Even if you have never been to a museum in your life, you are not completely uneducated about art. At some point in your life you have received some formal or informal art education. Whether learned through the news, advertising or an art class during elementary school, everyone knows just a little bit about art.
Some of the most recognizable names in art are da Vinci, Picasso, Degas and Rembrandt. You’ve heard all those before, right? Each of those artists is either European or Spanish. Not one of them is American. So, here’s a little test, can you name one American artist? If you can, I bet you had to think pretty hard about it. And most likely, I’d guess that you can’t. Please keep in mind, I am not assuming that you, as my audience, are not educated. I’m saying that the world is generally uneducated about American art. Even here in America. Just to ease your pain, here are the names of a few American artists. Hopefully you will recognize at least one. Andy Warhol. Norman Rockwell. Alexander Calder. GeorgiaO’Keeffe. So maybe we all know a little bit about American art and artists, but they are not the first people who come to mind when we think of art.
In this post I want to explore a little bit about what is American art. There is a lot of amazing art that has come out of these United States and I would like you all to know about it. But, first, I want to tell you a short story. To illustrate my point, I have chosen two of the most recognizable and remarkable American artists and each has a painting located right here in our little museum on campus. The paintings are, House in Provincetown by Edward Hopper and Cos Cob by Georgia O’Keeffe. And you’ll be shocked to know how the museum acquired these paintings.
On to my story – These two paintings were once a part of a tour intended to go around the world and educate the public about American Art. It was called Advancing American Art. But, the abstract style of most of the paintings in the collection was immediately controversial. The show opened in New York and only made it to two other destinations before Secretary of State George C. Marshall recalled the exhibition. The media, public and Congress thought that the abstract style and communist-sympathetic artists were not a good representation of late 1940s America. After being taken off tour, all of the paintings from Advancing American Art were put in storage, waiting for auction as war surplus. The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and Auburn University saw the worth in these paintings and each bought half of the collection. Many of the artists, including O’Keeffe and Hopper, have become some of the most famous artists from that time period.
In my next post I’ll discuss how we define American art. Obviously during the 40s American art was not abstract. Interesting how the public’s idea of art was a decade or so behind the artist’s.
How cool, Page! I've always liked Georgia O'Keeffe -- I remember studying about her in my art class I took in high school. However, I've never seen the Cos Cob painting. It makes me feel all organic when I look at it. That's probably why I like it so much, ha!
ReplyDeleteBy any chance does OU offer a class purely on American art/artists? I think that would be really beneficial for both non-art majors and art majors. Also, do you know how much it cost Fred Jones to buy half of that collection?
I have never seen a class that focuses only on American art, but we have multiple classes each semester that focus on Native American art. Which, truly our the specialty here. They are some of the best classes offered.
ReplyDeleteThe museum did do a program last semester, which was paired with one of my honors classes, that took place one a month on Friday evenings and the focus was the art purchased from the state department. It was very interesting. Other than that, there's not much focus on American art.
I've never heard a specific number value for what they paid, but I know that it was much much less than they are worth now. Sorry!
I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I think it is a topic that is often brushed over.
I'm glad that you liked the Cos Cob painting, you need to come up to the museum some day and see it in person, it is even more beautiful!
You're right, I could not think of one American artist until you gave it away. I love your passion for this subject! Have you ever been to the Louvre in Europe? I had never really been into art or really ever taken the time to appreciate it until I visited. It is spectacular.
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