ArtH 3191 American Art

Prof. Dabbs

Univ. of Minnesota Morris, Fall 2010

 

Preview/Review Images for EXAM #2 (for exam Tues. Nov. 2)

 

 

 

*this section dropped:  Architecture of the New Republic:  *this section dropped

         

Bulfinch, Massachusetts State House, 1795-98

 

- Thornton, U.S. Capitol, design of 1796  (Figs. 2.27, 2.28)

        East front (modern)

        West front (modern)

Compared to: The Pantheon (Rome),

                     The Parthenon (Greece)

                     The Louvre (Paris, 17th C.)

 

Terms:   post & lintel construction;  pediment;  capital;  podium;  symmetry; temple front

 

dropped:    Jefferson, Monticello, 1793-1809

                   Jefferson, University of Virginia Library

                             Hoban, The White House, 1792 -  (will see later)

 

 

    *this section dropped:  Art of the U.S. Capitol   *this section dropped

 

- Brumidi, Apotheosis of George Washington, Capitol dome, 1865

 

- Brumidi, Frieze of American History, rotunda;

*look at frieze of images for the rotunda at this website:   http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/index.cfm

 

 

-          Trumbull, paintings for Capitol rotunda, 1817-24:  saw The Declaration of Independence

                                      [here is Trumbull’s earlier and better version, now in the Yale Univ. Art Gallery]

 

- Causici, The Conflict of Daniel Boone and the Indians, 1825-27 (fig. 2.45)

 

 

Terms:   frieze;   fresco;   grisaille


 

 

                                        American Genre Painting

 

[historical background: Steen, Feast of St. Nicholas, 1660s, Dutch Baroque]

 

-          Spencer, Kiss Me and You’ll Kiss the ‘lasses, 1856 (fig. 3.54)

 

[added] Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, 1845 (fig. 3.51)

 

- Mount, News from California, 1850

 

- Woodville, War News from Mexico, 1848 (fig. 4.4)

 

- Woodville, Politics in an Oyster House, 1848

 

- Bingham, County Election, 1851-52

 

[do not have to know Bingham, Stump Speaking, or Canvassing for a Vote]

 

**current exhibition on American genre painting, with good additional info – check this out!

 

 


Terms:  genre painting                       

                                                             

 

                                     American Folk Art Tradition

 

 

- Anonymous, Baby Asleep, c1825

 

- A. Phillips, Mrs. Mayer and Daughter, 1830-40 (fig. 2.65)

 

 - Phillips, Girl in Red Dress     

 

- Anonymous, Mahantango Valley Farm, late 19th C.

 

- Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom, c1830

                Compared to: West, William Penn & Indians, 1771 (fig. 1.84)

 

- Baltimore Album Quilt, c.1850 (text, 19.15)

 

 -Harriet Powers, Bible Quilt, c.1880

 

 

Terms:  foreshortened;  atmospheric perspective;

 

*know differences between “folk” and “fine” art;  why quilts might be considered “fine” art

 

 

                             The “New Eden”:  American Landscape Painting and Visions of the Sublime

 

 

Thomas Cole & the Hudson River School:

 

The Oxbow, 1836

 

Kaaterskill Falls, 1826 (Fig. 3.11)

 

Cora Kneeling at Feet of Tamenund (fm Last of the Mohicans), 1827

 

Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830 (Fig. 3.10) [showed briefly prior to Church’s Niagara]

 

Cropsey, Autumn on the Hudson River, 1860

 

 

Frederic Church & the Sublime:

Niagara, 1857 (Fig. 3.27)

 

[dropped] Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860 (Fig. 3.28);  also dropped Icebergs

 

[added]   Cotopaxi, 1862

 

 

The View Out West:

 

Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak, 1863 (Fig. 3.32)

 

[added]  Among the Sierra Nevada, 1868

 

[dropped]  Looking Down Yosemite Valley, 1865 (Fig. 5.51)    

 

[added] C. Watkins, The Yosemite Valley, from the Mariposa Trail, 1865  [photo process here is an albumen print, in case you wanted to know!]

 

Moran, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872

         [added]  Sketch of a Geyser, Yellowstone, 1871  [here identified as “Castle Geyser”]

[dropped]   Mountain of the Holy Cross

[dropped]   Chasm of the Colorado, 1873-74

 

Other terms/names:

- the picturesque landscape

- the sublime landscape

- “blasted” tree stump

 

 

 


                     Westward Ho!   The Art of “Manifest Destiny

 

- J. Gast, American Progress, 1872

        

- Bingham, Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap, 1851

 

- Inness, The Lackawanna Valley, c.1855 (Fig. 3.48)

 

- Melrose, Westward the Star of Empire Takes Its Way, 1867   

 

[added]  Bierstadt, Last of the Buffalo, c. 1889

 

[dropped] Leutze, Westward Ho, 1861 (Fig. 3.33)  [this is the earlier version, in the Smithsonian American Art Museum]

[dropped] Leutze, Westward Ho, 1862 [fresco at the Capitol]; since this is the main one we talked about, I’d concentrate on it.

 

[dropped]  Bierstadt, Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1867

 

Terms/names:  manifest destiny (John O’Sullivan)

 

 

-------------------------- final update made 10/28/2010;  see below for essay question ------------------------------------------------------

 

 

TAKE-HOME ESSAY (due by Tues. Nov. 2, 2 p.m.; can turn in earlier; hard-copy only!)

Length: no more than 2 double-spaced pages

 

Topic:  Reflecting on Thomas Cole’s “Essay on American Scenery” (reading in coursepack)

          Why is the American landscape, and its representation in painting, so important,

according to Cole?   How does he try to persuade us of its importance (refer to specific elements he discusses,

interpretations he makes)?  Then, specifically connect this writing to one or more landscape paintings we’ve studied

in class (whether by Cole or other artists) – how do they exemplify at least some of his ideas, putting theory into practice?

 

[In this essay I’m looking for your own analysis of the reading; no other outside reading is necessary or desired]