THE FORMATION AND EARLY YEARS OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARTISTS: 1877 - 1884.
Item
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Title
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THE FORMATION AND EARLY YEARS OF THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARTISTS: 1877 - 1884.
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Identifier
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AAI8401478
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identifier
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8401478
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Creator
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BIENENSTOCK, JENNIFER A. MARTIN.
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Contributor
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H. Barbara Weinberg
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Date
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1983
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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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Fine Arts
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Abstract
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Following the Civil War, American artists, inspired by optimism and a desire to establish themselves within an international art forum, sought training in Europe in ever-increasing numbers. The strength of the new cosmopolitanism and its receptiveness to European artistic trends was reflected in the formation of the Society of American Artists in 1877. The formative years of the Society between 1877 and 1884 mark the transition from the notion of the American "land" and inventive individualism as the defining feature of America's artistic identity to the alignment of America's artistic goals with international art ideals. Society artists, nurtured in a European academic environment and thus freed from the artistic isolation advocated by the nativist school, redefined America's artistic image and the mission of her artists. An analysis of the Society's first seven exhibitions reveals the organization's devotion to a broadminded range of subject matter, its grounded in subjective creativity rather than in "Yankee ingenuity." More specifically, this dissertation examines the transition from a nativist emphasis on landscape painting to the Society's devotion to figure painting; from Munich as a center of importance for art training to the domination of Paris; from works overtly reflective of school training to more mature and internationally shared interests in plein-airism and decorativeness. As the epitome of artistic internationalism in America in the late nineteenth century, the Society of American Artists signaled the death of a distinctly nationalistic mode of expression and the American acceptance of the concept of the universality of art.
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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.
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Program
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Art History
