Skip to main content

Book: Making the Americas Modern: Hemispheric Art 1910-1960

Making the Americas Modern: Hemispheric Art 1910-1960
This book presents an audacious account of the ways in which the arts in the Americas were modernized during the first half of the twentieth century. Rather than viewing modernization as a steady progression from one ‘ism’ to another, Edward J. Sullivan adopts a comparative approach, drawing his examples from North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America. By considering the Americas in this hemispheric sense he is able to tease out many stories of art and focus on the ways in which artists from different regions not only adapted and experimented with visual expression, but also absorbed trans-national as well as international influences. He shows how this rich diversity is most evident in the various forms of abstract art that emerged throughout the Americas and which in turn had an impact on art throughout the world.

 House over the Bridge, c.1909 - Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera - House over the Bridge, Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), Mexico City, Mexico

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/The_Fourth_of_July%2C_1916_Childe_Hassam.jpg

Childe Hassam, The Fourth of July, 1916, New York Historical Society

East River from the Shelton Hotel, Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico), Oil on canvas

Georgia O'Keeffe, East River from the Shelton Hotel, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Laurence King Publishing Ltd. 
  • Hardback
  • 140 illustrations
  • 336 pages
  • 9½ x 6½ in
  • ISBN 9781786271556
  • Published March 2018

About the Author

Edward J Sullivan is the Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of Art History at New York University. He has written numerous books and essays on 19th- and 20th-century art of the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Vatican Micromosaic of Saints Valeria and Martial, Rediscovered Masterpiece

Vatican Micromosaic of Saints Valeria and Martial Everyone loves a good story. In the realm of fine art and antiques, a good story, or what we call “provenance”, has the power to take a work of art from exceptional to awe-inspiring. In terms of workmanship, subject matter and sheer size, this incredible micromosaic detailing the Biblical story of Saints Valeria and Martial has it all. Measuring over 10 feet tall, the precision and detail required to execute such a piece is baffling. Combined with the high cost of materials, micromosaics of this immense size and artistry are beyond rare. When you factor in its provenance of being crafted by the prestigious Vatican’s Mosaic Studio and displayed in St. Peter’s Basilica, you’re dealing with an undeniable masterpiece of historical significance. It took a team of seven skilled mosaicists over two and a half years to complete this majestic masterpiece. Given that Vatican relics, especially ones on such a grand scale as this, almost never lea...

Klimt and Schiele: Drawn

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston February 25 through May 28, 2018 Marking the centenary of the deaths of Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) and Egon Schiele (1890–1918), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents a special exhibition of drawings on loan from the Albertina Museum in Vienna. Klimt and Schiele: Drawn , on view from February 25 through May 28, 2018 in the Lois B. and Michael K. Torf Gallery, examines the separate, yet parallel experiences of the acclaimed Austrian modernists, as well as the compelling ways in which their work relates—particularly in their provocative depictions of the human body. Organized thematically, the selection of 60 works on paper extends from the artists’ early draftsmanship to explore how each shifted away from traditional training to more incisive and unconventional explorations of humanity over the course of their careers. The MFA is one of three museums—and the only U.S. venue—hosting exhibitions of the Albertina’s rarely loaned drawings b...

Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables

Grant Wood's American Gothic—the double portrait of a pitchfork-wielding farmer and a woman commonly presumed to be his wife—is perhaps the most recognizable painting in 20th century American art, an indelible icon of Americana, and certainly Wood's most famous art work. But Wood's career consists of far more than one single painting. Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables brings together the full range of his art, from his early Arts and Crafts decorative objects and Impressionist oils through his mature paintings, murals, and book illustrations.