| Unit name | American Art: Art and Identity (Lecture Response Unit) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART30026 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Haran |
| Open unit status | Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit examines art in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It focuses on the ways that pictorial practices (including painting, photography, and magazine illustration) and film were used to articulate celebrations and critiques of American national identity. A key issue is the changing status of Americanism and the way in which attempts to convey nationalist imperatives through cultural forms shifted in relation to dramatic changes during the period, especially the onset of the Great Depression, and reflected critical examinations along the lines of class, gender, and race. The responses made by American artists to the emergence of the Soviet Union also marked a change in Americanism. In considering these themes, the unit considers a wide range of objects from figurative murals in post offices to experiments in abstraction, and from documentary photographs to dioramas.
On successful completion of this unit students will have(1) developed a detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the relationship between art and American national identity in the first half of the twentieth century; (2) reflected critically upon the themes of class, gender, politics and race in this context; (3) analysed a range of images and objects from the period; (4) written critically and analytically upon them.
1 x 2-hour seminar per week.
One summative essay of 3000 words (50%) and one examination of two hours (50%). Both elements will assess knowledge and critical understanding of (1) art and American national identity in the first half of the twentieth century and of (2) its themes of class, gender, politics and race by (4) writing critically and analytically upon the (3) images and objects from the period.
• Gilles Mora and Beverly W. Brannan, The American Vision, New York, 2006. • Wanda M. Corn, The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915-1935, Los Angeles, 1999. • Anthony J. Badger, The New Deal: the Depression years, 1933-40, Chicago, 2002. • Helen Langa, Radical Art: Printmaking and the Left in 1930s, Los Angeles, 2004. • Milton Brown, American Painting from the Armory to the Depression, Princeton, 1955. • Alan Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs: Images as History, Matthew Brady to Walker Evans, New York, 1989.
