American Art: A Cultural History (Trade Edition) (2nd Edition) |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Media History > Item 118
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American Art: A Cultural History (Trade Edition) (2nd Edition)
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by David Bjelajac and King Pu Laurence
Sales Rank: 111586
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List Price: $80.00
$68.40
At Amazon
on 10-14-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 512 pages
Published by: Prentice HallEdition: 2nd Edition August 1, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0131455796
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0131455795
Book Dimensions:
11.3 x 8.8 x 1.7 inches
Weighs: 5.4 pounds
Product Description
In this provocative new survey of American painting, sculpture, photography, and architecture, David Bjelajac dismisses both the idea of an evolutionary development of styles and a uniquely American way of seeing. Instead, showing the interrelation of art, politics, and social change, he encourages readers to look at artworks from the point of view of contemporaneous audiences and within a greater historical context.
Explaining how shifting cultural values influence the way we interpret art, Bjelajac helps us to understand why people have reacted positively or negatively to various works at various times. Nearly 400 illustrations, 150 in full color, illustrate a vibrant, stimulating, and original work in which art is viewed not only in terms of its creation but also its reception.
DAVID BJELAJAC, professor of art and the human sciences at the George Washington University, lives in Washington, D.C.
400 illustrations, 150 in full color, 8 x 10"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Back Cover Copy
Though broadly chronological, the book is structured around various themes, such as the animating power of religious imagery in the seventeenth century, the cultivation of republican virtue in the eighteenth century, and a split national identity in the Civil War era. The final chapters document the rise of a conflicted Avant-Garde, the populism and public art of the Depression years, the Abstract Expressionists, and the postmodern 1990s. Famous works by established names such as Charles Bulfinch, Benjamin West, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Mathew Brady, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Jeff Koons are freshly interpreted next to vernacular imagery-a masonic apron, an earthenware mug, a satirical cartoon, or a labor union poster.
Dismissing the idea of art as a stately evolution of styles or "-isms," the author sees America's visual culture as an arena in which conflicting notions of class, gender, race, and regional allegiance are fought. Stepping outside traditional art-historical discourse, he launches boldly into the realms of politics, religion, science, literature, and popular culture in order to analyze individual art works within their specific historical contexts. Throughout, using generous quotations from primary sources, Bjelajac pays close attention to how contemporary artists, audiences, and beholders from different backgrounds have talked about specific works, the nature of art, and the artist's role in American society.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: American Art: A Cultural History (Paperback)
The first and last chapters of this book make me wonder why the author actually decided to cover the subject. They show an increadible bias against the early colonists, Christianity, and western society in general. It makes me wonder why he wished to cover the topic of American Art History in the first place if he hates it so much. I also found his interpretations inaccurate on several occasions as he used scientific knowledge that would not have been known at the time the artwork was made. He does, however have a very good selection of rare artwork and shows the mixing of diferent styles very well.
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American Art: A Cultural History (Trade Edition) (2nd Edition)
Available from Amazon
Price: $68.40
Updated on 10-14-2008.
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