The Arts in American History

Post-Revolutionary Period (pp.213-218) √ Realistic, nationalistic √ Painters Benjamin West – Death of General Wolfe (1770) John Singleton Copley – Samuel Adams (1771) Gilbert Stuart – Joseph Brant, George Washington (1792) Charles Wilson Peale – George Washington John Trumbull – Battle of Bunker Hill (1785) √ Architecture Pierre Charles L’Enfant – plans for capital city (Washington, D.C.) Asher Benjamin – The Country Builder’s Assistant (1797) – Federal style of building √ Growth of “penny press” (1790s) Federalist Gazette of the United States (1789) – newspaper founded by Hamilton National Gazette (1791) – newspaper founded by Jefferson √ Literature Thomas Paine – Common Sense (1776) Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur – Letters from an American Farmer (1782) Noah Webster – American Spelling Book (1783) – best selling book of Rev. Era Mason Locke (Parson) Weems – Life of Washington (1800) – “cherry tree myth” Mercy Otis Warren – History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution (1805)

Early 19th Century (pp. 287-291) √ Newspapers and Magazines newspapers proliferated – openly partisan in terms of politics North American Review (1820s) – intellectual magazine kept readers in touch with Europe √ Literature Washington Irving – The Sketch Book (1819) – Rip Van Winkle and Headless Horseman James Fenimore Cooper – The Last of the Mohicans (1826) and other “Leatherstocking” tales Ralph Waldo Emerson – The American Scholar lecture – developed in 1837 √ Painting “Hudson Valley School” – Thomas Cole – highly nationalistic John James Audobon – drawings, etchings, paintings of birds and other wildlife

Late 19th Century (pp. 536-537) √ Landscape Painting “Rocky Mountain School” √ Landscape photopgrahy

New Deal and the Arts (pp. 735-741) √ Works Progress Administration (WPA) – $300 for unemployed artists √ Federal Writers Project – employed 5,000 writers producing “Life in America” √ Federal Theater Project (FTP) – sought to expand audience for theater √ Federal Music Project (FMP) √ Federal Arts Project (FAP) √ Photography – Dorothea Lange – visual images of Great Depression √ Literature Clifford Odets – Waiting for Lefty (1935) – example of radical Depression literature Margaret Mitchell – Gone With the Wind (1936) – movie in 1939 John Steinbeck – Grapes of Wrath (1939) – movie the same year √ Golden Age of Movies (1930s) Gangsters – Little Caesar (1930), Public Enemy (1931) Comedies – Marx Brothers Duck Soup (1933) & A Night at the Opera (1935) Musicals – Busby Berkeley’s Gold Diggers of 1933 & 42nd Street (1933)

1950s & 60s (pp. 827-833) – Focus on the culture of youth √ Rock ‘n Roll – Elvis Presley √ Film – Marlon Brando, James Dean √ Television √ The Beats – Jack Kerouac (On the Road), Allen Ginsberg