American Art Before and After WW2 PDF

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Running head: AMERICAN ART BEFORE AND AFTER WORLD WAR 2

American Art Before and After World War 2 Vincent Drake ARTS 125 October 31, 2016 Randal Allison

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American Art Before and After World War 2 By the 1930s, America had plunged into a depression with is known as the Great Depression. It was the greatest economic collapse in America with ended in a war. America was known as the land of hope and opportunity. But during the Depression, it became the land of despair and desperation. Art seemed to be irrelevant doing this time. Nearly 10,000 artists were unemployed and facing destitution. The new government came up with an idea to stop that from happing. With became recovery programs that were called the New Deal. The new administration knew that America needs employment but also need the inspiration the art could give them. As America entered the great Depression, there was a dramatic shift in art and its subject matter. Art now reflected political concerns, depression, and family issues. Society was less concerned with the shiny and new and more about how they would be able to provide for their families. The emotional stresses of life, and the impressionist movement, powered artists emotionally. For example, Willem De Kooning was a very passionate artist, and it was a reflected in his work. He combined his classical European training from Holland with his love for American popular culture. The restlessness and energy of American life were a source of great inspiration and passion for him. His works spoke out against the glorification of beauty and women. His works, which later became known as his Women series, was even considered sexist and threatening. It is said that Woman I was inspired by a cigarette advertisement which not only shows this artist's association of women with luxury goods but his disgust with the portrayal of women. This artist was popularized during the Depression because it was unlike anything was seen in the western painting. Women I was highly aggressive, erotic and threatening. She had frightening teeth and fierce eyes which were not stereotypical of a submissive, Cold War era, housewife. It's believed he created her to as a response to the idealized women in which we have

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previously seen in art history.

The painting American Gothic was one the greatest of this works of art that Grant Wood produced. It was a work of art that showed you about life in the Midwest doing the depression. Wood created in a realistic way known as Regionalism. The home that was displayed in the painting was discovered in Iowa. When he returned home with his portrayal and photo, he utilized his sister and his dental specialist as the model for the man and his wife in the artwork. ("Grant Wood, Biography," n.d.). Another style of art during this period was Abstract Expressionism. This type of painting combines the emotional value and the abstract form. Abstract Expressionism started in the 1940s and 1950s. It involves the approach of casual style. The artists were obstructed by the period's liberal governmental issues and were grounded in individual experience. Few artists would keep their earlier fundamental political viewpoints, yet various artists continued getting the position from the avant-gardists. Having created as specialists amid a period when America persevered financially and felt socially isolated and necessary, the primary front line for the American artwork was the Abstract Expressionists. Through making art, they achieve some transformation and redemption. Some of their paintings were created from the anxiety and turmoil about the disturbing report from World War II. Political precariousness in 1930s Europe conveyed some Surrealists to move to New York. Some of the Abstract Expressionists were significantly impacted by the style, by their attention on the oblivious. It enabled their energy for imagination and model pictures, and it shaped their perception of painting itself as a fight between individualism and the commotion of the absent. One of the most well-known painters of the abstract expressionists was Jackson Pollock. He had

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a harsh and hard life being raised in the West of America. It formed his certain character.

A series of events and influences guide his mature style in later years. Jackson spent some years creating realist murals, by doing that it he helps to understand the power of making large scale art. Surrealism showed him the suggested ways to describe the insensible, and his understanding of imaginary plane directed his Cubism. ("Jackson Pollock Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works," n.d.). Pollock, 1930 went to an analyst to be treated alcoholism; while he was there, they encouraged him to generate drawings. Pollock used the picture to express things from his mind and also expressing things happening in the war. ("Jackson Pollock Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works," n.d.). Not one of the dip of paint of loose and sweeping brushstrokes were an accident. He loved to us intense color and free-flowing strokes. Pollock believe that creating a unique style is separating the shading and rethinking the way you draw and paint; then you can create a standout piece of work and you can create a new style.

The painting named Autumn Rhythm was one famous work of art Pollock created. When Pollock created many of his painting, his painting was either on the floor or against a wall not on a regular easel. He painted in a style that would let the paint just drip on the ground. That is how his work becomes known as "drip paintings." He didn't use traditional brush he used things like sticks, trowels or knives. He was one of the great leaders of the art world in the 20th century. The risk and creativeness that he took will encourage future artists to create painting and art with a passion that will set no limits or guidelines. During the 1930's there were many styles that presented themselves: Realism, Abstract, and Impressionism all played a role in this period for artists. The 1930's became known for more

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than just basic pictures, paintings, drawing and the like. Instead, the art took a more individualized approach than much of the art before this period. Many different styles, brush strokes, objects, color combinations (or lack of), played a critical role for many of the artists of this time. The art seemed to become as diverse as the population of America had grown during this period. In a way, the art of this time assisted in making social and societal changes for the newly industrialized America.

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References: Eldridge, D. (2008). American culture in the 1930s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Grant Wood, Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/grantwood-9536250 Jackson Pollock Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.thestory.org Pohl, F. K. (2012). Framing America: A Social History of American Art (3rd ed.). Retrieved from University of Phoenix ebook collection database....