Topics in American Art

3 units

What makes American art so different? So appealing? With a national identity forged by violent revolt against European colonialism, Americans have long considered their art as separate from a grand, though debased, European tradition. In this seminar, we will discuss particular moments of tension between the "high" and "low" in American art from the early republic to the 1970s, including the work of Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homeer, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol. Considering the subject in this way leads to a paradox: American artists often craved the approval or institutional acceptance that comes with high culture, yet sought the "low" as a way of signifying an entrepreneurial, individual, rugged, or rustic "American" spirit. We will pay particular attention to moments when the intersection sof art and popular culture articulate borader social and political debates in American society.