American Visions
American Visions

Author: Robert Hughes

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 635

ISBN-13: 9781860463723

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Robert Hughes begins where American art itself began, with the Native Americans and the first Spanish invaders in the Southwest; he ends with the art of today. In between, in a scholarly text that crackles with wit, intelligence and insight, he tells the story of how American art developed. Hughes investigates the changing tastes of the American public; he explores the effects on art of America's landscape of unparalleled variety and richness; he examines the impact of the melting-pot of cultures that America has always been. Most of all he concentrates on the paintings and art objects themselves and on the men and women - from Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins to Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe, from Arthur Dove and George Bellows to Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko -awho created them. This is an uncompromising and refreshingly opinionated exploration of America, told through the lens of its art.

Visions in a Seer Stone
Visions in a Seer Stone

Author: William L. Davis

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2020-04-08

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1469655675

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In this interdisciplinary work, William L. Davis examines Joseph Smith's 1829 creation of the Book of Mormon, the foundational text of the Latter Day Saint movement. Positioning the text in the history of early American oratorical techniques, sermon culture, educational practices, and the passion for self-improvement, Davis elucidates both the fascinating cultural context for the creation of the Book of Mormon and the central role of oral culture in early nineteenth-century America. Drawing on performance studies, religious studies, literary culture, and the history of early American education, Davis analyzes Smith's process of oral composition. How did he produce a history spanning a period of 1,000 years, filled with hundreds of distinct characters and episodes, all cohesively tied together in an overarching narrative? Eyewitnesses claimed that Smith never looked at notes, manuscripts, or books—he simply spoke the words of this American religious epic into existence. Judging the truth of this process is not Davis's interest. Rather, he reveals a kaleidoscope of practices and styles that converged around Smith's creation, with an emphasis on the evangelical preaching styles popularized by the renowned George Whitefield and John Wesley.

Radical Visions and American Dreams
Radical Visions and American Dreams

Author: Richard H. Pells

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1973

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 9780252067433

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The Great Depression of the 1930s was more than an economic catastrophe to many American writers and artists. Attracted to Marxist ideals, they interpreted the crisis as a symptom of a deeper spiritual malaise that reflected the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, and they advocated more sweeping social changes than those enacted under the New Deal. In Radical Visions and American Dreams, Richard Pells discusses the work of Lewis Mumford, John Dewey, Reinhold Niebuhr, Edmund Wilson, and Orson Welles, among others. He analyzes developments in liberal reform, radical social criticism, literature, the theater, and mass culture, and especially the impact of Hollywood on depression-era America. By placing cultural developments against the background of the New Deal, the influence of the American Communist Party, and the coming of World War II, Pells explains how these artists and intellectuals wanted to transform American society, yet why they wound up defending the American Dream. A new preface enhances this classic work of American cultural history.

Chicano Visions
Chicano Visions

Author: Cheech Marin

Publisher: Bulfinch

Published: 2002-09-23

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 9780821228067

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Originating in the early seventies, Chicano art long remained unrecognised by the art and gallery world. This text features the work of 26 Chicano artists and marks the transition of this unique and exciting movement into the critical fold of contemporary art.

Visions and Images, American Photographers on Photography
Visions and Images, American Photographers on Photography

Author: Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel

Publisher:

Published: 1981

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13:

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"This book is a valuable record of conversations with fifteen celebrated and distinguished photographers representing the spectrum of "schools", movements, and styles currently in the medium. The interviews establish a vivid and intimate portrait of each subject, focusing on the history of the artist's career, the relationship between his vocational photography, and his personal imagery, the genesis of particular works, and specific technical processes, and are invaluable to an understanding of American photography today."--Page 4 de la couverture.

The Art of Richard Mayhew
The Art of Richard Mayhew

Author: Janet Berry Hess

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-04-16

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1476602425

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African American and American Indian artist Richard Mayhew was a pivotal member of the movement, headed by Romare Bearden, of the most important black artists of the Abstract Expressionist era. Bearden's group, Spiral, was formed as a visual response to the March on Washington. Mayhew associated with Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Bearden, and formed alliances with such African American artists as Faith Ringgold, Norman Lewis, Ed Clark, and Emma Amos; his work is exhibited in major collections and museums throughout the world. This book explores his art and discusses the critical exclusion from the history of art of Native Americans and African Americans who are not figurative or "narrative" and creates a framework for reconsideration of such art.

Internationalizing the History of American Art
Internationalizing the History of American Art

Author: Barbara Groseclose

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2009-01-01

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0271046899

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"A collection of essays presenting international perspectives on the narratives and the practices grounding the scholarly study of American art"--Provided by publisher.

A Mirror for History
A Mirror for History

Author: Marc Egnal

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 2024

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1621909042

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"In this book, Marc Egnal argues that the arc of middle-class culture reflects the evolution of the economy from the near-subsistence agriculture of the 1750s to the extraordinarily unequal society of the twenty-first century. By using literature and art to explain the shifts in values over this lengthy span and highlighting class conflict within the American economy over time, Egnal offers particularly unique insights into the development of middle-class America. By delving into a myriad of fictional characters and their complex worlds, Egnal sheds light on an array of issues including the shifting roles of women in society, the resulting changes in masculinity, waning religious beliefs through the centuries, and a broad exploration of African American characters"--