Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art
Victor Arnautoff and the Politics of Art

Author: Robert W. Cherny

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2017-03-07

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 0252099249

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Victor Arnautoff reigned as San Francisco's leading mural painter during the New Deal era. Yet that was only part of an astonishing life journey from Tsarist officer to leftist painter. Robert W. Cherny's masterful biography of Arnautoff braids the artist's work with his increasingly leftist politics and the tenor of his times. Delving into sources on Russian émigrés and San Francisco's arts communities, Cherny traces Arnautoff's life from refugee art student and assistant to Diego Rivera to prominence in the New Deal's art projects and a faculty position at Stanford University. As Arnautoff's politics moved left, he often incorporated working people and people of color into his treatment of the American past and present. In the 1950s, however, his participation in leftist organizations and a highly critical cartoon of Richard Nixon landed him before the House Un-American Activities Committee and led to calls for his dismissal from Stanford. Arnautoff eventually departed America, a refugee of another kind, now fleeing personal loss and the disintegration of the left-labor culture that had nurtured him, before resuming his artistic career in the Soviet Union that he had fought in his youth to destroy.

Painting on the Left
Painting on the Left

Author: Anthony W. Lee

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1999-04-15

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780520219779

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During the 1930s San Francisco's most ambitious public murals were painted by artists on the left. In this study, Anthony Lee shows how these painters, led by Diego Rivera, sought to transform murals into a vehicle for their rejection of the economic and political status quo and their support of labor and radical ideologies, including Communism. In addressing these subjects, the mural painters developed a new imagery, based on the activities of the city's laboring population - its efforts to organize, its protests, its strikes.

American Labor and the Cold War
American Labor and the Cold War

Author: Robert W. Cherny

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780813534039

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The American labor movement seemed poised on the threshold of unparalleled success at the beginning of the post-World War II era. Fourteen million strong in 1946, unions represented thirty five percent of non-agricultural workers. Why then did the gains made between the 1930s and the end of the war produce so few results by the 1960s? This collection addresses the history of labor in the postwar years by exploring the impact of the global contest between the United States and the Soviet Union on American workers and labor unions. The essays focus on the actual behavior of Americans in their diverse workplaces and communities during the Cold War. Where previous scholarship on labor and the Cold War has overemphasized the importance of the Communist Party, the automobile industry, and Hollywood, this book focuses on politically moderate, conservative workers and union leaders, the medium-sized cities that housed the majority of the population, and the Roman Catholic Church. These are all original essays that draw upon extensive archival research and some upon oral history sources.

California Women and Politics
California Women and Politics

Author: Robert W. Cherny

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 0803236085

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An edited volume exploring the role women played in California politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

American Expressionism
American Expressionism

Author: Bram Dijkstra

Publisher: ABRAMS

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13:

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Providing a fascinating look at American Expressionism--and at the beginnings of a new movement, Abstract Expressionism, which followed it--cultural historian Dijkstra offers new insights into the roots of painting in America today. 258 illustrations.

American Politics in the Gilded Age
American Politics in the Gilded Age

Author: Robert W. Cherny

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 1997-01-30

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Often Gilded-Age politics has been described as devoid of content or accomplishment, a mere spectacle to divert voters from thinking about the real issues of the day. But by focusing too closely on dramatic scandals and on the foibles of prominent politicians, many historians have tended to obscure other aspects of late nineteenth-century politics that proved to be of great and long-term significance. With the latest scholarship in mind, Professor Cherny provides a deft and highly readable analysis that is certain to help readers better understand the characteristics and important products of Gilded-Age politics. Topics covered include: voting behavior; the relation between the popular will and the formation of public policy; the cause and effect of the deadlock in national politics that lasted from the mid-1870s to the 1890s; the sources of political innovation at state and local levels; and the notable changes wrought during the 1890s that ushered in important new forms of American politics.

Wall-to-wall America
Wall-to-wall America

Author: Karal Ann Marling

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 1982

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 9780816636730

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From the back cover of the book, quoted in part:"The America Karal Ann Marling (the author) refers to is small-town America during the depression era; in particular those communities that were portrayed in the 1000-odd murals that appeared in post offices around the country under the auspices of the Treasury Department Section of Fine Arts. She goes far beyond an investigation of the murals as art, and 'Wall to Wall America' becomes an intelligent, often irreverent, discussion of popular taste and culture during the depression decade. "

Art Deco San Francisco
Art Deco San Francisco

Author: Therese Poletti

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Published: 2008-09-03

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9781568987569

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The Castro Theatre, the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Headquarters, 450 Sutter Medico-Dental Buildingthesemasterpieces of San Francisco's Art Deco heritage are the work of one man: Timothy Pflueger. An immigrant's sonwith only a grade-school education, Pflueger began practicing architecture after San Francisco's 1906 earthquake. While his contemporaries looked to Beaux-Arts traditions to rebuild the city, he brought exotic Mayan, Asian, and Egyptian forms to buildings ranging from simple cocktail lounges to the city's first skyscrapers. Pflueger was one of the city's most prolificarchitects during his 40-year career. He designed two major downtown skyscrapers, two stock exchanges, several neighborhood theaters, movie palaces for four smaller cities (including the beloved Paramount in Oakland), some ofthe city's biggest schools, and at least 50 homes. His works include the San Francisco Stock Exchange, the ever-popularTop of the Mark, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the San Francisco World's Fair. It is a testament to his talentthat many of his buildings still stand and many have been named landmarks. Therese Poletti tells the fascinating story of Pflueger's life and work in Art Deco San Francisco. In lively detail, she relates how Pflueger built extravagant compositions in metal, concrete, and glass. She also tells the story behind the architecture: Pflueger's commissioning and support of muralist Diego Rivera, his association with photographer Ansel Adams and sculptor Ralph Stackpole, and his childhood friendship turned to adulthood sponsorship with San Francisco Mayor James "Sunny" Rolph Jr. Beautiful archival photography mixes with stunning new photography in this collection of a truly Californian, but ultimately American, story.

Imperial San Francisco
Imperial San Francisco

Author: Gray Brechin

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2006-10-03

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 9780520250086

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""Imperial San Francisco" provides a myth-shattering interpretation of the hidden costs that the growth of San Francisco has exacted on its surrounding regions, presenting along the way a revolutionary new theory of urban development".--"Palo Alto Daily News". 86 photos.