Transcendentalism and the crisis of self in American art and culture, 1830--1930.
Item
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Title
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Transcendentalism and the crisis of self in American art and culture, 1830--1930.
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Identifier
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AAI3306980
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identifier
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3306980
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Creator
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Clancy, Jonathan.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Katherine Manthorne
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Date
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2008
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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 | History, United States
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Abstract
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This dissertation explores the manner in which Transcendentalism impacted American artists and their productions from 1830-1930 through a series of four case studies. The central theme that unites these studies is the crisis of self, the feeling that the once stable, integrated entity---what Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to as "this idea called 'I'"---was being pulled apart in the modern age. I investigate the manner in which Emerson, Henry D. Thoreau and Walt Whitman managed this feeling of dislocation and how their texts influenced cultural productions.;Beginning with Martin Johnson Heade's salt marsh paintings, the first case examines how the critical language of Transcendentalism created landscapes that audiences read on numerous levels. I trace Heade's contact with Transcendentalism to his previously unknown residence in Cincinnati, during which time Emerson gave a series of influential lectures. I also explore the manner in which Emerson's ideas influenced his compositional strategies, focusing on the three distinct levels of relating to natural forms that Emerson posited in Nature. In the second study, I explore how the continued promotion of Transcendentalism influenced Albert Pinkham Ryder's moonlit marine paintings and how influential critics constructed an image consonant with Transcendentalism's legacy for his life. I examine the manner in which the environment of New Bedford, his childhood home, and his circle of friends in New York strengthened the philosophy's influence on him.;The last two studies deal with the promotion of Transcendentalism into the public realm, rather than as a private remedy. In the third study, using Elbert Hubbard's Roycroft Community as an example, I trace the influence of Transcendentalism on the Arts and Crafts in the United States. In addition to positing an alternative for the movement's exclusively British model, I also look at how Transcendentalism's navigation of modernity created the conditions for the American practitioners to accept mechanization with less reservation than their British counterparts. In the final study, I explore how the philosophy remained a viable force well into the twentieth century and examine how the mass-produced housing of Sears, Roebuck and Company continued to speak to the Transcendentalists' legacy.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
