The Wild One
“The Wild One” written by art historian Ellen Landau focuses on the psyche of post World War 2 American society and how Jackson’s Pollock’s influence was able to shatter the conventions of an “American hero”, simultaneously bringing about change to what is considered to be an acceptable approach to picture making. Landau’s article begins by asking the question “is he the greatest living painter in the United States?” , she lays this as the platform for her central argument, linking this argument by thoroughly evaluating Pollocks deep rooted personality traits which brought about his own unique style of art making.
In this article Landau discusses the relevance of Pollocks approach to painting and how method acting correlated towards the process of abstract expressionism, tying in Pollock to method actors Marlon Brando & James Dean. Landau aims to discuss how American society used Pollock, Brando and Dean as a counter culture to their already growing bureaucratic and deeply homogenised society, praising them as “rebel heroes” who spoke through action rather than words, redefining the meaning of an “American Hero” and also leading to Abstract Expressionism becoming an artistic manifestation to an emerging subculture called the “Beat Generation”. Landau is
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Landau concludes the article by reflecting back to the central argument of whether or not “Jackson Pollock is the greatest living painter in the United States”, Landau supports this statement with a resounding yes as she credits him as being the most influential character ever produced in America also referring him to have “virtually singlehandedly brought about the long-awaited aesthetic triumph of America over the centuries-old hegemony of
I have chosen to compare and contrast the following two works of art: (1) Vincent Van Gogh, The Sower, 1888. Oil on canvas, 25 ft. ¼ in. x 31 ft. ¾ in., Netherlands, Europe, and (2) Winslow Homer, Veteran in a New Field, 1865. Oil on canvas, 2 ft. x 3 ft. 2 in., Prouts Neck, Maine. The painting The Sower is based on a sketch that Van Gogh did in a letter to his brother Theo.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which is located in Kansas City, possess a rich collection of art coming from the entire world. Even more, when it comes to American artists the museum maintains magnificent works from different ages and styles. Two of the paintings, from American authors, that call visitors’ attention whenever they visit the museum are “Goodnight Irene” and “Lynch family”. Both paintings are works from different American authors, yet same style and similar date of creation. This two paintings are capable to evoke diverse feelings and emotions in the spectators, for that reason the purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast both works in terms of perspective, technique and compositional features.
In this extremely controversial work, Glenn C. Altschuler takes aim on the government’s accusations, the prejudice from the police, and the affect that rock ’n’ roll made in America through the late forties and fifties. Glenn makes many accusations of his own through the way he shifts the momentum of the story from time to time. Through the years back then and now, music has caused many racial and gender controversies. In this book, Glenn explains all these problems and what rock did to start or get of them.
The visual arts was another arena in which African Americans strove to preserve and exhibit their culture and traditions, and contribute to their growth as a race. Renowned painters such as Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, Archibald Motley, and Jacob Lawrence used unique artistic styles, such as “bold shapes and vivid colors” (), to produce works that exemplified racial dignity, depicted the everyday social life of the urban black working-class, interpreted black folklore, and portrayed
The author is focusing on this new “high” of social and political change that black people were experiencing as they were trying to capture a status of equality through creating historic and important art so that they would be respected as a race. The author David Lewis suggests that black people were creating art to force the nation to recognize them as being equal while trying initiate mutual respect for creativity between white and black races. Charles Johnson a Harlem intellectual led the creative movement by Black intellectuals. Lewis adds that Johnson believed that “The New Negro” was capable of writing literature and it was important to create a platform for them to bring these artists into contact with each other since they had not been allowed the chance. He wanted to stimulate the minds of these artists and to help them share with one another and the world the artistic work that was free of disapproval based on race and
Altschuler discusses media commentator Jeff Greenfield’s opinion about the influences of Rock and Roll on American youth. Greenfield states, “Nothing we see in the counterculture [of the 1960’s], not the clothes, the hair, the sexuality, the drugs, the rejection of the reason, the resort to symbols and magic – none of it is separable from the coming to power in the 1950s of rock and roll music.” He continues with “Brewed in the hidden corners of black American cities, its [Rock-n-Roll] rhythms infected white Americans, seducing them out of the kind of temperate bobby-sox passions out of which Andy Hardy films are spun. Rock and Roll was elemental, savage, dripping with sex; it was just as our parents feared.” (Altschuler, 8) Rock and Roll stood as a powerful alternative to the conformist ideals Americans had valued.
Paintings of the Hudson River Valley, Connecticut River, and White Mountains became very influential. Genre artists like John Quidor, who painted landscapes and figures from literature, also had a strong liking of the ideals in the Romanticism movement, which influenced his paintings toward a nationalistic impression as well. Quidor was known for being one of the founding fathers of American art. Even though he was never appreciated for his works when he was alive, he changed America’s perspectives on art forever. Both the Hudson River School students and Quidor expressed their paints in a unique “American” way, as they tended to ignore British ideals of art.
Counterculture is “the culture and lifestyle of those people, especially among the young, who reject or oppose the dominant values and behavior of society. ”1 This small sect of society rejected the “norms” decided on by the larger majority and in doing so, counterculture created a safe haven for those looking to create their own individuality. Carlin’s switch from his “establishment job”3 to his work in counterculture provided the perfect avenue for his message to be delivered widespread. A 1972 album of Carlin’s won a Grammy award after “going gold”3 and his work has been nominated ten times in total for a Grammy, with Carlin accumulating four wins in total.
In a small room in a guest house in France the clicks and clacks of a typewriter echo and the mechanical sound of artistic creation livens the air. This home is known as Saint-Paul-de-Vence and will be a destination for artists and travelers alike. For within this home there is a sturdy typewriter, but more importantly there is a man in exile with the mind and inspiration to use it. He is many things, an expatriate, an African American, and a homosexual. Most importantly though he is an artist and he is creating.
Introduction “They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art”. – Charlie Parker. During the Harlem Renaissance people weren’t just making music, they were creating a new way of life, a brand-new culture.
Well-known writer and essayist Joan Didion, in her essay, The White Album, shatters every preconceived notion of the late nineteen sixties. Set primarily in Los Angeles, California Didion blends reportage and personal essay to recount cultural tensions that arose during the period- protests, murder, apathy-with her own psychosis. Incorporating fragmented narrative and film technique Didion offers snapshots of the events with language that is curt yet symbolic of her unique style. “The White Album,” demonstrates that everything in life is meant to teach us something. Through Didion’s experiences behind the pen, as a news reporter, her narration attempts to understand the lesson and discovers "We Tell OURSELVES STORIES in order to live" (Didion
The political movements of the 1960s—the Civil Rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War campaign, and the feminist movement—had transformed cultural life in the United States. As political elites continued to make decisions that enmeshed the US ever more deeply in war and inequality, art became more provocative and a vehicle of sociopolitical change. New York City provides the setting for Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, at a time when NYC had become a haven for struggling artists to immerse themselves in their craft as well as to gain inspiration from other artists who had already achieved a privileged position in the arts. For Patti Smith, the daunting decision to move to New York at 19 years old led her to experiments with identity, her explorations
Works of art and literature are never created to only be looked upon by the artist; they are created to propose a plan, or change an opinion, or make a difference. Both in Joan Didion’s essay “Rock of Ages” and Dave Barry’s newspaper column, “Dating Made Easy”, they each use various devices to achieve a specific goal. When Didion first arrives at Alcatraz she lists all the flowers that she sees. She then specifically informs the reader that “candytuft springs … exercise yard”(Didion 205). Didion gives the reader extremely specific details, after having described a broader scene.
In Staging Race: Black Performers in Turn of the Century America, author Karen Sotiropoulos sets out to describe black artists and their art as “ constitutive of and emblematic of their own generation” (1). Centered in the years post-Civil War and during the dawn of the Jim Crow laws in the late 19th century, Staging Race focuses on the advancement of African American artists in the flourishing cities in America. Artists held the stage in America’s growing entertainment and commercial sector. However, author Sotiropoulos is meticulously in reminding readers that although there were possibilities for advancements, there were still prevalent struggles among artists. Facing racial violence, segregation, disenfranchisement, and social Darwinism,
Every now and then the art world is struck by a wave of change that leaves a strong impression, which can last for a long time. Visual arts saw the rise of impressionism and cubism, surrealism and realism took literature to an opposite direction, and film has evolved over the years through cultural and artistic development such as expressionism, auteurism and film noir (House, p.61). The 1940s and post World War II gave rise to a new style of American film, these films appeared pessimistic and dark in mood, theme, and subject. The world created within these films were portrayed as corrupt, hopeless, lacked human sympathy, and “a world where women with a past and men with no future spent eternal nights in one-room walk-ups surrounded by the