About the Book

Rose, Francesca

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About the Book

Francesca Rose

Art of the United States, 1750–2000: Primary Sources

~Art of the United States, 1750–2000: Primary Sources provides a historical, cultural, and social framework for learning, teaching, and critical thinking about its subject by offering a thoughtful selection of primary documents and artworks spanning three centuries. The book is intended to be a companion to a range of courses in American art and American...

Author

Francesca Rose

PublisherTerra Foundation for American Art

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-20023

About the Book

Art of the United States, 1750–2000: Primary Sources provides a historical, cultural, and social framework for learning, teaching, and critical thinking about its subject by offering a thoughtful selection of primary documents and artworks spanning three centuries. The book is intended to be a companion to a range of courses in American art and American studies as well as a reference for scholars engaged in research in art history and neighboring disciplines. National and international readers interested in learning more about American art will also discover a resource to further their familiarity with the subject.

Our original intent was not to add yet another volume to the preexisting primary source literature on the topic. In past decades, scholars such as John McCoubrey, Harold Spencer, Barbara Rose, Patricia Hills, Sarah Burns, and John Davis have made lasting contributions to the field with their own anthologies on the visual arts of the United States. It may come as a surprise to learn that this anthology was first initiated with a non-English-speaking readership in mind. With a keen awareness that readings on the subject are available primarily in English, our idea was to create a single volume introducing American art through primary documents that would exist in multiple languages for an audience based outside the United States. This decision, in keeping with the Terra Foundation’s global mission to further the presentation, understanding, and appreciation of American art, set the stage for the book.

First, our intent to focus on a non-English-speaking audience guided the choice of an anthology of primary documents over a textbook. The anthology format allowed for a volume that could address a wide-ranging readership with little or no familiarity with the material and offer flexibility considering its circulation in widely different cultural and academic settings. In capturing a spectrum of documents on artistic creation in the United States, the book provides more versatility in various contexts in and out of the classroom and affords the possibility of direct engagement and appropriation of the material by readers. Historical documents, whether letters, artists’ writings, interviews, diary entries, critical texts, or photographs, provide direct and personal points of entry into the broader context of the artwork, offering insights into the concerns and debates of the day and opening avenues for critical evaluation and exchange.

Second, as the volume ought to be as clear and accessible as possible, it required a broad chronological scope for the selected texts, the inclusion of key artworks with extended captions, and, to complete the book, contextual images, maps, and a historical timeline. But above all, the anthology needed distinguished specialists, such as John Davis and Michael Leja, to lead the project and provide a framework for the sources with chapter introductions and headnotes.

Thus, the book is organized chronologically into ten chapters that address central themes running across three centuries of American art: expression of the nation’s identity, representation of historically marginalized communities, popular culture and vernacular imagery, institutional history, and more. Each chapter opens with contextual images featuring a few snapshots concerning the art production, consumption, and reception of the times. A concise introduction follows, presenting a historical overview of the period before turning to representative artworks with extended captions. This tight image selection creates a visual dialogue for the texts, bringing together artists’ key works and at times artwork directly discussed in the sources. Texts are then introduced, each preceded by headnotes shedding light on their significance. Further context is provided by the maps and a timeline of key cultural, political, and economic events.

From the very beginning, the volume’s concept and selection of documents has benefited from generous guidance and exchanges with experts in the field—scholars actively engaged in art presentation, research, and teaching around the world. Multiple conversations took place over continents and years. Once the structure and format of the book had taken shape and the authors and contributors were on board, dedicated convenings of international scholars specifically addressed the outline of the volume and the preliminary text selection, which was reviewed with an eye to the range of artists, texts, genres, and issues. The challenge was addressing the broad time frame and wide array of topics in a single manageable volume. This meant making difficult choices that privileged the creation of a broad, cohesive historical account over delving into more specific topics.

In the end, the words of hundreds of people whose lives, one way or another, intersected with American art inhabit these pages. As individual threads, each singular voice contributes to the complex weave that creates the fabric of the visual arts of the United States from 1750 to 2000.

We invite readers to engage in the next chapter of this lively ongoing narrative and look forward to seeing it take on a life of its own across continents.

Francesca Rose, Program Director, Publications, Terra Foundation for American Art

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