Alfred Steiglitz

Flatiron, 1903,

*Photograph of the Fuller bldg, straight, "art for art's sake".

*First major American photographer

*Interested in nature and new technology

*photo cropped to emphasze vertical lines

Georgia O'Keefe

Cow's Skull: Red, White and Blue, 1931

*American artists who did not train in Europe and painted American subject matter.

*Steiglitz unhappy with her trips to New Mexico so she shipped the bones to NY to paint.

*Colors might be influenced from Navajo rugs or patriotism (Modernist spirit).

*She did not see bones as a symbol for death, but life.

*Balck band might symbolize death of relationship.

Charles Demuth

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, 1928

*Inspired by fire engine from a poem, William Carlos Williams.

*Precisionist painter but this has lots of action which is atypical. 

*includes streetlights and paved streets.

Thomas Hart Benton

Social History of Indiana Parks, the Circus, the Klan and the Press, 1933

*Circus made Indiana home in Winter months

*Klan had largest concentration of members through churches in Indiana

*Environmental issues big after dustbowl, planting trees to prevent soil erosion

*New technology with high rises, flight

*Press involved in bringing down KKK and earns Pulitzer for story

*TOLERANCE with nurse scene offsets racist history

Grant Wood

American Gothic, 1930

*Lived, taught and worked in Iowa

*Craftsman, wnt to Germany for stained glass techniques and saw Dutch/Flemish painters (pattern, details, fine craftsmanship)

*Gothic arch on window behind figures

*Dentist and sister posed

*pattern on dress, vertical repetitions

Aaron Douglas

Building More Stately Mansions, 1944

*Mural at Fisk University where he taught.

*"Father of African American Art"

*Studied African history

*Egyptian looking men symbolic for ancient civilizations that African Americans came from.

*He created a modern identity  that was positive for African Americans and influenced other artists.

Isabel Bishop

Dante and Virgil in Union Square, 1932

*Social artist.

*Mother obsessed with Dante's Inferno

*Women in crowd depict how women have now joined the workforce.

*Autonomy of individual.

*her work has a warm, "glowing" light.

Reginald Marsh

Coney Island, 1936

*father was a muralist, went to Yale, married daughter of curator for Met.

*Interested in changing role of women; attitude and attire.

*Vibrant colors, "horror vaccuii" (lack of open space), extreme perspective

*Skimpy clothes emphasized; "pin-up" women

Edward Hopper

Sunday Morning, 1930

*Not a social person, contributed to his style.

*Overnight success at 42 yrs.

*Large plate glass windows and electricity -modernity

*No narrative or sentimentality; suspends the moment.

*Small businesses that did survive the 1920's crash.

Clean, clear light, open space, architecture, a moment of quiet.

Stuart Davis

Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors - Seventh Avenue Style, 1940

*Studio on Seventh Avenue

*Worked at same time as Hopper, knew each other.

*Pop Artist first, this a complete abstraction.

*Merging of a still life and a landscape.

*influenced by fast pace of life, billboards

*This was influenced by Jazz - each part a different part of the music.

Jasper Johns

Flag, 1955

*Encaustic technique; impasto style

*Not about the flag - about the surface texture.

*Not a political statement.

Robert Rauschenburg

Retroactive I, 1963

*good freinds with Jasper Johns; Pop artist

*Used actual prints (master printer) and applied to canvas.

*Political message; made in response to Kennedy assasinations.

*Tribute to Massachio in lower right corner

Andy Warhol

Campbell's Soup Can - Tomato, 1965

*Pop artist.  Was successful commercial artist.

*"The Factory" used to create his work.

*Did not sign his work.

*Mother used to serve him tomato soup

*Interested in popular culture.

Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen

Stake Hitch, 1984

*Pop artist.  Collaborated with van Bruggen and work took a leap.

*Interested in things that were in flux.

*Large work that goes through the floor - no longer on display as it conflicted with other works in the same room.

Jackson Pollock

Going West, 1952

* Born in Wyoming; worked under Thomas Hart Benton early on.

*Created "all over paintings" with no center of interest.

*Best known for these abstract expressionist paintings.

Miriam Schapiro

Mary Cassatt & Me, 1976

*Feminist artist

*Tribute to Mary Cassatt

*Leader in reviving pattern and decorative arts mvmt.

*"Femmage" her term for feminine collage

*Painting, photograph and decorative paper

Judy Chicago

The Dinner Party, 1979

*Feminist Artist

*Collaborative piece (Miriam Schapiro) though she did not give credit at first.

*Monument to women in history

*Triangular to represent equality, 999 tiles with names

*39 table settings, read clockwise, w/female genatalia

*Height represents freedom

Ana Mendieta

First Silueta, 1973

*Feminist artist; interested in Goddess mythology when studying in Mexico.

*Interested in role of women in ancient societies

*Main media was earth, water, fire.  Used her own body.

*Work had to be photographed.

Faith Ringgold

Flag Story Quilt, 1985

*Feminist artist.  Political statements with art.

*Pieced and tie-dyed fabric and photo transfers on fabric.

*Grandmother and mother were quilters.

*Storyteller; her own narrative on the flag.

Robert Smithson

Spiral Jetty, 1971

*Earthworks.  Interested in art and the environment and atrophy.

*Built in the Great Salt Lake, Utah near Grand Continental RR.

*Land around work was hostile - industrial wasteland; rocky, no trees, difficult to get to.

*Land rented from govt; now cared for by DIA org.

Charles Sheeler

American Landscape, 1930

*Ford Rouge Plant in MI.

*Precisionist artist; interested in new technology, spirit of the times.

*Hired by Ford for this work, Albert Kahn architect of building.

*Technology and nature at peace

Ralston Crawford

Testable, 1946

*Abandoned Precisionism for abstract expressionsm later in his career.

*Only artist to witness atom bomb test at Bikini Atoll which is inspiration for this work.

*Commisioned by Fortune magazine; used Army photos.

*Yellow is heart of the explosion.