Henrietta Shore: American modernist.
Item
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Title
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Henrietta Shore: American modernist.
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Identifier
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AAI3083705
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identifier
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3083705
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Creator
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Roznoy, Cynthia.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gail Levin
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Date
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2003
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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 | Biography | Women's Studies
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Abstract
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Canadian-born American painter Henrietta Shore (1880--1963) was a major conduit for the importation of modernist ideas from New York to Southern California. She was an important stimulus to modernist activity there as disseminated by Edward Weston and Peter Krasnow and through arts organizations she co-founded such as the Los Angeles Modern Art Society and the Progressive Artists Group.;In one way Shore's struggle was every woman artists' struggle of the period: to become professional, to establish herself as a competitor in the art market, and to gain critical recognition. In some ways, Shore was successful. She was active in steering the course of her career by using the mentorship of Robert Henri, by creating an innovative aesthetic vocabulary, and by founding arts organizations. In another way, Shore's struggle was a personal one. Shore was engaged in a private battle for acceptance as a lesbian. Fearing social censure and the subsequent dismissal of her art, Shore never commented (in anything known today) about her sexual life. Instead, she fashioned a self-representation and an exploration of sexuality in her work. Her art parallels developments in early twentieth century investigations of sexuality such as Havelock Ellis's Studies in the Psychology of Sex and Margaret Sanger's efforts to establish women's rights in the areas of health and sexuality. Moreover, it corresponds to new thought about the construction of lesbian identity only begun in Europe in the nineteenth century and not a part of the American public consciousness until the twentieth century.;For a period of about ten years, 1925 to 1935, critics and curators considered Henrietta Shore a first-rate artist. But with the onset of the Depression in 1929, her initial reputation and popularity declined. Additionally, for most of her life, Shore lived in California where, removed from the locus of art activity in New York, she lost a vital viewing audience and market. Described in 1927 by Los Angeles Times art critic Arthur Millier as one of the United States best woman painters, Henrietta Shore is now mostly unknown.
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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.
