The politics of scholarship: College Art Association and the uneasy relationship between art and art history 1911--1945
Item
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Title
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The politics of scholarship: College Art Association and the uneasy relationship between art and art history 1911--1945
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:7db03492100f:10814
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identifier
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11070
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Creator
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Houser, Craig,
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Contributor
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Patricia Mainardi
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art history | Art education | Education history | Art Bulletin | Art Journal | College Art Association | Parnassus | studio art
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Abstract
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This dissertation examines the critical role that the College Art Association (CAA) played in the early development of art history and studio art education as academic disciplines in U.S. colleges and universities. Although CAA initiated a variety of projects after its inception in 1911, this study focuses on the association's journals, specifically the Bulletin of the College Art Association, The Art Bulletin, Parnassus, and College Art Journal. Serving as journals of record for art and/or art history, these publications functioned not only to provide an ongoing exchange of ideas related to the visual arts in higher education, but also to validate authorities and scholars, particularly art historians, and their academic institutions. As a result, certain individuals and schools became prominent in the visual arts. My study therefore addresses not only the histories of art history and studio art, but also the relationship between CAA and its supporting institutions.;Another issue in my dissertation is the rapport between CAA's two main constituents: the art historians and the artist-teachers. While they united to form CAA in 1911 to promote the visual arts in colleges and universities, the relationship between the two disciplines was often uneasy. Although CAA was established primarily by artist-teachers, the organization was taken over in the mid-1920s by art historians who controlled the journals. By the early 1940s the conflict erupted with the art historians trying to sever ties, albeit unsuccessfully, with the artists.;CAA was also affected by economics and politics of the 1930s. During the Great Depression the association struggled financially and adopted questionable policies to maintain publication of its primary journal, The Art Bulletin . With the influx of European emigres, many CAA members also wanted the association to assume a more nationalist identity. In many respects my dissertation demonstrates that CAA was a changing social organization whose identity was at times unstable from the 1910s through World War II, as it was affected by internal conflicts and larger sociopolitical issues.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Art History
