American Art History

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American Art History

• By Vanessa Nguyen

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Art Schools

• Hudson River School - (1825-1875) This was a
  group of painters whose work reflected their
  pride of American landscape. The second
  generation of this school were luminist artist
  because of their usage of art
• Rocky Mountain School - (1858-1900) These were
  western artists who painted the frontier
  experience and the Rocky Mountains. They are
  similar to the painters of the Hudson River
  School because they also painted landscape. The
  frontier life they depicted in their art included
  Indian scenes, landscape and army life.

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American Impressionism

• American Impressionism began in the late
  nineteenth century. A characteristic of
  Impressionism is the objective to visual reality
  in terms of transient effects of light and color.
  This is Mary Cassatts Mother and Child (1886).

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The Ten

• The Ten were a group of 10 American painters who
  were first exhibited together in 1898, in New
  York City, and continued to do so for the next 20
  years. The groups members works differed in
  technique and subject matter from that of artists
  who participated in the large annual exhibitions
  of the Society of American Artists and the
  National Academy of Design. The members hoped to
  draw public attention to their small, independent
  group and thereby to their paintings. The members
  of The Ten were Childe Hassam, John Henry
  Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, Thomas W. Dewing,
  Joseph De Camp, Frank W. Benson, Willard Leroy
  Metcalf, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Robert Reid, and
  E.E. Simmons. When Twachtman died, in 1902, he
  was replaced by William Merritt Chase.

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Trompe Loeil Painters

• In the paintings, the representation of an object
  has such verisimilitude as to deceive the viewer
  concerning the material reality of the object.
  The object deceives the eye because it looks so
  realistic. This is Raphaelle Peales Still Life.

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The Eight (The Ashcan School)

• Their paintings (1900-1920) realistically
  depicted daily life in American urban
  environment, specializing in people on crowded
  streets and at the park, theaters and
  entertainment spectacles. The original Eight
  included Robert Henri, leader of the group,
  Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Arthur B. Davies,
  Ernest Lawson, Maurice Prendergast, George Luks,
  and William J. Glackens. Later the group was
  joined by George Bellows. This is Robert
  Henris Street Scene.

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Dada

• This movement started in 1916 as a revolt against
  World War I. Originating in France, it fostered
  creativity by rebelling against traditional forms
  of logic, art and culture. This is Man Rays
  Legend (1916).

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Futurism/Cubism

• Futurist/Cubist painting (1909) was mainly a
  European movement. A few American painters
  attemted to show pace and movement of American
  cities with fractured prisms of light. This is
  Picassos Girl with Dark Hair.

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Photo Secession

• This movement (1905-1917) was headed by
  photographer Alfred Stielglitz. In 1902 he
  became one of the founders of the
  Photo-Secession, a group of talented avant-garde
  artists. He also founded and directed the
  Photo-Secession Gallery, also known as Gallery
  291, which exhibited not only the work of
  contemporary photographers, but also works of
  Picasso, Rodin, Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec.

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Art Deco

• Art deco was a product of the fertile artistic
  exchange between Paris, France, and New York City
  that occurred after World War I (1914-1918). Art
  deco is characterized by sleek, streamlined
  forms geometric patterns and experiments with
  industrial materials such as metals, plastics,
  and glass. Art Deco influenced American
  architecture evident in New York City's
  skyscrapers of the 1920-1930s like the Chrysler,
  Daily News, and Empire State buildings. This is
  Rockwell Kents Workers of the World, Unite.

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Precisionism

• Precisionism was a style of early twentieth
  century painting in which depicted scenes-- many
  of industrial architecture-- or objects.
  Precisionists typically depicted mechanical and
  industrial subject matter, such as smokestacks,
  steel foundries, or grain elevators. These
  subjects were usually reduced or simplified to
  geometric forms and rendered in bright and clear
  light, by a combination of abstraction and
  realism. This is Charles Demuths Figure 5 in
  Gold, 1928.

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American Scene Painting

• American Scene painting describes scenes of
  typical American life painted c.1920-c.1942. Much
  of this work is also included within Regionalism
  and Social Realism. Born in the aftermath of
  World War I, American Scene painting developed
  partly as an outgrowth of the Ashcan school, and
  partly as a reaction to French modernism. This
  movement came from interest in celebrating the
  democratic ideals of America by promoting
  subject-matter accessible to the masses. This is
  Mabel Dwight Railway Station, 1935.

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The Harlem Renaissance

• During the (1919-1929) Harlem Renaissance,
  African American artists in all art forms
  received recognition. Many young African
  American artists were recruited to paint murals
  by the government during the depression. This is
  William H. Johnsons Swing Low Sweet Chariot.

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Social Realism

• Social Realism is a form of naturalistic realism
  focusing specifically on social problems and the
  hardships of everyday life. The term most
  commonly refers to the urban American Scene
  artists of the Depression era, who were greatly
  influenced by the Ashcan School of early 20th
  century New York City. This Luke Fildes
  Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward.

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Abstract Expressionism

• Abstract Expressionism, movement in
  mid-20th-century painting that was primarily
  concerned with the spontaneous assertion of the
  individual through the act of painting. The
  movement contains a variety of styles and is
  characterized more by the concepts behind the art
  than by a specific look. This is de Kooning's
  Marilyn Monroe.

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Hard-Edge

• With the creation of polymer paints, new
  techniques were possible in 1958-1960s. Artists
  started to apply masking tape to canvas in order
  to make straight edges. Hard-egde referred to
  brightly colored geometric paintings where colors
  didnt blend into each other, but were next to
  each other. This is William DeKoornbolts Indigo
  Dancing.

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Color Field Painting

• In Color Field Paintings (1960) large printed
  canvases were stained with acrylic paints without
  use of strong tonal contrasts or visible
  brushstrokes. The paintings usually involved few
  colors. This is Milton Averys Pitcher Painter.

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Pop Art

• Pop Art (1945-1965) reacted to the emotional
  quality of Abstract Expressionism through the use
  of banal consumer products as themes. The
  techniques were often direct copies of
  advertising techniques such as the Benday dot, or
  comic book styles. This is Andy Worhols
  Marilyn, 1964.

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Conceptual Art

• Conceptual Art (1970 to present) is more an idea
  of art than it is actual artwork. Sometimes it
  is writen or drawn, but not always executed. The
  location of the artwork is sometimes in the mind
  of the viewer. This is Man Rays Palais.

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Photorealism and Hyperrealism

• These 1967-1977 artists used the everyday
  environment for their subjects as seen through
  the eye of a camera. Photorealists tended to
  specialize, one doing signs, another faces, and
  so on. This is Olga Antonovas
• Still Life with Tangerine .

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Earth Art

• Earth Art (1968 to present day) began when artist
  used a new medium (piles of rocks or dirt).
  Materials might be shaped by chance (heap of
  sand) or by an artist. This is Robert Smithsons
  Spiral Jetty

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Feminist Art

• This movement started in the late 1960s. Women
  artists combined female subjects with female
  objects such as quilts, fibers, and ceramics to
  make a statement about feminism. This is Audrey
  Flacks Hannah.

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The end.