spanish Civil War. His recurring motif here is a rough black oval, repeated in varying sizes and degrees of compression and distortion. Instead of appearing as holes leading into a deeper space, these light-absorbent blots stand out against a ground of relatively even, predominantly white upright rectangles. Motherwell described the Elegies as his "private insistence that a terrible death happened that should not be forgot. But," he added, "the pictures are also general metaphors of the contrast between life and death, and their interrelation." http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79007

Richard Diebenkorn – (1922-1993) Ocean Park 115 (1979): This painting is one of a series referencing Ocean Park, the beach landscape near Diebenkorn's California studio. Diebenkorn spent two decades developing this series, in which he gradually moved away from his earlier, more directly representational work. In Ocean Park 115 (1979) he evolved a type of abstraction characterized by a geometric division of space, sensuously worked surfaces, and luminous color. Diebenkorn explored new creative avenues in his work while maintaining a clear sense of balance and control. He stated, "My idea was simply to get all the elements right. By that I mean everything: color, form, space, line, composition, what all this might add up to—everything at once."

~ ~ ~
In a nutshell: Abstract expressionism: A new way of exploring and interpreting the human experience

“Abstract Expressionists value expression over perfection, vitality over finish, fluctuation over repose, the unknown over the known, the veiled over the clear, the individual over society and the inner over the outer.”
- William C. Seitz,American artist and art historian

Interests:
- The sub-conscious; create artwork that is unplanned, impulsive, even frenzied, to try and get at and explore deepest human impulses and desires (roots in analytic psychology)

- The belief in a universal language; pursuit of a universal visual language
          - May attempt to achieve understanding between viewer and artist on a level that may be called primal, that is, without the help of cultural references, history, or even any reference to ideas or things- in a way, a baby should be able to understand it. Titles and/or color may be eliminated to avoid constraining interpretations- often when presented with abstract art, we look to the title or colors to narrow down the possible interpretations, but when we do this we often cling to meanings that are too shallow or conventional. (Mark Rothko)
          - May use references from literature, history, culture, religion, etc., albeit in highly or completely abstracted form. (Robert Motherwell)

- The act/moment of creation, the record of the artist’s work on the canvas/etc. (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning)

- Artist as creator, the image as an entity – birthed by the artist (Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler)
          - "A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked, and you can read in it—well, she did this and then she did that, and then she did that—there is something in it that has not got to do with beautiful art to me. And I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute." – Frankenthaler
          - “When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.” - Pollock

- Explore the core essence of a medium: Medium specificity is a consideration in aesthetics and art criticism. It is most closely associated with modernism, but it predates it. According to Clement Greenberg, an art critic who helped popularize the term, medium specificity holds that "the unique and proper area of competence" for a form of art corresponds with the ability of an artist to manipulate those features that are "unique to the nature" of a particular medium. For example, in painting, literal flatness and abstraction are emphasized rather than illusionism and figuration. In order to be successful, artwork needs to adhere to the specific stylistic properties of its own medium. (Helen Frankenthaler)

- The simple expression of the complex thought (Mark Rothko).

- Conveying emotions–often through color, energetic (may be misinterpreted as angry) brushwork.

- Life, the meaning of life, death, God, the meaning of it all (Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell)

A bit more Dorothea Lange

2010-03-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Richmond, California/It Was Never Like This Back Home, Dorothea Lange, about 1943
• What can you say about the woman in this picture?
• Where was Lange standing when she took this photograph?
• How does the low vantage point affect your impression of this woman?
• How would you describe the expression on her face?
• How would you describe this woman's life? What do you see in the picture that gives you clues about it?
• Why do you think she is wearing a dressy fur coat in the middle of a sunny day?
• How would you explain the title of this picture, It Was Never Like This Back Home?
• Why do you think that women were suddenly welcomed into the work force in the 1940s?

Background Information - Lange and her friend of many years, photographer Ansel Adams, were hired by Fortune magazine to document a twenty-four-hour cycle in the life of Richmond, California's Kaiser shipyard. The woman pictured here was one of the many newcomers to this town in the 1940s. Richmond saw astonishingly rapid growth during World War II as Kaiser built 727 ships. By 1944, the shipyard employed almost 100,000 workers. Since it was active round the clock in order to build ships as rapidly as possible, many businesses in Richmond stayed open twenty-four hours a day to meet the needs of off-shift defense workers. This woman may well have worked a swing or night shift and was taking an opportunity to dress up in her jewelry and evening furs for a special outing during her free time in the middle of a sunny day. Seen from a low vantage point, she stands proudly in front of a café. During the war, thousands of women joined the work force for the first time, often earning the same wages paid to men; perhaps this circumstance, too, underlies her happy and confident gaze.

This casual portrait does not betray the racial tensions that troubled Richmond at the time the picture was made. The town was undergoing a sudden enormous increase in its population of African-American residents, many of whom had abandoned the southern United States and its sharecropping system. They received equal pay, but the unions blocked them, the supervisors resisted promoting them (a problem shared by female shipyard workers of all races), and the local white people—many of them Dust Bowl refugees of the 1930s—did not understand them.

Dust Bowl Refugees Arrive in California, Dorothea Lange, 1936
• What can you say about the people in this picture?
• How can you tell that the people in this picture are moving rather than just taking a trip somewhere?
• Can you identify any of the things tied to the car?
• What kind of trip do you think this group has just had? Describe how one day of their journey might have gone.
• What do you think these people might have done after they arrived in California?
• Block out the parts of the photograph as indicated by the crop lines. Does it look any different to you? Does it change the mood or message of the picture?
• Do you think this is a good picture to illustrate the story of people fleeing the Dust Bowl? What other scenes might a newspaper have used to show the situation of Dust Bowl refugees?
• Why do you think that this image did not spark the same concern and outrage that Migrant Mother did among viewers?

Background Information - This photograph was published in the New York Times on July 5, 1936, with the caption "'A Family Unit in The Flight From Drought'/Dust Bowl Refugees Reach a 'Promised Land'—California." The orange crop marks and notes are directions to the printer that were made by New York Times staff. They indicate that the already tightly composed image should be printed as an even more tightly framed picture, focusing closely on the jalopy crammed with people and their worn belongings, including quilts, pans, a stove, a bag of rice, and luggage. Note that while people nowadays are accustomed to viewing Lange's work as "fine art," the newspaper staff felt free to crop Lange's image because it had been provided to them as a document, not a work of art. The travelers were among the thousands from the heartland of America who had seen their prospects as farmers blow away in the dust storms of the 1930s. One man from Oklahoma recalled his early childhood in the Dust Bowl: "For a three-year-old kid, you just go outside and play, dust blows and sand blows, and you don't know any different. One evening a black duster come in here from the north. We had kerosene lamps. And it got so dark you couldn't see with kerosene lamps." No longer able to sustain their farms, and lured by advertisements and rumors that promised a sunny agricultural paradise with jobs for all who were willing to work, families journeyed to California with as many of their possessions as they could pack inside or tie onto their car.

Go back to section 18A: remember how Lange had taken several pictures of the "Migrant Mother's" camp? Here are some of the other images from that series. Do you think any of them are as striking as the very famous "Migrant Mother"? Why or why not?

19-B James Karales, Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965, 1965

2010-03-17T17:44:00.000-07:00

19-B James Karales, Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965, 1965

Study this photograph and think about the kind of mood it sets.
- Locate two flags. Why does the American flag play a prominent role in this march? These people were marching for equal voting rights for African Americans in the United States. As citizens of the United States, African Americans wanted the same rights and opportunities as other Americans.
- Imagine where the photographer placed himself in order to take this picture. He was slightly below the marchers, looking up at them.
- What is in the background behind the marchers? A light sky with dark clouds is above the marchers.
- How does this viewpoint emphasize the message and drama of the scene? Karales makes the marchers look larger by tilting the camera up and creates drama by silhouetting the figures against the sky.
- Discuss how this image might lose some of its impact if buildings and trees were included in the background.
- How does the photographer suggest that there are many people participating in this march?
The camera angle exaggerates the perspective, making the line look as if it stretches into a great distance; we can’t see the end of the line because it continues behind the hill.
- What do the outstretched legs and thrust-back shoulders of the three leading marchers suggest about their attitude? They seem young, determined, and strong.
- Pay attention to the legs of the leading marchers. Apparently they are marching together in unison.
- What do the clouds overhead suggest? There is the possibility of a storm. The clouds may also symbolize the oppression of racism, the ugliness of inequality, and/or the potential violence looming ahead of the marchers.
- Discuss why the publication of this photograph and others like it in magazines and newspapers helped the movement for civil rights in the United States.

Compare this photograph to Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting:
Themes: both center on themes of equality and freedom: the equality of all men (and women) in the United States, and the freedom to speak one's mind and participate in democracy.
Both images feature normal, everyday people exercising their rights as citizens.
Both images were published in magazines, intended for many people to see.
Both images were intended to stir patriotic sentiments and mobilize people for action.

19-A Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech, The Saturday Evening Post 1943, 1943

2010-03-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

19-A Norman Rockwell, Freedom of Speech, The Saturday Evening Post 1943, 1943

Norman Rockwell was known for his paintings of domestic scenes, children, everyday life, Americana, the issue of racism, small towns. Regarding his work, he said,"Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed."

- Study this painting carefully
- What are these people are doing? The standing man is speaking and others are looking and listening to him.
- Find the words TOWN and REPORT. They are located on blue paper near the lower edge.
Where might these people be? They are attending a community meeting. Because MONT is visible on the paper, it may be a town meeting in Vermont.
- Describe the expression on the speaker’s face. He seems very intent and serious. He looks up as if he is speaking to someone above him.
- Describe the textures and patterns of the standing man’s clothes and hands. Compare his hands and clothing with that of the other men. What do their hands and clothing suggest about their professions and financial status? The speaker wears a slightly rumpled, zippered, plaid shirt and frayed jacket. The other men wear smooth, white buttoned shirts, ties, and suit jackets. The speaker’s hands are darker and rougher than the lighter, smoother hand of the man on his right. The speaker is probably a manual laborer and the others, wealthier businessmen.
- In what ways does this scene seem real? The closely observed details and the composition with some faces only partially shown are almost like a photograph.
- Who is attending this meeting? We see young and old men and a woman in a black hat.
- Describe the reaction of the other people in this scene to the speaker. They are all listening respectfully to him.
- How did Rockwell emphasize the speaker? His light face contrasts with a plain black background. Light shines on his forehead and most of the people are looking at him.
- Where is the viewer of this scene? The viewer is seated two rows in front of the speaker, looking up at him.
- How does this viewpoint influence our understanding of how Rockwell felt about this man and what he was doing? We look up to this man, making him seem important.
- What inspired this painting? Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address. Roosevelt appealed to four essential human freedoms.
- Explain why this scene shows an American freedom. Why did Americans believe there was a connection between this image and World War II? An ordinary working-class American citizen is able to voice his opinions without fear of censorship. Americans were fighting totalitarian dictatorships that did not allow this freedom of speech.

Compare this final version of the painting to an earlier draft, below. What key changes did Rockwell make to this earlier version of the painting to make the much stronger piece, above?

Other images:
Freedom from fear

Freedom of worship

Freedom from want

Visit the Norman Rockwell Museum's website! They've just added a neat exhibit of the photographs Rockwell staged and then used as reference in his paintings.
http://www.nrm.org/2009/10/opening-of-landmark-exhibition-exploring-a-new-body-of-rockwell-imagery-nov-7th/

18-B Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936

2010-03-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

18-B Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936
- Look closely at this photograph noticing the details in the figures of the woman and the children.
- What do you first notice when you look at this photograph?
- Discuss why our attention is drawn to this part of the image. Light shines on the woman’s face, her right arm and hand lead toward her face, and the children turn toward her.
- Describe the woman’s clothing. The sleeve of her sweater is ragged and torn. She wears an open-neck, checked shirt under her sweater.

- What does the clothing suggest about the woman and children? They are poor.
- Discuss with students how Lange focuses our attention on just the woman and her children. What doesn’t she show?
- What is in the background? As Lange moved closer and closer to this scene, snapping photographs as she approached, she gradually cropped out the background—the tent that the woman was sitting in front of. In this close-up, the woman and her children fill the composition.
- Describe the expression on this woman’s face. How does she feel? What might she be thinking? She seems to stare out into space with a furrowed brow and down-turned mouth. She appears worried and tired. Perhaps she’s wondering what to do next or where they will find food.
- Speculate on why the children turned their heads away from the camera. Maybe they were shy, or maybe they were afraid of a strange woman with a camera and are seeking their mother’s comfort. Lange could also have posed them this way for greater effect.
- Why might Lange have decided to take such a close-up photograph? It brings us closer to the subject and makes it more personal.
- Why did the Resettlement Administration want to document the effects of the Great Depression in photographs rather than just words and statistics. Photographs can be powerful eyewitness accounts that allow people to quickly grasp the meaning and emotion of an event.
- This photograph was published in newspapers. How do you think Americans responded to it? They were outraged that this should happen in America; the federal government responded by shipping thousands of pounds of food to feed the migrants.

Go here for lots and lots of info about Dorothea Lange

White Angel Breadline, San Fransisco, Dorothea Lange, 1933

- What is going on in this picture?
• How would you describe the expression on the face of the man turned toward the viewer? What might he be thinking about?
• Would the meaning of this picture change if several of the men faced toward the camera, instead of just one? Explain your answer.
• Compare the dress and expression of the man who faces the camera with the appearance of the other men in the picture. Why has Lange singled him out?
• Where do you think Lange stood to take this picture?
• Can you find any patterns or repeating motifs? How do they contribute to the photograph's meaning?
• Do you think a person needs to have personally experienced unemployment and hunger to understand this photograph?
• Who should see this photograph? Does the publication of a photo like this help the people pictured in it?

Background Information - A crowd of men stands waiting, tightly packed together. Most of them have their backs to the camera, but one man in the foreground, with the brim of his hat covering his eyes, is turned toward the viewer. Leaning on a wooden rail, he tensely clasps his hands and balances an empty cup between his arms on top of the fence. All of the men pictured here were standing in a breadline organized during the Depression by a wealthy San Franciscan known as the "White Angel."

Lange's friends urged her to stay away from places like this, where unemployed and desperately poor people gathered. Nonetheless, one day in 1933 she ventured out from her portrait studio and created this image of the misery and passivity endured by the unemployed who wait for food as well as for a chance to get a job. She later described the experience, which proved to be a turning point in her understanding of what she could accomplish as a photographer: "That's the first day I ever made a photograph actually on the street. I put it on the wall of my studio and customers, people whom I was making portraits of, would come in and glance at them. And the only comment I ever got was, 'What are you going to do with this kind of thing?' I didn't know. But I knew that picture was on my wall, and I knew that it was worth doing." She later said that, soon after photographing White Angel Bread Line, "I'd begun to get a much firmer grip on the things I really wanted to do in my work."

Pledge of Allegiance, Raphael Weill Elementary School, San Francisco, Dorothea Lange, April 1942
• What is happening in this picture? What do you see that makes you say that?
• How would you describe the girl's expression? What do you think she might be feeling?
• Why do you think Lange chose to take a picture of a Japanese-American child reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance"?
• Why do you suppose Lange cropped the picture so that the Japanese-American girl is placed in the center?
• Does this photograph communicate a message or messages beyond the simple fact of a child's recitation of the "Pledge of Allegiance"? What message do you get from it?
• Do you recite or have you recited the "Pledge of Allegiance"? What does it mean to you? What do you think it meant to the girl in this photo?

Background Information - As far as Lange was concerned, her assignment from the United States government's War Relocation Authority (WRA) to document the Japanese-American evacuation process in northern California included picturing their lives in the San Francisco area before they were interned, as well as after. She made this image at a public school in April just days before citizens like this girl and her family were given numbers and transported to internment camps for the remainder of World War II. A group of schoolchildren are standing close together with their hands over their hearts and gazing upward, presumably at a flag. The image was cropped to draw attention to the girl in a plaid dress who stands front and center. Her expression is serious and shows strong emotion.

In Lange's words: "What I photographed was the procedure, the process of processing. I photographed the normal life insofar as I could. . . . I photographed . . . the Japanese quarter of San Francisco, the businesses they were operating, and the people as they were going to their YWCAs and YMCAs and churches and in their Nisei headquarters, all the baffled, bewildered people. . . ."

Although Lange undertook this photographic work on behalf of the United States government, it is clear that her sympathies were with the Japanese Americans. Many fellow WRA photographers attempted to present the internment in a positive light; Lange did not hesitate to convey the unfathomable injustice of Executive Order 9066.

Stoop Labor in Cotton Field, San Joaquin Valley, California, Dorothea Lange, 1938

• What can you say about how Lange framed her subject?
• How do you think the man is feeling? What do you see in the picture that gives you clues about this?
• How would you describe the mood of this picture? Would this picture have a different mood if the top half were filled by the sky?
• Why do you think that Lange chose not to clearly show the man's face?
• What do you think this man will do after the cotton-picking season has ended?
• Have you ever picked a crop in a field? What was it like?

Background Information - A man is shown stooped over in a field of cotton. The horizon line is high, making the worker appear monumental as he goes about his work in the strong sunlight. The bag he is dragging looks very heavy. Yet Lange's photograph makes the difficult, exhausting work look graceful, and the coarse cloth of his overalls and heavy bag seem to crease and hang in beautiful ways.

In the revised and expanded edition of An American Exodus (1969), this picture is accompanied by a caption from Paul Taylor's field notes: "Migratory cotton pickers paid 75 cents per 100 pounds. A good day's pick is 200 pounds. CIO union strikers demand $1 per 100 pounds." Workers who were paid by the day lacked job security and were forced to move their families again and again in search of work.

The work of picking cotton occupies a chapter of John Steinbeck's 1939 book about migrant life in California, The Grapes of Wrath. Like other seasonal labor, it was a possibility for his Joad family, who had fled the Dust Bowl conditions of Oklahoma. In a conversational style, seemingly from the migrant picker's viewpoint, Steinbeck describes the process: "Now the bag is heavy, boost it along. Set your hips and tow it along, like a work horse. And the kids pickin' into the old man's sack. Good crop here. Gets thin in the low places, thin and stringy. Never seen no cotton like this here California cotton."

18-A Thomas Hart Benton, The Sources of Country Music, 1975

2010-03-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

18-A Thomas Hart Benton, The Sources of Country Music, 1975
- Study this painting carefully, paying attention to the way the artist has grouped the elements in his work.
- Find five scenes in this painting that show regional musicians. These represent the roots of American country music. Can students identify what type of music each of these represents?
Church and choir music: Three women with a choir director (upper left) are representative of church and choir music.
Appalachian singers: Two barefoot women playing the dulcimer (left) represent Appalachia.
Barn dance: Two fiddlers and dancers (center) are representative of barn dancing.
Singing cowboy: A man with a guitar (right) represents the “singing cowboy.”
African American music of the Deep South: The man with a banjo and a group of women on the distant riverbank (center right) represent African American music of the Deep South.
- How did Benton join these different scenes into one unified composition? He overlapped forms, used the same painting style throughout, repeated colors, and made most of the figures face in toward the center of the painting. Just as all these musical influences came together in American country music, they hold together as a unified composition in this painting.
- How did Benton create a sense of rhythm and movement throughout this composition? Most of the vertical lines and bodies slant to the right, creating visual movement in that direction. The train leans forward as it speeds to the right. Even the telephone poles seem to sway.
- What things and people are making music and sound in this scene? The choir, Appalachian women, banjo player, and cowboy are singing. The train rumbles and whistles, the riverboat whistles, and dancers stamp their feet on a wooden floor. The dulcimer, fiddles, banjo, and guitar are all being played.
- Benton wanted all the musicians to play the same note and sing their varied music in tune. Do you think this painting seems like noisy confusion or are all the parts in harmony?
- What does the steam engine represent? The steam engine represents change—the end of agrarian life as Americans left farms for cities and regional cultures blended together.
- Why did Benton include in the painting a homage to Tex Ritter, the singing cowboy? Ritter helped persuade Benton to paint this picture but died before it was completed.
- Why did Benton not sign this painting? He died before he completed it.
- Before he died, Benton was trying to decide whether he should repaint the train. Why do you think he wanted to do this?

Public art: murals

- A mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. Murals are often site-specific, meaning that they are artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location (including culture and history) into account while planning and creating the artwork.
Have you seen any murals? Where? What are they for?

Compare to the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (10a):

- How are the pieces similar? They were both created for a specific site, they both depict important historical events. Both pieces make use of symbolism (the steam engine, the angel) as well as real, historical figures (Tex Ritter, Robert Gould Shaw)

- How are they different? Benton's mural depicts a generalized history of country music, whereas Saint-Gauden's piece was created to commemorate a specific moment in time.

17-B Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964

2010-03-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

17-B Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964
Look closely at all the parts of this collage.
Find these elements: Dove, Black cat, White cat
Describe the setting for this scene. It is a city street. Some students may know this is a Harlem neighborhood in New York City.
What architectural details would you see on a city street? Complicated but weathered wooden moldings surround the doors and windows; there are steps, and grids on some windows. The fire escape has a wrought iron railing.
Where did Bearden repeat textures in the shape of brick? He repeated these textures above the street, in the upper half of the composition.
What do these brick textures represent? They represent walls of brick (tenement) buildings.
Bearden rearranges pieces of magazine and newspaper images to create new messages. Locate a figure. What is this figure doing? Find people looking out windows, sitting on steps, and walking on the street. Most of the figures are composed of more than one cut-out. In the center a man holding a cigarette sits on steps. Another man,wearing a white hat low over his eyes, walks down the sidewalk. To the left of the black cat, a woman leans on her elbows and looks out a basement window.
Ask the students to consider how we perceive our environment. For example, when we’re sitting in a room or walking down the street, do we see everything at once in equal detail? We see the scene in fragments.
How is Bearden’s collage like the way we take in a scene in real life? We see a complicated or active scene piece by piece over time.
Bearden grew up in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, and he loved jazz. How is his collage like jazz? Both encourage the artist to improvise and try new arrangements. The fragmented style is like the upbeat syncopation of jazz rhythms, which opens up a musical composition.
Describe the mood and energy of this scene. It is bustling, everything is close and crowded; people are walking and milling about, watching and being watched; and it seems that there would be lots of sound.
Bearden wanted to show African American life in America from an African American point of view. Explain how well you think he accomplishes that in this collage.

17-A Jacob Lawrence, The Migration of the Negro Panel no. 57, 1940–1941

2010-03-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Harlem renaissance – 1920’s-30s – African American writers, musicians and artists celebrated their heritage and culture and redefined artistic forms of expression. Mainly explored three areas: the rich heritage of Africa, the ugly legacy of slavery, the realities of urban life. No unified visual style; ended with stock market crash.

17-A Jacob Lawrence, The Migration of the Negro Panel no. 57, 1940–1941
Study this painting, paying attention to all the parts of the composition.
What is this woman is doing? She is stirring laundry with a washing stick.
What shapes do you see in this painting? There are rectangles and irregular rounded shapes.
What do the large rectangles and the irregular rounded shapes represent? The large rectangles are laundry drying, and the irregular forms are laundry being washed.
Lawrence painted all the panels for The Migration Series at the same time, one color at a time. How did this affect the way the series looks? Because the same colors are on each panel, the panels seem unified.
Who was migrating in The Migration Series? Where were they going? African Americans were moving from the South to the North.
Why were they leaving the South? They were seeking a better life with higher-paying jobs.
What type of jobs had African Americans traditionally done in the South? They were farm laborers and domestic workers, although some were professionals, such as doctors and teachers.
What type of jobs were many migrants hoping to find in the North? Many were seeking factory jobs.
How did Lawrence learn about scenes from the migration? He listened to his family and friends’ stories, and he researched historical events from this time period in the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library.
What was significant about Lawrence being asked to exhibit his art in a downtown gallery?

Previously, African American artists had been excluded from downtown galleries.

Go here to see the odd numbered images of the migration series

Cubism

2010-03-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1907 and 1911 in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919, when the Surrealist movement gained popularity.

In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism's distinct characteristics.

Analytical Cubism is one of the two major branches of the artistic movement of Cubism and was developed between 1908 and 1912. In contrast to Synthetic cubism, Analytic cubists "analyzed" natural forms and reduced the forms into basic geometric parts on the two-dimensional picture plane. Color was almost non-existent except for the use of a monochromatic scheme that often included grey, blue and ochre. Instead of an emphasis on color, Analytic cubists focused on forms like the cylinder, sphere and the cone to represent the natural world. During this movement, the works produced by Picasso and Braque shared stylistic similarities.

In Paris in 1907 there was a major museum retrospective exhibition of the work of Paul Cezanne shortly after his death. The exhibition was enormously influential in establishing Cézanne as an important painter whose ideas were particularly resonant especially to young artists in Paris. Both Picasso and Braque found the inspiration for Cubism from Paul Cézanne, who said to observe and learn to see and treat nature as if it were composed of basic shapes like cubes, spheres, cylinders, and cones. Picasso was the main analytic cubist, but Braque was also prominent.

Synthetic Cubism was the second main movement within Cubism that was developed by Picasso, Braque, Juan Gris and others between 1912 and 1919. Synthetic cubism is characterized by the introduction of different textures, surfaces, collage elements, and a large variety of merged subject matter. It was the beginning of collage materials being introduced as an important ingredient of fine art work.

Whereas Analytic Cubism was an analysis of the subjects (pulling them apart into planes), Synthetic Cubism is more of a pushing of several objects together. Less pure than Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism has fewer planar shifts (or schematism), and less shading, creating flatter space.

Above: Picasso, "Le Guitariste" (Analytic Cubism)

Picasso, "Three Musicians"

Picasso, "Still Life with Chair Caning" (Synthetic Cubism)

16-A Edward Hopper, House by the Railroad, 1925

2010-02-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

16-A Edward Hopper, House by the Railroad, 1925
- Look closely at this painting and imagine whether anyone lives in the house.
- Describe the mood of this painting. Maybe lonely, empty, bleak, or barren? Ask them to explain why it seems like this. The dull gray color of the house, its deep shadow, windows with nothing visible inside, empty porch, and lack of vegetation all contribute to the lonely mood. Even the railroad track separates the viewers from the house, hiding the steps to the porch and making it seem even less accessible.
- Where is the sun? It is on the left.
- Where are the darkest shadows? They are on the right, under the porch overhang.
- What do these dark shadows suggest about the house?
- Describe the architecture of this house. What shape are its windows and roof? It is of ornate Victorian style with arched windows; the house has porches, brick chimneys, and an extremely steep, curved Mansard roof. The main body is three stories tall and the tower section has four stories.
- How would a real estate agent might write an ad for this house? What are its strong features? How could its location be described positively?
- Imagine how this scene would change if a train went by on this track. It would be noisy and the house might shake. At night, lights would shine in the windows.
- Which was built first, the house or the railroad track? Explain why they think this. Because this is an old-fashioned house with dated architectural features and it is too close to the railroad track, the track was probably laid after the house.
- Think of a building in their community that seems old, outdated, and ugly, but not so old that it is
a treasured antique. Explain that this is how Hopper probably felt about this house. Its Victorian architecture was dated and out of style in 1925, but today that style has regained some of its popularity.
- What elements in this painting help convey a sense of loneliness? The empty track and the lack of any activity enforce a sense of loneliness.
- Why might many people come near this house each day? What might they think about the house and its inhabitants? Will they probably ever meet the people who live in this house? Train passengers come close to the house each day but speed past it. They might even see people behind the windows or on the porch but cannot meet or talk with them. The speed of modern life sometimes isolates people even when it brings them physically near each other.

Nighthawks – 1942, 33x60 inches
The term "night-hawk", like 'night owl', is used figuratively to describe someone who stays up late. The scene was inspired by a diner (since demolished) in Greenwich Village, Hopper's home neighborhood in Manhattan.
Hopper began painting it immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sunday, December 7, 1941. After this event there was a widespread feeling of gloominess across the country, a feeling that is portrayed in the painting. The urban street is empty outside the diner, and inside none of the three patrons is apparently looking or talking to the others; all are lost in their own thoughts. Two are a couple, while the third is a man sitting alone, with his back to the viewer. The diner's sole attendant, looking up from his work, appears to be peering out the window past the customers. His age is indeterminate.
The corner of the diner is curved; curved glass connects the large expanse of glass on its two sides. Weather is understood to be warm, based on clothing worn by the patrons. No overcoats are in evidence; the woman's blouse is short-sleeved. Across the street are what appear to be open windows on the second story. The light from the restaurant floods out onto the street outside, and a sliver of light casts its way into one of the windows.
This portrayal of modern urban life as empty or lonely is a common theme throughout Hopper's work. It is sharply outlined by the fact that the man with his back to us appears lonelier because of the couple sitting next to him. If one looks closely, it becomes apparent that there is no way out of the bar area, as the three walls of the counter form a triangle that traps the attendant. It is also notable that the diner has no visible door leading to the outside, which illustrates the idea of confinement and entrapment. Hopper denied that he had intended to communicate this in Nighthawks, but he admitted that "unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city." At the time of the painting, fluorescent lights had just been developed, perhaps contributing to why the diner is casting such an eerie glow upon the almost pitch black outside world. An advertisement for Phillies cigars is featured on top of the diner.

15-A Charles Sheeler, American Landscape, 1930

2010-02-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

15-A Charles Sheeler, American Landscape, 1930
Charles Sheeler is recognized as one of the founders of American modernism and one of the master photographers of the 20th century. He studied painting under William Merritt Chase in Pennsylvania. In 1909, he went to Paris, just when the popularity of Cubism was skyrocketing. Returning to the United States, he realized that he would not be able to make a living with Modernist painting. Instead, he took up commercial photography (as a self-taught photographer). Sheeler painted using a technique that complemented his photography. He was a self-proclaimed Precisionist, a term that emphasized the linear precision he employed in his depictions. As in his photographic works, his subjects were generally material things such as machinery and structures.

Look closely at all the details in this painting.
- Locate the tiny figure. He is on the railroad tracks.
- Where is the ladder? It is located in the right corner.
- Where are the silos? They are on the left.
- How does Sheeler indicate distance in this painting? The parallel horizontal lines are converging, coming closer together, to the left of the painting. Objects overlap and distant structures are smaller, with fewer details.
- What lines look as if they were drawn with a ruler? The lines on the edge of the canal, the train and tracks, and the buildings look as if they were composed with a straight edge.
- Much of this painting is geometric. What parts are not? The water and the reflections in the water, the sky and smoke, and the pile of ore are irregular in shape.
-How large do the buildings seem in comparison with the man. They are huge.
- This plant mass-produced automobiles. Raw materials and ores were transformed into cars. Long conveyor belts moved materials within the factory. What structures in this view possibly house conveyor belts? The long, thin white structure in front of the silos and other large buildings are possible sheds.
- What does this painting say about the scale of American industry in 1930? Sheeler was impressed with the massive scale of American industry and this plant.
- Visualize how industrial progress changed this view of the American landscape. Encourage them to imagine how this scene looked before the canal, railroad, and factories were built. The river might have curved and been lined with trees and plants. Smoke would not fill the sky.
- Do you think this painting seems more positive or negative regarding industrial development?
- How might an average American in 1930 answer this question? How did factories like this affect the lives of American consumers? Factories like this employed many people and the mass-produced goods they made were affordable to middle-class Americans. Early twentieth-century Americans were proud of their country’s industrial development and appreciated the rise in their standard of living made possible by mass production. Today, Americans are more sensitive to the effects of industrial development on the environment.
- Does this painting look like a photograph? Why or why not? Everything looks extremely clean and new- probably didn’t look this way for long, if at all, in reality.
- How does the absence of any evidence of humanity (save the lonely, anonymous figure) affect your reading of the painting? Sheeler exalts the industrial age and the inventiveness of man while at the same time glorifying the machines as beings apart from humanity.

Compare to Stella: What is each artist's goal in painting these huge man-made structures? How are they different? How are they similar? How might these artists have treated the subject of the other? How might they portray the same objects in different ways?

Conversation with Sky and Earth 1931; Classic Landscape

16-B Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, 1935–1939

2010-01-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

16-B Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, 1935–1939
- Why is this house called Fallingwater? The house extends over a waterfall.
- Which exterior materials on this house are natural and which are man-made? The stone is natural, and the concrete, glass, and metal are man-made.
- Notice how the textures of these materials contrast with each other. Describe the textures of the different parts of the house. The glass is smooth and shiny and the rock is very rough. The concrete is gritty, but not as rough as the stone, nor as smooth as the glass.
- How did Wright preserve the natural beauty of this site? He made the house blend into the natural landscape by echoing the shape of the cliff and boulders. He built a large portion of the house from rock quarried on site. He did not plant large expanses of lawn, bulldoze the site to make it level, or cut down many trees.
- What parts of Fallingwater are cantilevered? The horizontal balconies are cantilevered.
- What part of the building appears to create the weight to hold them in place? The vertical stone column fulfills this function.
- Why might a city dweller enjoy this house? Imagine being on one of the balconies. What would you hear?
A retreat in the country would be a change of scenery for those who live in a city. From the balcony you hear the sound of the waterfall.
- The Kaufmanns wanted a vacation home on their land. Why was the location that Wright chose for the house a surprise to them? Where would most architects probably have located the house to take advantage of the natural waterfall? Most architects would locate the house to have a view of the waterfall instead of placing the house on top of it.
- How is Fallingwater like a piece of contemporary abstract art from the twentieth century? It’s been simplified into basic, essential shapes without added ornamentation.

The Guggenheim Museum in New York City

La Miniatura - Most people do not know that the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was commissioned to design and construct a home that resembles a “Mayan temple set in a jungle ravine”. Even more extraordinary is that it still stands in Pasadena, California. Frank Lloyd Wright enjoyed creating “La Miniatura” so much, he was quoted as saying, “I would rather have built this little house than St. Peter’s in Rome.”

E. Fay Jones 1921-2004
Euine Fay Jones was probably Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous apprentice. Jones and Wright had an immediate rapport when they met while Jones was a professor. Jones’s entire family visited Wright in his winter workshop, Taliesin West, near Scottsdale, Arizona. Later, Wright invited Jones's entire family to his home and design institute Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Jones returned to both sites numerous times as both friend and apprentice and became a Taliesin Fellow.

A quiet, unassuming intellectual (also a strong Christian!) who taught Architecture at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Jones’ most well-known buildings are chapels and residences in his home state (as opposed to ego-driven skyscrapers). Thorncrown Chapel, a small, breathtaking glass chapel nestled in the Ozarks, pays tribute to the beauty of nature created by God.

(Top to bottom: Cooper Chapel, Pinecone Pavilion, Spock at the Ministry...aka Skyrose...in the new Star Trek movie, Thorncrown Chapel)

15-B William Van Alen, The Chrysler Building, 1926–1930

2010-01-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

15-B William Van Alen, The Chrysler Building, 1926–1930

- Locate triangles, squares, rectangles, and semi-circles on the Chrysler Building. Geometric shapes were important to Art Deco-style architecture.

- Why did corporations and architects race to build tall skyscrapers in the 1920s? The economy was flourishing, corporations needed more office space, and Chrysler wanted to own the tallest building in New York City.

- Why do you think the spire was added to the top? It was added to make it taller than all the other buildings.

- What happened in 1929 to halt this building spree? The stock market crashed.

- New York City building codes required that tall buildings such as this step back their upper stories. What were the benefits of making tall buildings smaller near the top? This allowed more light and air to reach the streets and made the buildings look even taller than they really were.

13-B Louis Comfort Tiffany, Autumn Landscape– The River of Life, 1923–1924

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Art Deco was a popular international art design movement from 1925 until the 1940s, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, glamorous, functional and modern.

The movement was a mixture of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Art Nouveau, and Futurism. Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.

The structure of Art Deco is based on mathematical geometric shapes. It was considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources. The ability to travel and excavations during this time influenced artists and designers, integrating several elements from countries not their own. Among them were the so-called "primitive" arts of Africa, as well as historical styles such as Greco-Roman Classicism, and the art of Babylon, Assyria, Ancient Egypt, and Aztec Mexico. Much of this could be attributed to the popular interest in archeology in the 1920s (eg, the tomb of Tutankhamen, Pompeii, the lost city of Troy, etc). Art Deco also drew on Machine Age and streamline technologies such as modern aviation, electric lighting, the radio, the ocean liner and the skyscraper for inspiration.

13-B Louis Comfort Tiffany, Autumn Landscape– The River of Life, 1923–1924

- How are stained glass creations made? See a brief video here

- What do you see first in this window? The sun in the center.

- Why is our attention drawn to this area? It is the lightest part of the window and contains the strongest contrast of light and dark.

- How would this window feel if you ran your fingers over its surface? It would feel rough in some areas and smooth in others.

- Where do you see rough textures? These are found in the trees and rocks.

- Where do you see smooth textures? They are located in the pool and the light sky.

- Tiffany used a variety of techniques to create special textures and colors of glass.

Mottled glass: It is located in the dark parts of the sky.

Confetti glass: We see it in the foliage.

Marbleized glass: It is found in the boulders.

Rippled glass: It occurs in the closest pool.

- What time of the day is depicted? Because the sun is near the horizon, it is early morning or late afternoon.

- Why will this art look different at different times of the day? The light shining through it will be different depending on how high or low the sun is in the sky and whether it is a bright or overcast day.

- Stained-glass windows are commonly seen in churches, but this window was created for a stairwell in a man’s private home. Why would someone rather have a stained-glass window in a house than clear glass? The window is beautiful, and provides privacy or blocks unsightly views.

- How would this landscape make the space of a small stairwell feel larger? Instead of a wall at the top of the stairs, the window would open up a deep vista and make the inside space look as if it continues outside into the landscape.

- Because the man who commissioned this window died before it was installed, it seemed like a memorial for him. Why are autumn scenes and sunsets often featured in memorials to the dead? Sometimes a year is a metaphor for a lifetime. The autumn of a person’s life refers to a later stage of life and the sunset marks the end of a day.

Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. He illustrated collections of stories such as fairy tales of Anderson and Perrault and Edgar Allen Poe.

Stained glass is central to Clarke's career. His glass is distinguished by the finesse of its drawing, unusual in the medium, his use of rich colors (inspired by an early visit to see the stained glass of the Cathedral of Chartres, he was especially fond of deep blues), and an innovative integration of the window leading as part of the overall design (his use of heavy lines in his black and white book illustrations is probably derived from his glass techniques).

Visual Arts of the United States

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Visual arts of the United States refers to the history of painting and visual art in the United States. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement, which began as a reaction to the industrial revolution. Developments in modern art in Europe came to America from exhibitions in New York City such as the Armory Show in 1913. Previously American Artists had based the majority of their work on Western Painting and European Arts. After World War II, New York replaced Paris as the center of the art world. Since then many American Movements have shaped Modern and Post Modern art. Art in the United States today covers a huge range of styles.

Eighteenth century
After the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which marked the official beginning of the American national identity, the new nation needed a history, and part of that history would be expressed visually. Most of early American art (from the late 18th century through the early 19th century) consists of history painting and portraits. Painters such as Gilbert Stuart made portraits of the newly elected government officials, while John Singleton Copley was painting emblematic portraits for the increasingly prosperous merchant class, and painters such as John Trumbull were making large battle scenes of the Revolutionary War.

Nineteenth century
Hudson River School, Luminism (American art style), and American Impressionism

James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother (1871) popularly known as Whistler's Mother, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

America's first well-known school of painting—the Hudson River School—appeared in 1820. As with music and literature, this development was delayed until artists perceived that the New World offered subjects unique to itself; in this case the westward expansion of settlement brought the transcendent beauty of frontier landscapes to painters' attention.

The Hudson River painters' directness and simplicity of vision influenced such later artists as Winslow Homer (1836-1910), who depicted rural America—the sea, the mountains, and the people who lived near them. Middle-class city life found its painter in Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), an uncompromising realist whose unflinching honesty undercut the genteel preference for romantic sentimentalism. Henry Ossawa Tanner who studied with Thomas Eakins was one of the first important African American painters.

Paintings of the Great West, particularly the act of conveying the sheer size of the land and the cultures of the native people living on it, were starting to emerge as well. Artists such as George Catlin broke from traditional styles of showing land, most often done to show how much a subject owned, to show the West and its people as honestly as possible.

Many painters who are considered American spent some time in Europe and met other European artists in Paris and London, such as Mary Cassatt and Whistler.

Twentieth Century
American realism and American modernism

Mary Cassatt, The Bath 1891-1892, Art Institute of Chicago, while painted in Europe, Cassatt is considered an American painter

Controversy soon became a way of life for American artists. In fact, much of American painting and sculpture since 1900 has been a series of revolts against tradition. "To hell with the artistic values," announced Robert Henri (1865-1929). He was the leader of what critics called the Ashcan school of painting, after the group's portrayals of the squalid aspects of city life. American realism became the new direction for American visual artists at the turn of the century. In photography the Photo-Secession movement led by Alfred Steiglitz made pathways for photography as an emerging art form. Soon the Ashcan school artists gave way to modernists arriving from Europe—the cubists and abstract painters promoted by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) at his 291 Gallery in New York City. John Marin, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Henry Maurer, Arthur Dove, Henrietta Shore, Stuart Davis, Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Morgan Russell, Patrick Henry Bruce, and Gerald Murphy were some important early American modernist painters.

After World War I many American artists also rejected the modern trends emanating from the Armory Show and European influences such as those from the School of Paris. Instead they chose to adopt academic realism in depicting American urban and rural scenes. Charles Sheeler, and Charles Demuth were referred to as Precisionists and the artists from the Ashcan school or American realism: notably George Bellows, Everett Shinn, George Benjamin Luks, William Glackens, and John Sloan and others developed socially conscious imagery in their works.

The American Southwest

Georgia O'Keeffe, Ram's Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills, 1935, the Brooklyn Museum

Following the first World War, the completion of the Santa Fe Railroad enabled American settlers to travel across the west, as far as the California coast. New artists’ colonies started growing up around Santa Fe and Taos, the artists primary subject matter being the native people and landscapes of the Southwest. Images of the Southwest became a popular form of advertising, used most significantly by the Santa Fe Railroad to entice settlers to come west and enjoy the “unsullied landscapes.” Walter Ufer, Bert Greer Phillips, E. Irving Couse, William Henry Jackson, and Georgia O'Keeffe are some of the more prolific artists of the Southwest.

Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was another significant development in American art. In the 1920s and 30s a new generation of educated and politically astute African-American men and women emerged who sponsored literary societies and art and industrial exhibitions to combat racist stereotypes. The movement showcases the range of talents within African-American communities. Though the movement included artists from across America, it was centered in Harlem, and work from Harlem graphic artist Aaron Douglas and photographer James VanDerZee became emblematic of the movement. Some of the artists include Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Alston, Augusta Savage, Archibald Motley, Lois Mailou Jones, Palmer Hayden and Sargent Johnson.

New Deal Art

Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark (Figure Composition), 1920, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC.

When the Great Depression hit, president Roosevelt’s New Deal created several public arts programs. The purpose of the programs was to give work to artists and decorate public buildings, usually with a national theme. The first of these projects, the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), was created after successful lobbying by the unemployed artists of the Artists' Union. The PWAP lasted less than one year, and produced nearly 15,000 works of art. It was followed by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FAP/WPA) in 1935, which funded some of the most well-known American artists. Several separate and related movements began and developed during the Great Depression including American scene painting, Regionalism, and Social Realism. Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, Grant Wood, Ben Shahn, Joseph Stella, Reginald Marsh, Isaac Soyer, Raphael Soyer, and Jack Levine were some of the best known artists.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract expressionism, Action Painting, Color Field, and Lyrical Abstraction

Franz Kline, Painting Number 2, 1954, The Museum of Modern Art

In the years after World War II, a group of New York artists formed the first American movement to exert major influence internationally: abstract expressionism. This term, which had first been used in 1919 in Berlin, was used again in 1946 by Robert Coates in The New York Times, and was taken up by the two major art critics of that time, Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg. It has always been criticized as too large and paradoxical, yet the common definition implies the use of abstract art to express feelings, emotions, what is within the artist, and not what stands without.

The first generation of abstract expressionists was composed of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston, Ad Reinhardt, Hans Hofmann, James Brooks, Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Mark Tobey, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Theodoros Stamos, Jack Tworkov and others. Though the numerous artists encompassed by this label had widely different styles, contemporary critics found several common points between them.

Many first generation abstract expressionists were influenced both by the Cubists' works (black and white copies in art reviews and the works themselves at the 291 Gallery or the Armory Show), and by the European Surrealists, most of them abandoned formal composition and representation of real objects; and by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Often the abstract expressionists decided to try instinctual, intuitive, spontaneous arrangements of space, line, shape and color. Abstract Expressionism can be characterized by two major elements - the large size of the canvases used, (partially inspired by Mexican frescoes and the works they made for the WPA in the 1930s), and the strong and unusual use of brushstrokes and experimental paint application with a new understanding of process.

The emphasis and intensification of color and large open expanses of surface were two of the principles applied to the movement called Color field Painting. Ad Reinhardt, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman were categorized as such. Another movement was called Action Painting, characterized by spontaneous reaction, powerful brushstrokes, dripped and splashed paint and the strong physical movements used in the production of a painting. Jackson Pollock is an example of an Action Painter: his creative process, incorporating thrown and dripped paint from a stick or poured directly from the can; he revolutionized painting methods. Willem de Kooning famously said about Pollock "he broke the ice for the rest of us." Ironically Pollock's large repetitious expanses of linear fields are also characteristic of Color Field painting as well, and art critic Michael Fried pointed that out in his essay for the catalog of Three American painters: Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Frank Stella at the Fogg Art Museum in 1965. Despite the disagreements between art critics, Abstract Expressionism marks a turning-point in the history of American art: the 1940s and 1950s saw international attention shift from European -Parisian- art, to American -New York- art.

Color field painting went on as a movement: artists in the 1950s, such as Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and in the 1960s, Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, and Helen Frankenthaler, sought to make paintings which would eliminate superfluous rhetoric with large, flat areas of color.

After Abstract Expressionism

During the 1950s abstract painting in America evolved into movements such as Neo-Dada, Post painterly abstraction, Op Art, hard-edge painting, Minimal art, Shaped canvas painting, Lyrical Abstraction, and the continuation of Abstract expressionism. As a response to the tendency toward abstraction imagery emerged through various new movements like Pop Art, the Bay Area Figurative Movement and later in the 1970s Neo-expressionism.

Lyrical Abstraction along with the Fluxus movement and Postminimalism (a term first coined by Robert Pincus-Witten in the pages of Artforum in 1969) sought to expand the boundaries of abstract painting and Minimalism by focusing on process, new materials and new ways of expression. Postminimalism often incorporating industrial materials, raw materials, fabrications, found objects, installation, serial repetition, and often with references to Dada and Surrealism is best exemplified in the sculptures of Eva Hesse. Lyrical Abstraction, Conceptual Art, Postminimalism, Earth Art, Video, Performance art, Installation art, along with the continuation of Fluxus, Abstract Expressionism, Color Field Painting, Hard-edge painting, Minimal Art, Op art, Pop Art, Photorealism and New Realism extended the boundaries of Contemporary Art in the mid-1960s through the 1970s.

Lyrical Abstraction shares similarities with Color Field Painting and Abstract Expressionism especially in the freewheeling usage of paint - texture and surface. Direct drawing, calligraphic use of line, the effects of brushed, splattered, stained, squeegeed, poured, and splashed paint superficially resemble the effects seen in Abstract Expressionism and Color Field Painting. However the styles are markedly different.

During the 1960s and 1970s painters as powerful and influential as Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston, Lee Krasner, Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Richard Diebenkorn, Josef Albers, Elmer Bischoff, Agnes Martin, Al Held, Sam Francis, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, Gene Davis, Frank Stella, Joan Mitchell, Friedel Dzubas, and younger artists like Brice Marden, Robert Mangold, Sam Gilliam, Sean Scully, Elizabeth Murray, Walter Darby Bannard, Larry Zox, Ronnie Landfield, Ronald Davis, Dan Christensen, Susan Rothenberg, Ross Bleckner, Richard Tuttle, Julian Schnabel, and dozens of others produced vital and influential paintings.

Other Modern American Movements

Pop Art, Hard-edge painting, Happenings, Fluxus, Chicago Imagists, Postminimal, Neo-expressionism, and Conceptual Art

Nighthawks (1942) by Edward Hopper is one of his best known works, Art Institute of Chicago

Members of the next artistic generation favored a different form of abstraction: works of mixed media. Among them were Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) and Jasper Johns (1930- ), who used photos, newsprint, and discarded objects in their compositions. Pop artists, such as Andy Warhol (1930-1987), Larry Rivers (1923-2002), and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), reproduced, with satiric care, everyday objects and images of American popular culture—Coca-Cola bottles, soup cans, comic strips. Realism has also been popular in the United States, despite modernist tendencies, such as the city scenes by Edward Hopper and the illustrations of Norman Rockwell. In certain places, for example Chicago, Abstract Expressionism never caught on; in Chicago, the dominant art style was grotesque, symbolic realism, as exemplified by the Chicago Imagists Cosmo Campoli (1923-1997), Jim Nutt (1938- ), Ed Paschke (1939-2004), and Nancy Spero (1926- ).

Notable figures:
A few American artists of note include Ansel Adams, John James Audubon, Milton Avery, Romare Bearden, Thomas Hart Benton, Albert Bierstadt, Alexander Calder, Robert Capa, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Dale Chihuly, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole, John Singleton Copley, Edward S. Curtis, Stuart Davis, Richard Diebenkorn, Thomas Eakins, Sir Jacob Epstein, Jules Feiffer, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile Gorky, Marsden Hartley, Al Hirschfeld, Hans Hofmann, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Dorothea Lange, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, John Marin, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Man Ray, Robert Rauschenberg, Frederic Remington, Norman Rockwell, Mark Rothko, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Dr. Seuss, Ben Shahn, Cindy Sherman, David Smith, Frank Stella, Gilbert Stuart, James Thurber, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Andy Warhol, Frank Lloyd Wright, Andrew Wyeth, N.C. Wyeth.

See also
• Abstract Expressionism
• Aesthetics
• American Impressionism
• American modernism
• American realism
• American scene painting
• Art education in the United States
• Colorfield painting
• History of painting
• Late Modernism
• List of American artists
• Lyrical Abstraction
• Modernism
• Native American art
• Regionalism
• Sculpture of the United States
• Social Realism
• Synchromism
• Visual arts of Chicago
• Western painting

Art History Timeline

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As we are on the brink of studying Modern Art, it will be helpful to review past art movements as well as get a brief introduction to the many art movements associated with Modern Art.

RENAISSANCE 1400 - 1800 AD

Renaissance: Italy 1400 - 1600
Renaissance: Europe 1500 - 1600
Baroque 1600 - 1700
Rococo 1700 - 1750

PRE-MODERN 1800 - 1880
Neo-Classicism 1750 - 1880
(USA: Federal/Greek Revival)
Romanticism 1800 - 1880
Realism 1830s - 1850s

Impressionism 1870s - 1890s
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in Le Charivari.

Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles.

Radicals in their time, early Impressionists broke the rules of academic painting. They began by giving colours, freely brushed, primacy over line. They also took the act of painting out of the studio and into the modern world. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes had usually been painted indoors. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air. Painting realistic scenes of modern life, they emphasized vivid overall effects rather than details. They used short, "broken" brush strokes of pure and unmixed colour, not smoothly blended, as was customary, in order to achieve the effect of intense colour vibration.

- Claude Monet, Pierre- Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam

MODERNISM 1880 - 1945

Post Impressionism 1880 - 1900
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism. Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colors, thick application of paint, distinctive brush strokes, and real-life subject matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary color.

- Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat

Expressionism 1900 – 1920
Expressionism was a cultural movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the start of the 20th-century. Its typical trait is to present the world under an utterly subjective perspective, violently distorting it to obtain an emotional effect and vividly transmit personal moods and ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of "being alive" and emotional experience rather than physical reality.

- USA: Charles Burchfield, Joseph Stella; Elsewhere: Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Edvard Munch, El Greco

Fauvism 1900 - 1920
Les Fauves (French for The Wild Beasts) were a short-lived and loose grouping of early 20th century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. It can also be seen as a form of Expressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only three years, 1905–1907, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain.

“How do you see these trees? They are yellow. So, put in yellow; this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion.” - Gauguin

- Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Georges Rouault, Alice Bailly, Georges Braque, Paul Gauguin

Cubism 1907 - 1914

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1907 and 1911 in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919, when the Surrealist movement gained popularity.

In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism's distinct characteristics.

Some believe that the roots of cubism are to be found in the two distinct tendencies of Paul Cézanne's later work: first, to break the painted surface into small multifaceted areas of paint, thereby emphasizing the plural viewpoint given by binocular vision, and second, his interest in the simplification of natural forms into cylinders, spheres, and cones.

However the cubists explored this concept further than Cézanne; they represented all the surfaces of depicted objects in a single picture plane, as if the objects had had all their faces visible at the same time. This new kind of depiction revolutionized the way in which objects could be visualized in painting and art.

French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first used the term "cubism", or "bizarre cubiques", in 1908 after seeing a picture by Braque. He described it as "full of little cubes", after which the term quickly gained wide use although the two creators did not initially adopt it.

In 1913 the United States was exposed to cubism and modern European art when Jacques Villon exhibited several works at the famous Armory Show in New York City. Braque and Picasso themselves went through several distinct phases before 1920, and some of these works had been seen in New York prior to the Armory Show, at Alfred Stieglitz's "291" gallery.

- Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Marcel Duchamp, Diego Rivera, many others

Dada 1916 - 1922

Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Its purpose was to ridicule what its participants considered to be the meaninglessness of the modern world. In addition to being anti-war, dada was also anti-bourgeois and anarchistic in nature.

Dada activities included public gatherings, demonstrations, and publication of art/literary journals; passionate coverage of art, politics, and culture were topics often discussed in a variety of media. The movement influenced later styles like the avant-garde and downtown music movements, and groups including surrealism, Nouveau réalisme, pop art, Fluxus and punk rock.

Art techniques developed
Collage - The dadaists imitated the techniques developed during the cubist movement through the pasting of cut pieces of paper items, but extended their art to encompass items such as transportation tickets, maps, plastic wrappers, etc. to portray aspects of life, rather than representing objects viewed as still life.
Photomontage - The Berlin Dadaists - the "monteurs" (mechanics) - would use scissors and glue rather than paintbrushes and paints to express their views of modern life through images presented by the media. A variation on the collage technique, photomontage utilized actual or reproductions of real photographs printed in the press.
Assemblage - The assemblages were three-dimensional variations of the collage - the assembly of everyday objects to produce meaningful or meaningless (relative to the war) pieces of work.
Readymades - Marcel Duchamp began to view the manufactured objects of his collection as objects of art, which he called "readymades". He would add signatures and titles to some, converting them into artwork that he called "readymade aided" or "rectified readymades". One such example of Duchamp's readymade works is the urinal that was turned onto its back, signed "R. Mutt", titled "Fountain", and submitted to the Society of Independent Artists exhibition that year.

- Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray

Bauhaus 1920s - 1940s

Bauhaus is the common term for the Staatliches Bauhaus, a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. it was founded with the idea of creating a 'total' work of art in which all arts, including architecture would eventually be brought together. The Bauhaus style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design. The Bauhaus had a profound influence upon subsequent developments in art, architecture, graphic design, interior design, industrial design, and typography. Defeat in World War I, the fall of the German monarchy and the abolition of censorship under the new, liberal Weimar Republic allowed an upsurge of radical experimentation in all the arts, previously suppressed by the old regime. The Bauhaus style, also known as the International Style, was marked by the absence of ornamentation and by harmony between the function of an object or a building and its design.

- Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Piet Mondrian

Harlem Renaissance 1920s - 1940s
The Harlem Renaissance (the New Negro Movement) refers to the flowering of African American cultural and intellectual life during the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology The New Negro edited by Alain Locke. Centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, many French-speaking black writers from African and Caribbean colonies who lived in Paris were also influenced by the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance grew out of the changes that had taken place in the Negro American community since the abolition of slavery. These accelerated as a consequence of World War I and the great social and cultural changes in early 20th century United States. Industrialization was attracting people to cities from rural areas and gave rise to a new mass culture. Contributing factors leading to the Harlem Renaissance were the Great Migration of African Americans to northern cities, which concentrated ambitious people in places where they could encourage each other, and the First World War, which had created new industrial work opportunities for tens of thousands of people. Factors leading to the decline of this era include the Great Depression.

Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through intellect and production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes to promote progressive or socialist politics, and racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature would serve to "uplift" the race.
- Jacob Lawrence, Augusta Savage, Romare Bearden, Beauford Delaney

Surrealism 1924 1920s - 1940s

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.

Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non serquitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement.

Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities of World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s on, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy and social theory.

Breton defines Surrealism as:
Dictionary: Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.
Encyclopedia: Surrealism. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.

- Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Frida Kahlo

International Style 1920s - 1940s
The International style was a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modernist architecture. The term had its origin from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson written to record the International Exhibition of Modern Architecture held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1932 which identified, categorized and expanded upon characteristics common to Modernism across the world. As a result, the focus was more on the stylistic aspects of Modernism. Hitchcock's and Johnson's aims were to define a style of the time, which would encapsulate this modern architecture. They identified three different principles: the expression of volume rather than mass, balance rather than preconceived symmetry and the expulsion of applied ornament. All the works which were displayed as part of the exhibition were carefully selected, as only works which strictly followed the set of rules were displayed. Previous uses of the term in the same context can be attributed to Walter Gropius in Internationale Architektur, and Ludwig Hilberseimer in Internationale neue Baukunst.

- Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright
MODERN and POST-MODERN 1945 - Present

Abstract Expressionism 1945 - 1960
Op Art 1960s
Pop Art 1960s
Minimal Art 1960s
New Realism 1970s - 1980s
Conceptual Art 1970s - 1980s
Performance Art 1970s - 1980s
Neo-Expressionism 1980s - 1990s
Computer Art 1980s - 1990s
Post-Modern Classicism 1980s - 1990s
Victorian Revival 1980s - 1990s

Other:
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English, to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.

Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The notion of the existence of the avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism. Many artists have aligned themselves with the avant-garde movement and still continue to do so, tracing a history from Dada through the Situationists to postmodern artists such as the Language poets around 1981.

14-B Joseph Stella, Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1919–1920

2010-01-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

14-B Joseph Stella, Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1919–1920

Find these objects:
- Towers of the Brooklyn Bridge: They are at top, center.
- Traffic signal light: It is at the lower center.
- Bridge cables: They run from the edges to the center of the composition. Note in particular the two curving pieces connected to the bridge tower.
- What time of day is it? It is night. The sky is dark; there are deep dark shadows and shining lights.
- Are there any cars on the bridge? Perhaps. Some of the lights look like headlights.
- Do some objects seem close and others far away? Why? The thin white buildings seem farther away because they are placed higher in the painting and are smaller than the traffic light at the bottom. The cables also get smaller and several angle toward each other as though they were parallel lines converging in the distance.
- How does Stella suggest the complexity of the modern machine era? How has he indicated its dynamic movement? He jumbles the thick and thin lines, showing bits and pieces of forms as though they are glimpsed only briefly; he blurs the colors and adds diagonal and curving lines that suggest movement.
- Identify some vertical lines in this painting. How do they affect the dynamics of the composition? They give some order to the chaos.
- Imagine what Stella heard as he stood on this bridge at night. The bridge is over a river. He might have heard tugboat horns, sirens, subway trains, and cars and trucks rumbling over the bridge.
- What do you think Stella found fascinating about the bridge? He was intrigued by its huge scale, the complexity of the cable lines, and its dizzying angles. When you drive over the bridge, things are seen as fragments; headlights flash here and there, and you hear traffic in the water and on the bridge. For Stella the experience was urban, modern, and a bit frightening.

(To give you a sense of scale, here are several of Stella's paintings on exhibit)

13-A Walker Evans, Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1929

2010-01-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

Modern art: refers to artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of experimentation. Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art.

13-A Walker Evans, Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1929
- Would you recognize the image in this photograph as a bridge if it were not titled? Is this the shape you visualize when they think of a bridge?
- Why not? It’s from a different viewpoint than the one from which we usually see a bridge.
- When most artists create a picture of a bridge, what view do they show of it? Most photographs show a side view. (Below is a print of the bridge from 1883, when the bridge was completed. Notice how the perspective is very different.)

- Where was the camera when this photograph was taken? It was down low, looking up at one of the bridge’s two towers.
- Locate the point to which all the cable lines seem to lead. It is near the top center of the bridge tower.
- Is this point centered in the photograph? No, it isn’t.
- Is the balance in this picture symmetrical or asymmetrical? It is asymmetrical.
- Have you ever seen windows that were shaped like the arches on this bridge. Where did you see these? These pointed arches resemble Gothic arches usually found in medieval churches and architecture. Students might have seen pointed arches in a church.
- Gothic cathedrals were the great engineering achievements of medieval Europe. What might the presence of Gothic arches in the Brooklyn Bridge have symbolized? The reference to Gothic architecture might have symbolized that the Brooklyn Bridge was an American marvel of engineering, equivalent to the Gothic cathedrals of Europe.
- Evans wanted his photographs to show the national character of America. How does this photograph satisfy his aim? The Brooklyn Bridge, in America’s largest city, was a structure that Americans were proud of. It was a modern feat of engineering and architecture. Evans’s photograph shows the beauty of a structure that thousands of Americans used every day.
- Until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, photography was primarily a means of documentation and was not considered art. The photographer who took this picture considered photography to be an art form. Do you agree with him? Use this photograph to support your reasoning.
- Evans used a modern medium (photography) to create a modern image of a famous structure. When he had studied art in Paris, he saw modern European art that featured abstract, simplified forms. How is this photograph like abstract modern art? Its unconventional viewpoint makes the shape of the bridge seem abstract and not easily recognizable. The stark dark shape against the plain light background with the explosion of lines leading to it makes it seem like a contemporary geometric composition.

14-A Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893/1894

2010-01-13T16:40:00.000-08:00

14-A Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893/1894
- Locate the horizon line. Where would a viewer have to be to see the people and boat from this angle? A viewer would have to be located a little above them, perhaps on a dock or standing in the boat.
- Where are the horizontal lines in this painting? They occur on the shoreline and the yellow boat seats and supports.
- What is the center of interest in this composition? It is the child.
- How has Cassatt emphasized this part of the painting? The curved lines of the boat, oar, and adults’ arms lead to the child.
- Where did Cassatt repeat yellow in this painting? Yellow is repeated in the boat, oars, and the woman’s hat.
- How does blue unify this painting? Cassatt repeats blue in large areas of water and inside the boat.
- Why does the man have his foot on the yellow boat support? He is getting ready to pull the oars or is steadying himself.
- Describe the movement that the boat might make in the water. It may be rocking and surging as the oars are pulled.
- Imagine that the man and woman are talking to each other. What might they say? What do their faces and bodies suggest about their relationship?
- How is the composition of this painting like a snapshot? It’s asymmetrical, with part of the figures continuing off the picture.
- Where are there broad areas of color? Broad areas of color are found in the sail, the man’s back, the yellow parts of boat, the blue shadow in the boat, and the water.(Asymmetrical balance and broad, flat areas of color were typical of the Japanese prints that became available in Europe and the United States following the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry in 1854; these prints influenced artists in the decades that followed.)
- Are there any other ways in which the painting appears flat? The boat looks tipped up and the water is painted the same way in the foreground and the background, so that the idea of distance is reduced.
- In what ways do forms seem to move toward the edges of the painting? Examples: the woman leans left, the man leans right; the sail pulls to one corner, the oar points to another; the edges of the boat bulge out toward the sides; the horizon nearly reaches the top; and the lower yellow boat seat continues beyond the bottom.
What pulls the three figures together? The white area of the boat surrounds them; they look at each other; and their hands are close.
What might this feeling of expansion and contraction have to do with the subject of the painting? It echoes the rowing motion of the man. Students might also point out that it could also emphasize this brief and precious moment—when the man, woman, and child are intimately connected.

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/objectView.aspx?oid=2&sid=5
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878; Oil on canvas; 35 1/2 x 51 1/8 in. (89.5 x 129.8 cm)Inspired by Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and other members of their circle, Cassatt embraced the Impressionists' commitment to forthright storytelling about inconsequential subjects. In a room crammed with haphazardly arranged furniture, the daughter of friends of Degas sprawls on an overstuffed chair while Cassatt's Brussels griffon rests on another. Although Cassatt's candid picture of a bored or exhausted child repudiates traditional portraits of charming little girls in proper poses holding faithful dogs, she was enraged when the American jury rejected it for display at the 1878 Exposition Universelle. Instead, she showed it with the Impressionists in 1879, the first of her four exhibitions with the group.

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/objectView.aspx?oid=8&sid=5
A Woman and a Girl Driving, 1881; Oil on canvas; 35 1/4 x 51 3/8 in. (89.7 x 130.5 cm)Cassatt settled in Paris in 1874 and became the only American to show her works with the Impressionists. She specialized in portraying women's activities. This canvas conveys the comfortable existence of women in her circle and her own support of female empowerment. Cassatt's sister, Lydia, who came to live in Paris in 1877, is seen driving a small carriage in the Bois de Boulogne, enjoying a familiar outing and taking charge of her own path—actually and symbolically. She is accompanied by Odile Fèvre, a niece of Edgar Degas. Lydia's independence and determined concentration are in contrast to the family's passive young groom, who observes from the backward-facing seat only where the carriage has been, not where it is going.

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/objectView.aspx?oid=11&sid=5
Lady at the Tea Table, 1883–85; Oil on canvas; 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 61 cm)Cassatt's formidable image of her mother's first cousin, Mary Dickinson Riddle, presiding at tea, a daily ritual among upper-middle-class women, is imbued with the spirit of authoritative conspicuous consumption. Mrs. Riddle holds a teapot, part of a gilded blue-and-white Canton porcelain service that her daughter had presented to Cassatt's family. In response to the gift, Cassatt painted the portrait, which demonstrates her mastery of Impressionism in the rapid brushwork and sketchlike finish, the casual handling of anatomy (notably Mrs. Riddle's ring-laden hand), and the sitter's indifference to the viewer. Cassatt set all her stories of everyday Parisian life in fashionable surroundings, which suggests the propriety that a female artist needed to observe, in contrast to colleagues such as Édouard Manet, who could frequent and portray plebeian (working-class) cafés.

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/objectView.aspx?oid=25&sid=5
Young Mother Sewing, 1900; Oil on canvas; 36 3/8 x 29 in. (92.4 x 73.7 cm)During the 1890s Cassatt narrowed the range of her subjects to mothers or nurses caring for children, and children alone. These themes reflected her affection for her nieces and nephews and her friends' children as well as her contemporaries' concern with motherhood and child rearing. Set in the conservatory of Cassatt's seventeenth-century manor house near Le Mesnil-Théribus, Oise, this painting depicts two of her favorite unrelated models in the roles of mother and child. Louisine Havemeyer, who purchased the painting in 1901, remarked on the truthfulness of its narrative: "Look at that little child that has just thrown herself against her mother's knee, regardless of the result and oblivious to the fact that she could disturb ‘her mamma.' And she is quite right . . . Mamma simply draws back a bit and continues to sew."

12-B Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917, 1917

2010-01-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

12-B Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917, 1917
- Describe the brushstrokes in this painting. They can be distinguished separately, as if the artist has just made them. They are not blended together to make a smooth surface and are of different sizes.
Distinguish distinct elements in this painting:
- Find the church tower. It is on the left.
- Where are the trees in Central Park? They are the green in the lower center of the painting.
- What is happening in the street? The street is filled with people. Perhaps there is a parade.
- Where are the shadows and what color are they? They are under projecting parts of the buildings and in the street,and they are blue.
- How is this painting like an impression rather than a finished artwork? The bright colors, unblended brushstrokes, and lack of intricate detail make it seem like a quick glance at a scene.
- Which flag in the middle ground stands alone and is not overlapped by other flags? The American flag is surrounded by light blue sky.
- What does this suggest about how Hassam felt about his country? He thought America was unique and was proud of his country.
- What international event was happening when this was painted? It was painted during World War I.
- Why were so many flags flying in New York City on this day? A month before this was painted, the United States officially entered the war. On this day the British and French war commissioners were visiting New York.
- What do these flags flying together symbolize? They symbolize the fact that these three nations were standing together to fight the war.
- What elements do the flags have in common? They are all red, blue, and white.
- What does this painting show about America’s spirit in 1917? Americans were proud of their country and optimistic about the future and this alliance with France, Britain, and Canada.
- Why did this painting become famous soon after it was completed? Color reproductions of it were sold to benefit the war effort.
- Why did Americans want copies of this painting? For the beauty of the art and to show support for America and its allies as it joined them in the war.

The French Impressionists

2010-01-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a satiric review published in Le Charivari.Characteristics of Impressionist paintings include visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. Radicals in their time, early Impressionists broke the rules of academic painting. They began by giving colours, freely brushed, primacy over line. They also took the act of painting out of the studio and into the modern world. Previously, still lifes and portraits as well as landscapes had usually been painted indoors. The Impressionists found that they could capture the momentary and transient effects of sunlight by painting en plein air. Painting realistic scenes of modern life, they emphasized vivid overall effects rather than details. They used short, "broken" brush strokes of pure and unmixed colour, not smoothly blended, as was customary, in order to achieve the effect of intense colour vibration.

Monet ( water lilies/gardens, haystacks, landscapes/waterscapes)
Impression, Sunrise, 1872
Poppies Blooming 1873
Frost on Haystacks, 1888-1889
Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies 1899

Renoir (women, children, social scenes)
Dance at le Moulin de la Galette, 1876
Girls at the Piano, 1892

Degas (ballerinas/dancers)
The star, 1878

Cezanne (still lifes, mountains/landscapes, vivid color)
Mont Sainte-Victoire 1885-1887
Still Life, Drapery, Pitcher, and Fruit Bowl, 1893-1894

12-A John Singer Sargent, Portrait of a Boy, 1890

2010-01-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

12-A John Singer Sargent, Portrait of a Boy, 1890
- If you were to be sitting the way this boy is sitting, what would your mood probably be?
- What do the two poses say about how each sitter probably felt about posing for this picture?
- Homer is dressed in an outfit based on a story that was extremely popular with mothers, but this costume was also beginning to be associated with being a “mama’s boy”. Is Homer portrayed as a “mama’s boy”? (He isn’t acting obediently, he is sitting restlessly and awkwardly in his chair with a bored expression on his face, fingers spread and his back at an angle to his mother.)
- How has Sargent used the room and accessories in this painting to intensify Homer’s feelings of impatience? (the chair is too big, the swirling pattern of the carpet)
- Which figure is the most important in this portrait? How do we know?
- Sargent made his living off painting portraits of wealthy Americans and Europeans. How do you think this work, done for a friend, may have differed if it had been commissioned by a wealthy family who wanted to hang it in a prominent place in their home? (Think: George Washington. Homer’s mother would have been in a fancier dress and may have been painted facing the painter/viewer, boy less restless, more ornate surroundings.)

The Blue Boy (c. 1770) is an oil painting by Thomas Gainsborough. Perhaps Gainsborough's most famous work, it is thought to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttall, the son of a wealthy hardware merchant, although this was never proved. It is a historical costume study as well as a portrait: the youth in his 17th-century apparel is regarded as Gainsborough's homage to Anthony Van Dyck (1599 – 1641. A Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of King Charles I of England and Scotland and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draftsman, and was an important innovator in watercolor and etching.).
Gainsborough had already painted something on the canvas before beginning The Blue Boy, which he painted over. The painting itself is on a fairly large canvas for a portrait, measuring 48 inches wide by 70 inches tall. The portrait now resides in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

The children of King Charles I of England in 1637 by Van Dyck.

William Merritt Chase 1849-1916

2010-01-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

Chase cultivated multiple personnae: sophisticated cosmopolitan, devoted family man, and esteemed teacher. Chase married Alice Gerson in 1886 and together they raised eight children during Chase's most energetic artistic period. His eldest daughters, Alice Dieudonnee Chase and Dorothy Bremond Chase, often modeled for their father.

At Tenth Street in New York City, Chase had moved into Albert Bierstadt's old studio and had decorated it as an extension of his own art. Chase filled the studio with lavish furniture, decorative objects, stuffed birds, oriental carpets, and exotic musical instruments. The studio served as a focal point for the sophisticated and fashionable members of the New York City art world of the late 19th century. By 1895 the cost of maintaining the studio, in addition to his other residences, forced Chase to close it and auction the contents.

In addition to his painting, Chase actively developed an interest in teaching. Chase adopted the plein air method of painting, and often taught his students in outdoor classes. He also opened the Chase School of Art in 1896, which became the New York School of Art two years later with Chase staying on as instructor until 1907. Chase was one of the most important teachers of American artists around the turn of the 20th century. In addition to his instruction of East Coast artists like Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, M. Jean McLane, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Edward Charles Volkert, he had an important role in influencing California art at the turn of the century, especially in interactions with Arthur Frank Mathews, Xavier Martinez and Percy Gray.

Portrait painting - Chase worked in all media. He was most fluent in oil painting and pastel, but also created watercolor paintings and etchings. He is perhaps best known for his portraits, his sitters including some of the most important men and women of his time in addition to his own family. Chase often painted his wife Alice and their children, sometimes in individual portraits, and other times in scenes of domestic tranquility: at breakfast in their backyard, or relaxing at their summer home on Long Island, the children playing on the floor or among the sand dunes of Shinnecock.

Landscapes - In addition to painting portraits and full-length figurative works, Chase began painting landscapes in earnest in the late 1880s. His interest in landscape art may have been sparked by the landmark New York exhibit of French impressionist works in 1886. Chase is best remembered for two series of landscape subjects, both painted in an impressionist manner. The first was his scenes of Prospect Park, Brooklyn and Central Park in New York [see below]; the second were his summer landscapes at Shinnecock [see below]. Chase usually featured people prominently in his landscapes. Often he depicted women and children in leisurely poses, relaxing on a park bench, on the beach, or lying in the summer grass at Shinnecock. The Shinnecock works in particular have come to be thought of by art historians as particularly fine examples of American Impressionism.

Still lifes - Chase continued to paint still lifes as he had done since his student days. Decorative objects filled his studios and homes, and his interior figurative scenes frequently included still life images. Perhaps Chase's most famous still life subject was dead fish, which he liked to paint against dark backgrounds, limp on a plate as though fresh from a fishmonger's stall.

Honors and late career - Chase won many honors at home and abroad, was a member of the National Academy of Design, New York, and from 1885 to 1895 was president of the Society of American Artists.

Chase's creativity declined in his later years, especially as modern art took hold in America, but he continued to paint and teach into the 1910s. One of his last teaching positions was at Carmel, California in the summer of 1914. Chase died on October 25, 1916 in his New York townhouse, an esteemed elder of the American art world. Today his works are in most major museums in the United States.

Idle Hours, ca. 1894; Oil on canvas; 39 x 48 5/8 in. (99.1 x 123.5 cm)Between 1891 and 1902 Chase found genteel outdoor subjects in Southampton, Long Island, where he directed the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art. In this scene, set on the scrubby dunes along Shinnecock Bay, he shows four of his frequent models: a woman in a red bonnet (probably his wife), two of his daughters, and, possibly, one of Mrs. Chase's sisters. Chase invites the viewer to fill in the picture's sketchy forms and elusive story. Idle Hours, which is typical of the pictures of urbanites enjoying suburban retreats that displaced images of country folk at play, hints at the growth of leisure time in response to urbanization and industrialization, women's predominance at summer resorts while their husbands worked in the city, and unaccompanied women's preference for safe seaside pastimes. The narrative may also be as simple as Henry James's observation: "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

The Lake for Miniature Yachts, ca. 1888; Oil on canvas; 16 x 24 in. (40.6 x 61 cm)The American Impressionists captured the energy and fragmentation of contemporary experience in Paris, Boston, New York, and other cities, often focusing on public parks, which allowed them to portray urban life without confronting urban hardship. Although he usually stressed pastoral charm in his park paintings, Chase allowed the pavement to dominate this view of the Conservatory Water, a small pond just inside the Fifth Avenue boundary of New York's Central Park, at Seventy-third Street. He shows Fifth Avenue's rooftops invading the insulating screen of trees that surrounds the park, thus signaling growing challenges to the park's rural fiction. A boy in a fashionable sailor suit striding along at left and an older boy and a well-dressed younger girl at the pond's edge appear as if glimpsed in an instant, quietly pursuing their own interests without any concern for the viewer or for enacting an apparent narrative.

An English Cod, 1904, oil on canvas

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Merritt_Chase and http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/theme.aspx?sid=5

11-B James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Gold, The Peacock Room, 1876–1877

2010-01-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

11-B James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Gold, The Peacock Room, 1876–1877
-Look closely at all areas of this room. Where are the peacocks?
-Why is this room called the peacock room? (The four peacocks, the color of the room)
-What words would you use to describe this room? Why those words?
-What objects seem exotic or foreign to Western Europeans and Americans? (The peacocks are Asian birds, blue and white Chinese ceramics fill the shelves, the woman in the painting stands on an oriental rug in front of an Asian screen, wearing a kimono)
-How did Whistler create a sense of unity and harmony in the room? (Color, repeated patterns, use of gold)
-How did Whistler make his painting of the woman an important part of the rooms’ overall design? (It’s over the fireplace, surrounded by gold shelves that match its frame)
-Imagine people in this room when it was first designed. How would they dress? (In the 1870’s, women wore long, elaborate dresses and men wore cravats/ties, fitted jackets and long trousers)
-What might they do in a room like this? (Originally this was the dining room; parties or groups of people would dine and admire the room and its collection of ceramics)
-How does the room embody Whistler’s philosophy of “art for art’s sake”? (The owner intended it to be a dining room and a place to display his collection of fine East Asian porcelain, but after Whistler had finished, the room draws more attention to itself as a work of art. It contains no moral message, but there is symbolism in the design of the peacock fight, which refers to the dispute between Whistler and the room’s owner.)
(Click on an image to view it full-size)

11-A Thomas Eakins, John Biglin in a Single Scull, c. 1873

2010-01-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

11-A Thomas Eakins, John Biglin in a Single Scull, c. 1873
-Find different elements (objects) in the painting
-Describe the rower. What did Eakins need to know in order to accurately draw and paint this man? (Understand human anatomy and be very observant to how the man moved as he rowed)
-How does Eakins show distance?
-How is watercolor different from oil paint in the way it is used and in the final appearance of the painting?
-In watercolor, artists sometimes purposely leave areas blank to reveal the color of the paper. Where do you see this?
-What compositions do we see here?
-Why might Biglin be the only rower depicted in this painting? (He is an individual- challenging himself as much as competing against others.)
The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull), 1871, Oil on canvas; 32 1/4 x 46 1/4 in. (Click on the image to view it larger)
Here, in the first in a series of rowing scenes that he painted in the early 1870s, Eakins depicted his lifelong friend Max Schmitt, now an attorney and champion rower who had won an important race on Philadelphia's Schuylkill River in October 1870. As a sport, rowing was valued for its engagement of mind and body, for the discipline it required, and as a healthful antidote to increasing urban pressures, but it had been portrayed only in prints and illustrations in periodicals. Applying his characteristic narrative restraint to an unprecedented subject for painting, Eakins shows Schmitt pausing during a late-afternoon practice session while he himself rows a scull in the middle distance. Shaping his subtle story from detailed studies of individual elements, Eakins conjures both a particular moment and an iconic modern hero.
– How is this painting different from the one of John Biglin?
- How are the two paintings similar?

10-A Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial, 1884–1897

2009-12-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

10-A Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial, 1884–1897
Look closely at the figures and what they look like, what they carry.

Discuss how artists can create rhythm in works of visual art. How did Saint-Gaudens create a sense of rhythm in this relief? He repeated the slant of leg and body lines and shapes at regular intervals across the sculpture. (Even the horse’s legs match the slant of the marching soldiers’ legs.) The repeated rifles create a steady rhythm in the top half of the sculpture. Only Shaw’s upright form and his horse’s neck interrupt the steady march across the sculpture.

How did Saint-Gaudens create a sense of depth in this sculpture? How do you know that some soldiers are closer to viewers than others? Soldiers who are closer to us stand out farther from the background; they are in greater relief. The soldiers at the back are in low relief. The closer forms also overlap the more distant ones.

Which figure is closest to the viewer (in highest relief)? Robert Shaw is.

Who is in command? The man on the horse, Colonel Shaw, is. How do you know? As the only mounted figure, he is above the other soldiers; he carries a sword, and his jacket has the fancy cuffs of an officer’s uniform. Also, the title tells us that this honors Robert Shaw.

This was commissioned to honor and remember Robert Shaw, but who else does it commemorate? It honors the foot soldiers of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
Why was this monument was made of bronze rather than marble or wood. Bronze lasts longer outside; it reflects light and is dark and solemn. It can be worked in minute detail, and thin forms like rifles and reins do not break easily.

What does the winged figure in the sky hold? She holds poppies and an olive branch.

What do you think this figure in the sky represents? Why? She may represent an angel. The poppies usually symbolize death and remembrance, and the olive branch, peace and victory. (Artificial poppies are worn on Veterans Day to remember America’s war veterans.)

9-A Winslow Homer, The Veteran in a New Field, 1865

2009-12-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

9-A Winslow Homer, The Veteran in a New Field, 1865

Title: describe.

Describe how Homer divided the scene in this painting. He divided it into three strips of color with a band of sky, a wider band of standing wheat, and another band of cut wheat in the foreground.

Of what war was this man a veteran? He was a veteran of the Civil War. How does Homer show us this? His military uniform jacket and canteen lie in the lower right corner.

What might laying aside his uniform represent? He has set aside soldiering and returned to regular life.

Why is this a new field for him? It may be literally a new field of grain, but it is also a new field of work for him after fighting for years.

If this man had been in a grain field the previous year, what would he probably have been doing? Probably fighting a battle, since a number of Civil War battles were fought in grain fields.

What subjects had Winslow Homer been sketching for the past few years? He had been sketching Civil War soldiers.

What does a figure carrying a scythe usually symbolize? He symbolizes the grim reaper or death.

Whose deaths might Homer be alluding to? He is alluding to dead soldiers and/or President Lincoln, who had been assassinated earlier that year. Previously, the veteran cut down soldiers in a field; now he cuts wheat.

What might a bountiful field of wheat represent? Hope, bounty, and the renewal of life.

Because a seemingly dead seed buried in the ground rises as a new plant, grain can be a symbol of rebirth or new beginnings. What might this suggest about the country after the Civil War? It could suggest that the country will recover and flourish.

Other works...

Croquet Scene, 1866 Oil on canvas; 15 7/8 x 26 1/8 in. (40.3 x 66.2 cm)
Croquet, a fad in the United States by the mid-1860s, was appreciated as a healthful outdoor activity that invited men and women to compete on equal terms as well as to visit and flirt with one another. Here, a man observes the expected courtesies by assisting his female companions in the game. He is sandwiched between two of them, who wear stylish dresses brightly colored in a patriotic palette and tower over him. Homer's apparently pleasant afternoon of play also implies the uncertain terrain of relationships between American men and women. At this time, women were evaluating the choice between their traditional roles as wives and mothers and their new opportunities for education and employment that emerged following the loss of so many men in the Civil War, growing urbanization and industrialization, and the burgeoning women's movement.

Snap the Whip, 1872 Oil on canvas; 12 x 20 in. (30.5 x 50.8 cm)
Children embodied innocence and the promise of America's future and were depicted by many artists and writers during the 1870s. Here, Homer reminisces about rural simplicity and reflects on the challenges of the complex post–Civil War world. Released from the confines of a one-room schoolhouse, exuberant boys engage in a spirited game. As the population shifted to cities and the little red schoolhouse faded from memory, this image would have evoked nostalgia for the nation's agrarian past. The boys' bare feet signal childhood's freedom, but their suspenders are associated with manhood's responsibilities. Their game, which requires teamwork, strength, and calculation, may allude to the reunited nation. Observed from right to left, Homer's boys hang on to one another, strain to stay connected, run in perfect harmony, and fall away, enacting all the possible scenarios for men after the Civil War.

Pitching Quoits, 1865 Oil on canvas; 26 3/4 x 53 3/4 in. (68 x 136.5 cm)
While photographers documented the Civil War's carnage and some artists depicted its battles, Homer primarily chronicled camp life. Having worked in oil for barely two years, he painted Pitching Quoits, his most ambitious war scene, soon after returning from a difficult visit to Virginia. Surrounding an expanse of hard-packed campground are groups of soldiers who were known as courageous special fighters with New York City ties. These men had ordered picturesque red uniforms designed after those worn by the Zouaves, Berber tribesmen who had fought with the French in the Crimean War ten years earlier. With downward or disengaged stares, Homer's Zouaves seem psychologically isolated from one another and detached from any apparent narrative, which makes the painting's true subject the boredom of time spent between battles. Avoiding overt references to combat or lost lives, Homer may also have provided to those at home a comforting connection to their loved ones' daily experiences.

Here is a link to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website, which has an incredible exhibit online right now called "American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765 - 1915". You'll find a lot of paintings by Winslow Homer, John Singleton Copely (2a), George Caleb Bingham (7b), as well as Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Mary Cassatt, who we'll study soon.

10-B Various Artists, Quilts of the 19th and 20th Centuries

2009-12-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

10-B Various Artists, Quilts of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Why are quilt patterns like Greenlee’s called crazy quilts? It’s an informal pattern with shapes that go in random directions.

Find pieces of a printed fabric repeated several times in Greenlee’s quilt. A brown and pink floral is repeated in the second row, third square, and in the third row, second and third squares. A red, white,and black plaid is in the third row, second and third squares.

Compare the patterns of Greenlee’s Crazy Quilt with that of McCord’s Grandmother’s Fan Quilt. What is the main difference between these two quilts? Greenlee’s is made primarily of parallel lines like ladders and McCord’s has wedge shapes forming circles.

How did both quilters create unity in their quilt designs? They repeated colors, shapes, and patterns, and arranged their design into an ordered grid.

Which quilts on this poster took the most advance planning and why. It was probably the Amish quilts because of their geometric regularity.

Which ones took the longest time to sew? The ones made from many small pieces of fabric and with the finest stitches took the longest to construct.

Why did women make quilts? The main reason was to keep their families warm, but quilts also added decoration and color to homes. Many women also enjoyed designing and sewing quilts.

Why did quilters often sew small bits of fabric together rather than using one large piece of material? By using fabric scraps and pieces of discarded clothing, they could create inexpensive bed covers.

How do quilts record a family’s history? Quilt pieces made from old clothes could remind the family of the people who wore them and special occasions when they wore them.

How is Greenlee’s quilt is similar to kente cloth designs? (left) They both have contrasting parallel bands of color that resemble ladders.

What nineteenth-century developments made it easier for American women to make quilts? The invention of the cotton gin and power loom and opening of New England textile factories made commercially woven and printed fabric available and affordable. Catalogs and magazines printed quilt patterns. The introduction of sewing machines made sewing quicker.

None of these pieces were intended to be revered as works of art by their creators. Why are they considered to be art now? Many would state that these quilts are not art, but rather, craft (because of their functionality, because they are not a "traditional" art form like painting and sculpting). What about the modern-day quilts we looked at that are meant to be seen as art pieces and not used bed coverings? Many of these newer quilts were made primarily with the use of machines, with very little work done by hand. Or, they challenge our ideas of what a quilt should look like. Does this change how we respond to them?

Questions like these lead us, ultimately, to the never-ending and lively discussion of... What is Art? :)

Below:
A Hot Day in Lancaster
Water Ballet #5
Techno Jam
Quilt by Linda Gray

9-B Alexander Gardner, "Abraham Lincoln", 1865

2009-11-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

9-B Alexander Gardner, Abraham Lincoln, 1865

One characteristic of photography is that it creates a sense of intimacy. What is another? (which makes it unlike painting, drawing, or sculpting) - Objects/People are viewed with very little alteration
Where is the light source? Where does it create shadows?
Describe his features, expression, surrounding objects, etc.

Alexander Gardner worked for Mathew Brady (photographer whose pictures of Lincoln were featured on the two $5 bills) for a time during the Civil War.

Mathew Brady (1822 – 1896) – father of photojournalism
Risked his life on the frontlines of the war to capture combat photographs. Photographed many prominent people; after the war, his audience became tired of seeing images of war and he spent the last several years of his life destitute and forgotten.
How did photography change the way people viewed the civil war? (Could see casualties and the effects of war with their own two eyes; not through the eyes of a painter or writer.)

Political art: what is the purpose?
Why was photography important in a political campaign? (it was a new medium, allowed viewers to "be there" and see the candidate interacting with others, giving speeches, or doing normal, everyday-life kinds of things)
What media/publicity tools do politicians use today? (travel, speeches, radio, the press, video, tv, photography, the internet) What was available at Lincoln’s time?

Which images from political campaigns do you find compelling and why? What do the posters proclaim about their candidates? Pay attention to symbolic imagery (Justice, Peace, colors, etc.), facial expressions (smiles, earnest frowns) and words (catch-phrases, quippy slogans):

L-R from top: 1848 Zachary Taylor, 1860 Abraham Lincoln, 1908 William Taft, 1960 John F Kennedy, 1980 Ronald Reagan, 2008 Barack Obama

8a - Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, 1865 ALBERT BIERSTADT [1830 –1902]

2009-11-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

8a - Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, 1865 ALBERT BIERSTADT [1830 –1902]

Bierstadt was a member of the Hudson river school (Established by Thomas Cole!), painted over 500 pieces. Bierstadt's work is characterized by his use of the Romantic style - shining white clouds, glittering waterfalls, dramatic landscapes, etc.

How big would a person be if depicted in this scene?

How has Bierstadt created an illusion of great distance or depth? He made objects in the foreground darker, more detailed, and larger than distant ones. This approach is called aerial or atmospheric perspective

Composition? Rule of thirds

What is your eye drawn to first?

How does the light add drama? (creates dark shadows that dramatically contrast with the light parts)

On a map, locate Yosemite National Park.
Compare photographs of Yosemite Valley with Bierstadt’s painting to understand how he exaggerated the size of the rock formations.

Bierstadt painted some of the rock formations in this painting taller than they really were. Is this exaggeration dishonest?

How else did Bierstadt make the West seem even grander than it was? He bathed this scene in a golden, glowing light.

How might this view look different today?

Below: "Cathedral Rock", "Cathedral Rocks", "Among the Sierra Nevada", "Lake Tahoe"

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7b – The County Election, 1852, George Caleb Bingham

2009-11-12T08:37:00.000-08:00

7b – The County Election, 1852, George Caleb Bingham

Painter from the west (MO), depicted and immortalized the common man, frontier life

Observations: what is going on on Election Day?

How did he unify the scene so that the many figures form a connected group? (All of the characters are touching and overlap each other)

How did he create the illusion of depth? (Objects in the background are smaller, colors become more muted)

What elements suggest the wide variety of backgrounds and occupations of the people in the scene? (Their styles of clothing, specifically, hats)

What message does this painting convey? (A whole community of men, from rich to poor, come together to vote. No single figure is emphasized or made larger than others in this crowd; all are equal)

What is the voting scene like today? (Secrecy, privacy, not allowed to heckle or campaign up to a certain distance from the voting site; non-land-owners, women and African Americans may now vote)

Describe George Caleb Bingham's style: bright, saturated colors, bright lighting/a lot of contrast between lights and darks, smooth brush strokes.

Below, "Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap" and "The Jolly Flatboatmen"

7a – State Capitol, Columbus Ohio, 1838-1861, Thomas Cole + others

2009-11-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

7a – State Capitol, Columbus Ohio, 1838-1861, Thomas Cole + others

Thomas Cole – the oxbow. Even though he didn’t have much experience in it, he dabbled in architecture. How would this have been possible? (fewer building codes and restrictions at that time)

Ohio became a state in 1803, the 17th state.

Why was Greek revival a popular style?

Compare to buildings around it – they are taller, more windows, flat roofs. Why is this 19th century building shorter than the modern ones?

How does the Greek revival style reflect its predecessors?

What are the features that are found in Greek and Roman architecture? Columns, a pediment (triangle above entrance), symmetrical, light stone (though Greek ones had been painted); capitals (sit on top of columns), pilasters (square columns attached to walls), drum (donut shaped structure that supports conical roof), entablature (two-part horizontal band that is supported by the column capitals and pilasters)

How did the architects create harmony in this building? (it is symmetrical, use of light stone throughout, repeated elements such as columns/pilasters, etc)

William Henry Powell painted "Battle of Lake Erie", which is found in the rotunda of the Ohio state house. We looked at earlier because it is very similar in style to "Washington Crossing the Delaware".

Other state capitols: fairly similar exteriors (Greek revival, Neo-classical), individualized interiors that reflect the state's own unique history and reflect regional culture. Also, when possible, states use local materials to contstruct these buildings, thereby promoting local resources and business. Below, the Texas state capitol building; inside, a design set in the floor that represents the "six flags over Texas" - a record of the six nations that controlled Texas at some point in its history (clockwise from top right: France, Spain, the U.S., the Confederacy, and Mexico. At the center is the seal of the Independent Republic of Texas).

Hawaii: Bauhaus, Hawaiian international architecture
ND, OR, LA: art deco (Chrysler building)
NM: blend of New Mexico territorial style and neoclassical influences- only round state capitol building in US (1886 version: Victorian, audacious and disliked because it didn't reflect the culture there)
NY: Romanesque revival and neo-renaissance

Many capitol buildings reflect greek/roman architecture, what do some of the other buildings represent through their use of different styles. (European aesthetics such as gothic architecture, regional values, art deco- futuristic, industrial, elegant)

Why study state capitol buildings? Architecture (art) reflects ideas and ideals (political, philosophical). Many of these buildings reflect specific values and recall America’s past, its present goals, and hope for its future.

Remember! Quiz on 11/18 - be sure to start reviewing sections 3b-7a and 8b.

8b: “Sans Arc Lakota” Ledger Book, 1880–1881; Black Hawk

2009-10-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Read 8b: “Sans Arc Lakota” Ledger Book, 1880–1881

What materials did he use; how can you tell? What did American Indians use to create art before these materials were available? (paint on teepee walls)

At first we were surprised that Caton had given Black Hawk such "unrefined" art materials as a notebook with lined pages, a pen and colored pencils. But given the Lakotas' lifestyle, why were these materials sufficient? (The Lakota were nomadic; a notebook and a few small drawing implements were far easier to transport than, say, dozens of canvases and hundreds of tubes of paint)

Compare to Catlin and Wyeth: 1) Which is the most historically accurate? Why? 2) How are the paintings similar and different?

Why did William Edward Caton want these drawings? (Caton had originally planned to get Black Hawk to illustrate his dream, but with the vast majority of the images being about everyday life, they were still valuable as a record of a lifestyle and culture that was on the verge of extinction.)

http://www.plainsledgera rt.org/view.pila?action=list&LEDGER_ID=10 – includes animals, battles, spirits. Ledger books became popular in tribes – how were they different from teepee painting? (More private, could choose who to show them to, better for describing mundane, humorous, etc., events as well.) The image at the left is one of the first two drawings in this book; it depicts a thunder spirit. What can we recognize in this image that reflects the nature of this being?

Many 20th century Native American artists depict tribal life and rituals in a manner far different from the ways white artists depict their ideas of Native American culture. Artists such as Wyeth used rough brushstrokes, unmixed colors and little detail to illustrate The Last of the Mohicans, and this may be seen as a commentary on the wild, "unrefined" lifestyle of the Indians. However, artists such as Maria Montoya Martinez and Woodrow Crumbo (examples of work below) depict Native American life in an entirely different way. Martinez and Crumbo both work graceful, fluid lines, invisible brush strokes, and Crumbo with an incredible attention to stylization and detail.

Woodrow (Woody) Crumbo, 1912-1989 - Potowatomi Indian from Oklahoma, became a well-known artist of Native American subjects. Of his career, he wrote: "Half of my life passed in striving to complete the pictorial record of Indian history, religion, rituals, customs, way of life, and philosophies . . . a graphic record that a million words could not begin to tell." He also led a troupe that performed and collected traditional Indian dances while pursuing a degree in art.

6b: Catlin Painting the Portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa—Mandan, 1861/1869

2009-10-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

Read 6b: Catlin Painting the Portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa—Mandan, 1861/1869

Who/what is actually the main subject of the painting? (Catlin painted this scene about 30 years after this event occurred, placing himself opposite the Mandan chief, with many of the Indians watching, open-mouthed, as he (Catlin) painted a striking likeness of their chief. Catlin's portrait-in-the-works is as much the center of attention as the Chief himself.)

Why do you think everyone is so interested in seeing Catlin paint a portrait? (Unfamiliar with how white men made images, creating realistic likenesses may have seemed like capturing someone’s spirit on canvas/paper)

Why do historians value Catlin’s paintings? (Catlin shows the details of American Indians’ dress and life before they adopted European clothes and customs; American Indians' way of life was about to change drastically due to the resettlement acts that would uproot them from their traditional homes and force them to change many of their customs)

Catlin first painted Mah-toh-to-pa indoors, but he changed the setting when he painted this version. Why did he do this? (Outdoor setting would be grander, would better reflect the Mandans’ home, would allow him to include more people)

Catlin didn’t include all the weapons the chief had been carrying. He said he left them out because he wanted to emphasize the grace and simplicity of his figure. Is it right for an artist to change details such as this? How would our impression of Mah-to-toh-pa change if he were wearing all his weapons? (Catlin was sympathetic to the Indian cause, perhaps he wanted to portray them in a less warlike manner to make them appear less threatening. Mah-to-toh-pa would look like a violent character if armed to the teeth.)

Catlin painted hundreds of portraits and scenes from tribal life of multiple American Indian tribes during his travels. See the link below for the complete first volume of his works.

(Below: Mandan Chief, Medicine Man, Bear Dance)

North American Indians: Being Letters and Notes on Their Manners, Customs, and Conditions, Written During Eight Years' Travel Amongst the Wildest Tribes of Indians in North America, 1832-1839. Volume 1 - http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.3900:1.lincoln

6a: John James Audubon

2009-10-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Read 6-A John James Audubon, American Flamingo, 1838

- Compare to Thomas Cole- why did Audubon and other artists want to document American wildlife at this time? (As urbanization gained momentum, there was a growing sense of nostalgia for what they were about to lose- nature - many animals/plants; massive hunting parties destroyed a lot of wildlife)
- How did they make scientific drawings? (no cameras; either drew animals in nature or, more likely, drew dead animals brought in for the specific purpose of making detailed scientific drawings)
-Why are Audubon’s images different from his contemporaries’? (Drew many from life when possible, but made them look living if they had to be killed to be drawn accurately; strove to give his paintings action and realism)
- Where is the American flamingo today? (much rarer; Caribbean area, central America).
- What are the sketches at the top? (fills out the page, shows detailed views of different parts of the bird)
- How is this print of a flamingo different from the plastic flamingos that people stick in their yards? Are they different? Are they both art?
- Thanks to Audubon, we have detailed images of birds that are now extinct, such as: the Carolina parrot, passenger pigeon, great auk, and Labrador duck.

*The entire folio collection, with his writings, may be found at: http://www.audubon.org/bird/boa/BOA_index.html

Audubon society – named for JJ Audubon because of his adventurous spirit and concern and passion for birds and other American wildlife, which he observed carefully and understood to be part of intricate systems in nature. The Audubon Society is a conservation effort that works to protect birds, wildlife and their habitats.
- With the invention of cameras, artists could work from photographs. What may have been some limitations of cameras? (many types of wildlife were extinct or much rarer at this point; for many years, cameras were cumbersome and subjects had to pose perfectly still for several minutes)
- Even after the invention of cameras, wildlife painting/drawing is still popular. Why might artists still be interested in drawing animals? (for personal interest, there is a market for realistic wildlife paintings/drawings still, for causes such as the Audubon society)

Also -- artists began to shift priorities: artists in the past century or so were freer to concentrate on capturing the “spirit”, movement, impression, or personality of the animal- such things aren’t possible with cameras- not in the same way. Until the late 1800s, the dominant "acceptable" style for painting, drawing and sculpting was realism. Beginning with the Impressionists in France (Monet, Renoir, Manet, Cezanne, etc.), new ways of "seeing" and interpreting the world were being explored. The Impressionists tried to capture the essence of a very brief moment in time (the "impression"). From there, cubism, art deco, abstract expressionism, surrealism, and many other art movements were born.

One artist who is credited with developing a popular and interesting style of art is...

Charley Harper (1922-2007), Cincinnati, OH
“In school I began to paint hyper-realistically – highlights on hairs.... [Eventually] I began to feel that this method of dealing with form revealed nothing new about the subject, never challenged the viewer to expand his awareness…” So he began recording what he felt to be the “essence” of a scene/animal/etc. He called it minimal realism: “Wildlife art without the fuss and feathers. I don’t try to put everything in – I try to leave everything out. I think flat, simple, hard-edge and funny."

HOMEWORK: essay: compare/contrast a painting by Audubon with a painting of the same bird by Harper. Include these four paragraphs in the main body of the essay: Describe Audubon's painting; describe Harper's painting. Pay attention to what each artist includes in his piece- plants, other animals, nests, bugs, etc. Pay attention to what Harper includes/leaves out in his stylized images of the birds. Then talk about how they are different and how they are similar. Have fun! Due November 4. (You can do extra credit and write another, due November 11)

Audubon's Birds of America

Go here to see some of Charley Harper's birds

Jaden - Wood Ibis

Jenna - Burrowing Owl

John - Purple Gallinule

Josh - Swallow-tailed Kite

Michael - (Common) Puffin

Paige - Passenger Pigeon

Shannon - Trumpeter Swan

Stephanie - Whooping Crane

The images of Harper's art in the link above come from this book: Birds and Words

4b, 5a, 5b

2009-10-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

4b: Benjamin Franklin; Hiram Powers, 1862

Read, observations
- Powers lived after Franklin, so how did he learn about his appearance?
- Who else have we studied that went to Europe to pursue art? (Stuart) Why did Powers go?
- Why did the US government want a statue of Franklin? (He was a member of the convention that framed the constitution, which created the senate.)
- Nineteenth-century sculptors often depicted leaders in classical Greek or Roman robes, reminding viewers that American government had its roots in ancient Greece. Can you think of any examples of this in the US? (the Statue of Liberty) Powers was criticized for showing Franklin in contemporary dress (for the time). Why did he choose to do this?
- Compare Ben Franklin to portrait of George Washington: clothes, expression, pose, props

- Compare to portrait of Paul Revere: clothes, expression, pose, props

Other art in the Senate building: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/sd107-11/browse.html
Homework: Essay! Pick one of the paintings/sculptures from the catalogue and read the accompanying text. Write a paragraph describing the artwork (who made it, where, when, materials, size, etc.). In another paragraph describe what it depicts (remember to pay attention to dress, expression and pose, composition, etc.). Talk about the meaning/significance of the piece.Write another paragraph or so about why it is in the Senate building. You may need to look at other resources (please cite them at the end of the paper). Put the name of the artist and the title of the piece at the top of the paper; include an introduction and conclusion. Due October 21. If you’d like extra credit, you can do another one.

5a: View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow), Thomas Cole, 1836
Read, observations
- Why might someone living in a city at that time want an image like this in their home?

- What sorts of images are equivalent to this these days?
Discuss the Noah/Shaddai connection (symbols created through the presence of the logging scars)-In light of the recent rain…

-A reference to the days of Noah? Commentary on present-day society?

From the last paragraph: Is Cole suggesting that the landscape be read as a holy text that reveals the word of God? If so, wouldn’t any human intrusion be sacrilege? On the other hand, the artist’s careful division of the landscape implies that civilization drives out the danger and chaos inherent in the natural world. Perhaps the painting itself embodies Cole’s ambivalence (indecisiveness). It was also painted for profit and therefore could be considered, to a certain degree, exploitative of the nation’s natural beauty.

Thomas Cole is considered the founder of the Hudson River School movement- mid-1800s, landscape painting that was characterized by themes of naturalism (realism) and romanticism (emphasizing beauty, conveying a sense of purity, emotions). What may have spurred its creation? (a response to urbanization)

(left: sketch for "The View from Mt. Holyoke")

The Course of the Empire series (1 - The Savage State, 2 - The Arcadian/Pastoral State, 3 - Consummation, 4 - Destruction, 5 - Desolation)

What elements change? Which ones stay the same? How does Cole get his ideas across? What kinds of tools does he use to set the mood in these paintings?

Like the next artist, Thomas Cole did some illustrations for the popular book, "Last of the Mohicans", by James Fenimore Cooper. Here is one:

5b: The Last of the Mohicans Cover Illustration, N. C. Wyeth, 1919
Read, observations
Describe the style of the painting and how it pertains to the subject-matter (the rough brush strokes and unmixed colors reflect the rough-hewn and less "refined" lifestyle of the Indians; rich colors and slightly stylized characters/environment would appeal to the children who read the book)
Why is or is not this an accurate depiction of an American Indian?
- Is this ethical?

French and Indian war:
The French and Indian War, a colonial extension of the Seven Years War that ravaged Europe from 1756 to 1763, was the bloodiest American war in the 18th century. It took more lives than the American Revolution, involved people on three continents, including the Caribbean. The war was the product of an imperial struggle, a clash between the French and English over colonial territory and wealth. Within these global forces, the war can also be seen as a product of the localized rivalry between British and French colonists.
After a year and a half of undeclared war, the French and the English formally declared war in May 1756. For the first three years of the war, the outnumbered French dominated the battlefield, soundly defeating the English in battles at Fort Oswego and Ticonderoga. Perhaps the most notorious battle of the war was the French victory at Fort William Henry, which ended in a massacre of British soldiers by Indians allied with the French. The battle and ensuing massacre was captured for history—though not accurately—by James Fenimore Cooper in his classic The Last of the Mohicans .
The tide turned for the British in 1758, as they began to make peace with important Indian allies and, under the direction of Lord William Pitt began adapting their war strategies to fit the territory and landscape of the American frontier. The British had a further stroke of good fortune when the French were abandoned by many of their Indian allies. Exhausted by years of battle, outnumbered and outgunned by the British, the French collapsed during the years 1758-59, climaxing with a massive defeat at Quebec in September 1759.
The results of the war effectively ended French political and cultural influence in North America. England gained massive amounts of land and vastly strengthened its hold on the continent. The war, however, also had subtler results. It badly eroded the relationship between England and Native Americans; and, though the war seemed to strengthen England's hold on the colonies, the effects of the French and Indian War played a major role in the worsening relationship between England and its colonies that eventually led into the Revolutionary War.

4a: Washington Crossing the Delaware; Emanuel Leutze, 1851

2009-10-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

4a: Washington Crossing the Delaware; Emanuel Leutze, 1851

Read, observations.
What is the composition?
How big is the painting?
How does Leutze create the illusion of great distance?
What is calm in this scene? What is chaotic?
Does the boat look safe? The actual boats used in this venture were larger and fit 30-40 men.
-Why did Leutze depict them this way instead?

Related artistic works
- "Washington Crossing the Delaware" is the title of a 1936 sonnet by David Schulman. It refers to the scene in the painting, and is a 14-line rhyming sonnet of which every line is an anagram of the title:
A hard, howling, tossing water scene.
Strong tide was washing hero clean.
"How cold!" Weather stings as in anger.
O Silent night shows war ace danger!

The cold waters swashing on in rage.
Redcoats warn slow his hint engage.
When star general's action wish'd "Go!"
He saw his ragged continentals row.

Ah, he stands - sailor crew went going.
And so this general watches rowing.
He hastens - winter again grows cold.
A wet crew gain Hessian stronghold.

George can't lose war with's hands in;
He's astern - so go alight, crew, and win!

- William H. Powell created a painting that closely resembles Luetze's work, depicting Oliver Perry transferring command from one ship to another during the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. The original painting now hangs in the Ohio Statehouse, and Powell later created a larger, more light toned rendering of the same subject which hangs in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. In both of Powell's works, Perry is shown standing in a small boat rowed by several men in uniform. The Washington painting shows the direction of travel from right to left, and the Perry image shows a reverse direction of motion, but the two compositions are still very similar.

- "Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth", Leutze's companion piece to Washington Crossing the Delaware is displayed at the University of California, Berkeley.

- In 1953 the American Pop Artist Larry Rivers painted his version of Washington Crossing the Delaware (using the same title) which is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
What elements do the two paintings have in common? What is different?

- Grant Wood makes direct use of Leutze's painting in his own Daughters of Revolution, 1932. The painting is a direct jab at the D.A.R., examining what Wood interpreted as their unfounded elitism.

-New Jersey State quarter: Crossroads of the Revolution

September 30 - 3b: George Washington, Lansdowne Portrait; Gilbert Stuart, 1796

2009-10-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Read section 3b and discuss: composition, colors, elements, dress (etc.). What do these elements mean?
- Why would Stuart have wanted to learn art the “European way”? Europe had universities and art academies that had been around for hundreds of years, whereas the (recently founded) United States had almost nothing of that nature. Elements that reflect Stuart’s European training: the background; columns, clouds, drapery.
- Why layer color?
- Why did Stuart paint him with his arm outstretched? (Oratorical pose)
- How does Washington’s appearance reflect how he wants other people to see him? Contemporary European rulers wore ornate wigs and brightly colored clothes.
-Define physiognomy: The assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face.
- How would you describe Washington’s character, based on his face?

Facial expressions in painted portraits:

A well-executed portrait is expected to show the inner essence of the subject (from the artist's point of view) or a flattering representation, not just a literal likeness. Artists may strive for photographic realism or an impressionistic similarity in depicting their subject, but this differs from a caricature which attempts to reveal character through exaggeration of physical features. The artist generally attempts a representative portrayal, as Edward Burne-Jones stated, "The only expression allowable in great portraiture is the expression of character and moral quality, not anything temporary, fleeting, or accidental." In most cases, this results in a serious, closed lip stare, with anything beyond a slight smile being rather rare historically. A full range of subtle emotions is possible from quiet menace to gentle contentment, even with the mouth relatively neutral; much of the facial expression is created through the eyes and eyebrows. As author and artist Gordon C. Aymar states, "the eyes are the place one looks for the most complete, reliable, and pertinent information" about the subject. And the eyebrows can register, "almost single-handedly, wonder, pity, fright, pain, cynicism, concentration, wistfulness, displeasure, and expectation, in infinite variations and
combinations."

- Why did Stuart make copies of his painting? Why did so many people want portraits of GW?

Stuart’s other portraits of Washington:

Athenaeum portrait – used as Washington’s picture on the $1 bill
Vaughan portrait
Williamstown portrait

Portraits on US currency:
$1: George Washington, Athenaeum portrait, Gilbert Stuart

$2: Thomas Jefferson, Gilbert Stuart

$5: Abraham Lincoln, both versions of this bill are based on photographs taken by Matthew Brady in 1864

$10: Alexander Hamilton, John Trumbull, 1805

$20: Andrew Jackson, Thomas Sully

$50: Ulysses S. Grant, ...?

$100: Benjamin Franklin, Joseph-Siffred Duplessis

3a: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere; Grant Wood, 1931

2009-09-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

3a: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere; Grant Wood, 1931

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882
Written April 19, 1860; first published in 1863 as part of "Tales of a Wayside Inn"

Read 3a and poem; observations (style, composition, movement, prominent elements, perspective, etc).

How was the painting inspired by the poem? Compare the two.

Discuss the scene- what makes this a New England village of the late 1700s?

Primitive/Naive art: a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true. Often seen in contrast to ‘the academy’, a formal, highly schooled manner of art creation, most often painting. The characteristics of naïve art are an awkward relationship to the formal qualities of painting. Real or intentional difficulties with drawing and perspective that result in a charmingly awkward and often refreshing vision, strong use of pattern, unrefined color, and simplicity rather than subtlety are all supposed markers of naïve art.

- Is this an appropriate way to depict this important American legend?

Other examples of Grant Wood’s work;
American Gothic
Fall Plowing
Town

Grandma Moses (1860-1961)
Beautiful World
The Pond
More...

2b: Silvercraft of the 18th – 20th centuries

2009-09-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

Read 2b: Silvercraft of the 18th – 20th centuries; Observations?
Compare the 1796 teapot with the one in the portrait of Revere:
- What does Revere’s 1796 teapot look like? – Its body is fluted like a Classical column.
- After the Revolution, why did this Neoclassical architecture appeal to Americans? Neoclassical designs were based on Greek and Roman architecture, which reminded viewers that their new country’s government was based on ancient Greek and Roman ideals.
- Why was drinking tea a social event in the 17th century?
- Why were tea sets made of silver in the 17th and 18th century?
- Why did Americans want to own them?
- What developments made them more affordable?
- Aside from being aesthetically appealing, do the forms/styles of any of these tea sets suggest a deeper meaning or social commentary? What do they suggest about daily life and trends? Everyday objects can be full of meaning because they reflect contemporary styles, values, tastes and trends. Even though objects such as tea pots are mainly functional, they still convey information about the society in which and for which they were made.

Look at other examples, discuss.

Top to bottom: Gorham coin silver tea and coffee service circa 1853-1865;

GorhamTea and Coffee service in coin silver C-1855; Tiffany, 1910; Reed and Barton silverplate, late 1800s; Tiffany, 1881.

2a: Paul Revere, 1768 by John Singleton Copley

2009-09-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Read 2a, Observations?
- What objects are included in this portrait? The subjects posture/body language/facial expression? What is emphasized? What is his clothing like?
- Paul Revere was a craftsman in a busy studio. How has Copely idealized the setting for this portrait?

Portrait Composition: basic concepts/symbolism/composition
-The Focal Point: where is your eye drawn first? How does it travel around the painting?-Lines convey emotions. Horizontal lines suggest a calm and quiet feeling. Vertical lines convey strength and grandeur. Diagonal lines express energy and motion and dominate dramatic compositions.

-Color: symbolism in colors varies by culture and time period. Here are some examples: Red: Excitement, danger, love, passion, the blood of Christ, Divine love, the Holy Spirit, courage, self-sacrifice, martyrdom, fire; sin. Yellow: The sun, the goodness of God, treasure in heaven, spiritual achievement. Green: Hope, victory, happiness and gaiety, springtime, youth, good humor. Blue: strength, wisdom, enduring loyalty, eternity, truth. Purple: Justice, royalty, suffering. White: Serenity, peace, purity, joy, faith, innocence. Black: death, evil, rebellion, sin. Brown: earthy, steadfast, healthy. Grey: dullness, sadness, ashes, old age. Silver: money, wealth. Gold: wealth, purification, the sun, the goodness of God, treasure.

-Different types of Composition provide clues into or reflect the nature of the subject matter:
Triangle / pyramid-Christianity equilateral triangle signifies the consummation, closure, accomplishment, completion, Trinity.-Symbolic representation of triad related with unity of man, woman and offspring- often found in paintings of Jesus and Mary, such as: Andrea del Sarto, Madonna in Glory and Saints; Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks
Scales - Often found in paintings about justice, right v. wrong, balance, etc.-Quentin Massys, The Money Lender And His Wife
Circle The circle is a universal symbol signifying integrity, continuity, initial perfection, eternity. The circle is time that closes in itself space. It is absent of beginning and end. Signifies return, return movement, eternal movement, and finality. Also a symbol of God and sun.-Bertholet Flemal, Heliodorus Driven From The Temple
Cross Signifies cosmic axis, cosmic tree, archetypical human being, four directions - East, South, West, North. A symbol of creator, penalty for misdeed. A cross as a wooden structure consisting of an upright post with a transverse piece, is an emblem of Christianity, it is a salvation by Christ, delivering from sin or saving from evil, it is a symbol of suffering, hope, atonement.
Rays
S Curvature
Centered Rectangle
Zigzag
Waves
The Trident
Snail
Stairway
Rows
Diagonal

Homework: a) Look up your assigned form of composition, write a definition of it. b) Find a painting that uses this type of composition. c) How do you know this painting uses this type of composition? d) Print two copies of the painting (it should be over 800x600 pixels in size): on one of them, draw the basic form of the composition. Bring all these parts to class on Wednesday September 23.