American Modernism

Examples of American Modernism in the following topics:

• American Modernism

  • Economic and technological progress during the interwar period gave rise to American modernism, an artistic movement favoring abstraction.
  • American modernism is an artistic and cultural movement in the United States starting at the turn of the 20th century.
  • Numerous directions of American "modernism" did not result in one coherent style, but evoked the desire for experiments and challenges.
  • O'Keeffe has been a major figure in American Modernism since the 1920s.
  • She has received widespread recognition for challenging the boundaries of modern American artistic style.

• Painting

  • Regionalism, also known as American Scene Painting, developed in reaction to the Armory Show and abstract modernism, and instead depicted American small towns and rural landscapes that conveyed a sense of nationalism and romanticism of everyday American life.
  • American modernism marked the beginning of American art as distinct and autonomous from European taste by breaking artistic conventions that had been shaped after European traditions until then.
  • Georgia O'Keeffe was a major figure in American Modernism who received widespread recognition for challenging the boundaries of modern American artistic style.
  • Influenced strongly by Cubism and Futurism, its main themes included industrialization and the modernization of the American landscape, which were depicted in precise, sharply defined, geometrical forms.
  • Georgia O'Keefe was a major figure in American Modernism, and synthesized abstraction and representation in her works.

• American Art Deco Architecture

  • Art Deco and Streamline Moderne were two key styles of early 20th century American architecture.
  • Modern American architecture is usually divided into the two styles of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne.
  • Streamline Moderne, also known as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style that emerged during the 1930s.
  • As the Great Depression decade of the 1930s progressed, Americans saw a new decorative element of the Art Deco style emerge in the marketplace: streamlining.
  • Distinguish between Art Deco and Streamline Moderne in American architecture in the first half of the 20th century

• American Painting: The Ashcan School

  • American Realism attempted to portray the exhaustion and cultural exuberance of the American landscape and the life of ordinary people at home.
  • Pulling away from fantasy and focusing on the grit and reality of daily life, American Realism presented a breakthrough—introducing Modernism, and what it means to be in the present.
  • The Ashcan School, also known as "The Eight," was central to the new American Modernism in the visual arts.
  • The artists of the Ashcan School rebelled against American Impressionism, which was the vanguard of American art at the time.
  • It was their frequent, although not total, focus upon poverty and the daily realities of urban life that prompted American critics to consider them to be on the fringe of Modern art.

• Civil Rights of Native Americans

  • Historical policies of American expansion have infringed upon the rights of Native Americans and have lead to long-term inequality.
  • Native Americans are people of indigenous American descent, including indigenous peoples within the boundaries of the present-day United States.
  • According to US Census data, 1.37% of Americans identify themselves as Native American.
  • Despite these efforts, Native Americans still tend to have lower socioeconomic status and greater exposure to crime and abuse than other American groups.
  • Identify the modern civil rights issues that pertain to Native Americans in the United States

• Painting and Sculpture

  • Through all mediums of artistic expression (including painting, literature, and music), American Realism attempted to portray the exhaustion and cultural exuberance of the American landscape and the life of ordinary Americans at home.
  • Pulling away from fantasy and focusing on the now, American Realism presented a new gateway and a breakthrough—introducing modernism, and what it means to be in the present.
  • Art in the American Southwest developed a unique style following the First World War.
  • Sculpture at this time was marked by Modern Classicism, or the revitalization of the classical Greek traditions in modern sculpture, as well as the early beginnings of art deco - a much more linear and symmetrical style marked by elegance, functionality and modernity.
  • Discuss the early 20th century art movements, including American Realism, the Harlem Renaissance, Modern Classicist sculpture, and the landscape images of the Southwest.

• The Rise of Modernism

  • Modernism was a philosophical movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that was based on an underlying belief in the progress of society.
  • Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed by the horror of World War I.
  • Modernism was essentially based on a utopian vision of human life and society and a belief in progress, or moving forward.
  • In Germany, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz and others politicized their paintings, foreshadowing the coming of World War II, while in America, modernism is seen in the form of American Scene painting and the social realism and regionalism movements that contained both political and social commentary dominated the art world.
  • The end of modernism and beginning of postmodernism is a hotly contested issue, though many  consider it to have ended roughly around 1940.

• Civil Rights of Asian Americans

  • Internment camps during World War II were used to hold Japanese American residents and citizens, who were suspected of anti-American plotting without the benefit of legal proceedings.
  • Asian Americans are sometimes referred to as "the model minority" in the popular press.
  • In the modern day, Asian Americans continue to comprise the second largest ethnic immigrant group, after Latinos.
  • However, largely due to favorable stereotypes of Asian Americans, debates surrounding illegal immigration tend to focus on Latinos, who are more negatively stereotyped by native born Americans.
  • During the Second World War, Japanese Americans were forced to relocate to U.S. government administered internment camps on the baseless suspicion that they may plot anti-American activities.

• The Emergence of "American" Literature

  • Literary nationalists at this time were calling for a movement that would develop a unique American literary style to distinguish American literature from British literature.
  • The American preoccupation with national identity (or nationalism) in this period was expressed by modernism, technology, and academic classicism, a major facet of which was literature.
  • These American writers who questioned transcendentalism illustrate the underlying tension between individualism and conformity in American life.
  • Walt Whitman was a highly influential American writer.
  • His American epic, Leaves of Grass, celebrates the common person.

• Modern Architecture

  • Modernism eventually generated reactions, most notably Postmodernism which sought to preserve pre-modern elements, while Neo-modernism emerged as a reaction to Postmodernism.
  • Frank Owen Gehry, CC (born Frank Owen Goldberg; 28 February 1929) is a Canadian-born American architect, residing in Los Angeles.
  • Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect.
  • This philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture".
  • Already well known during his lifetime, Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time".