American Art
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American Art The Art Institute of Chicago American Art New Edition The Art Institute of Chicago, 2008 Produced by the Department of Museum Education, Division of Teacher Programs Robert W. Eskridge, Woman’s Board Endowed Executive Director of Museum Education Writers Department of American Art Judith A. Barter, Sarah E. Kelly, Ellen E. Roberts, Brandon K. Ruud Department of Museum Education Elijah Burgher, Karin Jacobson, Glennda Jensen, Shannon Liedel, Grace Murray, David Stark Contributing Writers Lara Taylor, Tanya Brown-Merriman, Maria Marable-Bunch, Nenette Luarca, Maura Rogan Addendum Reviewer James Rondeau, Department of Contemporary Art Editors David Stark, Lara Taylor Illustrations Elijah Burgher Graphic Designer Z...ART & Graphics Publication of American Art was made possible by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Woman’s Board of the Art Institute of Chicago. Table of Contents How To Use This Manual ......................................................................... ii Introduction: America’s History and Its Art From Its Beginnings to the Cold War ............... 1 Eighteenth Century 1. Copley, Mrs. Daniel Hubbard (Mary Greene) ............................................................ 17 2. Townsend, Bureau Table ............................................................................... 19 Nineteenth Century 3. Rush, General Andrew Jackson ......................................................................... 22 4. Cole, Distant View of Niagara Falls ..................................................................... 25 5. Peale, Still Life—Strawberries, Nuts, &c. ................................................................. 26 6. Church, View of Cotopaxi .............................................................................. 29 7. Homer, The Herring Net ................................................................................ 31 8. Cassatt, The Bath ..................................................................................... 34 9. Sargent, The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy ....................................................... 36 10. Remington, The Bronco Buster ......................................................................... 37 11. Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water ................................................ 38 12. Herter Brothers, Cabinet .............................................................................. 40 13. Pabst, Sideboard ....................................................................................... 41 Twentieth Century to 1955 14. Driscoll for Tiff any Studios, Hanging Head Dragonfl y Shade on Mosaic and Turtleback Base .............. 43 15. Wright, Spindle Cube Chair ............................................................................. 45 16. Glackens, At Mouquin’s ................................................................................ 48 17. Hartley, Movements ................................................................................... 50 18. Schreckengost, Jazz Bowl .............................................................................. 52 19. Storrs, Ceres .......................................................................................... 54 20. O’Keeff e, Black Cross, New Mexico ..................................................................... 57 21. Wood, American Gothic ................................................................................ 59 22. Orozco, Zapata ........................................................................................ 61 23. Memkus, Whirligig entitled “America” .................................................................. 63 24. Hopper, Nighthawks ................................................................................... 64 25. Cortor, The Room No. VI .............................................................................. 68 26. Blume, The Rock ...................................................................................... 70 Addendum: American History and its Art after World War II ..................................... 73 Lesson Plans ........................................................................................ 79 Glossary ............................................................................................ 115 Timeline ........................................................................................... 135 Maps ...............................................................................................149 Bibliography ....................................................................................... 151 Image List .........................................................................................163 How to Use this Manual he history of American art provides a compelling visual journey through more than two centuries of dynamic growth and transformation. From the 18th century T to the mid-20th century, through the establishment of national independence, a civil war, westward expansion, and the United States’s rise to an international power, American artists have furnished a rich legacy that helps illuminate the past and exposes a diverse range of cultural values. Works from the Art Institute of Chicago’s comprehensive American collection found in this manual include colonial portraiture, sculpture and landscape art that refl ect the young nation in the early 19th century, and examples of painting and decorative arts from the turn of the century that signal a new cultural maturity and aesthetic sophistication. Masterpieces of 20th-century art in the museum’s collection include two of the most celebrated and familiar American icons, Grant Wood’s American Gothic and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, whose realism refl ects one facet of American art in a century marked by the emergence of modernism and abstraction—modes of expression that reached their apogee in the United States following the conclusion of World War II. This manual can be used in multiple ways by teachers wishing to use American art to enrich students’ understanding of various subject areas and to develop and sharpen cognitive and creative skills. The introduction provides an overview of American history to the mid-20th century, furnishing a contextual framework for the artworks featured in the manual. Twenty-six works from the museum’s permanent collection of American art are reproduced and discussed in extended texts that treat the lives of the artists who created them, describe the cultural and historic environment in which they were produced, and examine their style and content (and, in the case of decorative arts, their function). Many of these works are paired with a second, related object that further enhances understanding of the artist or period to which the fi rst work belongs. Key terms are highlighted in bold type are defi ned in the glossary. Following the discussion of each object is a listing of broad themes intended to aid educators in connecting the works to class curricula and teaching across disciplines. These themes are identity (for works in which social station, profession, accomplishments, or personality of fi gures represented is key); nature and environment (identifying landscapes or city views, or works that focus on natural objects, such as still lifes with fruit or fl owers); economics (applied to works in which patronage, labor, systems of trade or exchange, or references to conditions of prosperity or poverty are of special interest); and narrative (for those objects in which a story or sequence of events, actual or fi ctional, is implied). ii American Art The addendum at the end of the manual brings the historical overview to the present and includes brief discussions of four contemporary works. Fourteen lesson plans correlated to the Illinois Learning Standards provide strategies for using works in the manual to teach across curricula. A timeline shows the chronological sequence of the works alongside historical and cultural events. Two maps show the development of the United States and locations associated with objects in the manual, and the bibliography lists books (arranged by topic), annotated Web sites, and teacher resources on American art. In addition to reproductions of the 26 primary artworks in the form of small color posters, images are provided on the accompanying CD to facilitate projection on a screen or viewing on a computer monitor. A digital copy of the entire manual is included on the disk as well. The Art Institute’s collection of American art has been expanded by a historic long-term loan agreement with the Terra Foundation for American Art, which has contributed 50 of its greatest paintings and a remarkable selection of works on paper, making the Art Institute one of the major centers for American art in the world. Many of the works on loan from the Terra Foundation bear a strong relationship to works in the Art Institute’s collection. Those with a connection to works in the manual are listed along with the address of the Terra Foundation’s Web site so that readers can view reproductions and fi nd more information. The Art Institute is grateful for the generous support of the Terra Foundation, which has helped fund the production of this manual and has enabled the museum to distribute it to schools throughout Illinois. American Art iii Portions of this manual are adapted from the following Art Institute of Chicago publications: Barter, Judith A., Kimberly Rhodes, and Seth A. Thayer, with contributions by Andrew Walker. 1998.