American Art: A Cultural History - Couverture rigide

Bjelajac, David

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0131455796 ISBN 13 : 9780131455795

Editeur : Prentice Hall Pr, 2004

Synopsis

Book by Bjelajac David Laurence King Pu

A propos du livre

Quatrième de couverture :

In this provocative new survey, David Bjelajac punctures the idea of a uniquely American way of seeing or representation. Instead, he sifts painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography within a broader material culture, documenting a visual history characterized by conflict and diversity—from European colonial settlement to the themed environments of Disney.

Though broadly chronological, the book is structured around various themes, such as the animating power of religious imagery in the seventeenth century, the cultivation of republican virtue in the eighteenth century, and a split national identity in the Civil War era. The final chapters document the rise of a conflicted Avant-Garde, the populism and public art of the Depression years, the Abstract Expressionists, and the postmodern 1990s. Famous works by established names such as Charles Bulfinch, Benjamin West, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Mathew Brady, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Jeff Koons are freshly interpreted next to vernacular imagery—a masonic apron, an earthenware mug, a satirical cartoon, or a labor union poster.

Dismissing the idea of art as a stately evolution of styles or "-isms," the author sees America's visual culture as an arena in which conflicting notions of class, gender, race, and regional allegiance are fought. Stepping outside traditional art-historical discourse, he launches boldly into the realms of politics, religion, science, literature, and popular culture in order to analyze individual art works within their specific historical contexts. Throughout, using generous quotations from primary sources, Bjelajac pays close attention to how contemporary artists, audiences, and beholders from different backgrounds have talked about specific works, the nature of art, and the artist's role in American society.

Présentation de l'éditeur :

For undergraduate levels in survey of American art courses and introductory American studies courses.

Drawing on socio-economic and political studies as well as histories of religion, science, literature, and popular culture, this book explores the diverse, conflicted history of American art and architecture within the United States from the European voyages of discovery and colonial conquest to the present dawn of a new millennium. Thematically interrelating the visual arts to other material artifacts and cultural practices, the text examines how artists and architects produced artwork that visually expressed various social and political values.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Prentice Hall Pr
• Date d'édition: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0131455796
• ISBN 13: 9780131455795
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 512