Art

This chronologically organized and comprehensive anthology of readings tells the whole story of art in America from 1900 to the present. It focuses on the themes, issues, and controversies that occurred throughout the century—using selections that are contemporary with the art—by artists, critics, exhibition organizers, poets, politicians, and other writers on culture. This guide is intended to complement/supplement college textbooks on 20th century American art.

• Wide range of writers—From W.E.B. DuBois, Robert Henri, and Paul Strand to Peter Halley, Christopher Knight, Lucy Lippard, and Guillermo Goméz-Pena.
• Exposes students to diverse viewpoints, giving them a clear picture of the controversies and issues surrounding modern American art.
• Extensive coverage of themes and issues—e.g., changing nature of modernism and modernity; nationalism; art as individual or community expression; the nature of public art; and the role of criticism, censorship, and government intervention.
• Shows students that yesterday's controversies are still debated today, allowing them to see that many conflicts are timeless.
• Focus on women and minorities throughout.
• Allows students to respond to the voices of artworld people from many different backgrounds.
• Concise introductory essays written by author for each chapter/time period, section, and selection.
• Helps place the issues in the context of the social history of each period, and comments on the writer and context from which the entry is lifted.
• Texts by well-known writers—Includes Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, Leo Steinberg, Donald Kuspit; Max Kozloff, Lucy Lippard, Lowery Stokes Sims, and Douglas Crimp.
• Enables instructors to contrast the famous writers with interesting ones who have not achieved the same fame, and to discuss what makes one writer the spokesperson for the dominant art movements—whereas others speak for alternative ones.
• Writings by or on famous artists of the 20th century.
• Presents students with artists with whom they have some familiarity, such as John Sloan, Marcel Duchamp, Ben Shahn, Diego Rivera, Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Andy Warhol, Christo, Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Jean-Claude Basquiat, Maya Lin, et. al.
• Emphasis on studio artists.
• Provides students with entries on studio practices and the artists' relationships with their materials—planning the canvas, setting up the studio, and experimenting with new techniques.
• Diverse geographical representation—Includes writings from not only New York, but also the Mid-West and the West Coast.
• Gives students an awareness and understanding that some of the most dynamic ideas have come from outside of New York.
• Poetry by William Carlos Williams; Kenneth Fearing; E.B. White, Allen Ginsberg; and Amiri Baraka.
• Offers students and instructors an alternative art expression which parallels the issues seen in art and visual culture.

1. 1900-1920: Cultural and Historical Context for the First Twenty Years.

Early Twentieth-Century Realists.

The Critical Issues: Modernism and American Consciousness.

New Forms for a New Century.

Photography as Art, Photography as Tool for Reform.

Armory Show, Independents Show of 1917, and New York Dada.

Machine Age Modernism and Modernity.

Cultural Nationalism—Defining American: The Usable Past, the Local the Popular.

Cultural Primitivism—Defining Authenticity: The Usable “Other” Natural Men and Women.

The New Negro.

Artists Abroad.

The Depression Experience.

Revolutionary Theory and Practice—The Search for Styles.

Mexican Artists in the United States.

Government Projects.

Nationalism and Racialism in the Arts as Issues in the 1930s.

Critical Responses: The Transition to Abstract Expressionism and “Pure” Painting.

New York School: Voices of Individual Artists.

The Figurative Artists in the Post-War Years.

The Cold War and the Arts.

Assemblage, Installations, Happenings, Events, Performance.

New York Pop, West Coast Funk, and Chicago “Sub-Pop.”

Minimal Art.

Dematerialization: Conceptual Art, Systems, Earth Art.

Realism and Figuration.

The Vietnam War, Political Art, Political Criticism.

Black Arts Movement.

Women's Movement.

Exit Modernism, Enter Postmodern Critique.

New Painting and Sculpture.

Word-Based, Photo-Based and Theory-Based Art.

Identities Unmasked, Classifications Resisted.

Bodies Reclaimed.

Censorships and Propaganda in Art and Visual Culture.

The Construction of Knowledge: Museums, Art History, and Studio Practices.

Art in Public Spaces.

Modern Art Survey  (Art)
American Art of the 20th Century  (Art)

Includes writings and documents by artists, critics, exhibition organizers, poets, and politicians on the issues and controversies of twentieth-century art movements:

• Realism as a radical project
• Modernism and American consciousness
• Machine Age modernity
• The "New Negro" and the jazz age
• Photography as art
• Photography as force for social change
• Art for the people
• Abstract expressionism
• The Cold War and the arts
• Pop Art in New York, Chicago, and California
• Conceptual Art and Earthworks
• Political and Anti-war art
• Black Arts movement
• Feminist movement
• Postmodernism
• Identity politics and body art
• Art in public spaces
• Censorship and the culture wars

Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students contact your Pearson Higher Education representative.