ARTH 12A Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Marsden Hartley, Wall Street Crash Of 1929, More Stately Mansions
16 May 2018
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May 16, 2018
“1920s and the Harlem Renaissance” Notes
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Modernism in the US After the Armory Show: 1920s
• 1929 stock market crash
• Great Depression
• Mid 1930s – Dust Bowl in Midwest
• Economy picks up with WWII (declines after wars)
• US economy doesn’t prolong until 1950s
• Cliff Dwellers by George Bellows
o “The Eight” who’s painting the lower class of the US at the time
o Immigrant neighborhood (massive migration of people from Europe
at the time)
o Migration of Africans from South to North (Apartheid but also more
economic opportunities in North) – middle class African Americans
in big cities like New York
• Battle of Lights Coney Island by Joseph Stella, 1913
o Coney Island = giant amusement park
o Lights bind different rides
o Trying to capture feeling/view of park when you’re on rollercoaster
o New idea of machines built just for people’s entertainment
• Still Life No. 1 by Marsden Hartley, 1912
o North American artists engaging in Primitivism
o Not interested in Indian culture but just borrowing design elements
o Dark outline, bright colors
o Tight spaces
• Portrait of a German Officer by Marsden Hartley, 1914
o Metonymy = substitution of attribute of the thing for the thing itself
(here the solder’s uniform, flag, etc., for the soldier himself)
o Iron cross, Italian number
o In Berlin b/c it has fairly out-front gay scene
o Artist fell in love with gay man but guy fell to war
o Period of being gay and out (outside of gay community) could get
him killed
• Indian Fantasy by Marsden Hartley, 1914
o Tepee like structure – associated with Native Americans
o Not landlocked – lots of fish in sea and close to water
o Feather head deco – usually worn by Native Americans
• Emancipation Group by Thomas Ball, 1865
o Legacy of images (unable to control how others view of you made it
such a big deal)
o Man is wearing shackles and kneeling under Abe Lincoln who
gestures that man is free → disregards all African Americans that
were self-reliant on release
• Power Plant in Harlem and Building More Stately Mansions by Aaron
Douglas
o Called Harlem Renaissance (uprising of new art by African
Americans)
o Power Plant is modern thing – lot of US didn’t have electricity yet at
this time
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Modernism in the us after the armory show: 1920s. Douglas: called harlem renaissance (uprising of new art by african. Americans: power plant is modern thing lot of us didn"t have electricity yet at this time, says that harlem is a powerplant that gives energy to african. Americans to paint their ideas: idea that people are building their future together, distant from negative images of white artists, the caf by william johnson and the ascent of ethiopia by lois mailou. Jones: negative stereotype about african americans saying they were uneducated and unsuited, people want to see element of primitivism danger of saying that. African american artist was primitivist too: white, male, and protestant artists were favored over others, lots of white patrons attacked to white people. Today we talked about how the harlem renaissance brought a new style of art that reflected african.
