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| American Art as Reflection of Social Class in the 20th Century
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The events of the early 1970s had a lasting effect both on American society and American art. The first half of the 1970s saw not only an end to the Vietnam War, arguably the least popular war in American history, but also an increase in protest to the war. The bombing of Cambodia and the killing of student protestors at Kent State University in 1970 reinforced public distrust of authority, especially the government and military. The Watergate scandal of 1972 through 1974, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon, was more evidence that the perceived protective and productive government of the Roosevelt and Kennedy eras, was now corrupt and no longer looking out for the best interests of Americans. The elements of America that were once held as infallible, particularly the presidency, were now seen as deeply flawed. The traditional way of doing things was no longer the only legitimate option, thus allowing alternative viewpoints, including those of minorities and women, to be heard and seen in the art world.
The individualism that resulted from the events of the 1960s and 70s also had its place in the art world. In addition to this individualism and focus on alternative viewpoints, the art world was also dealing with the demise of modernism. By the 1970s many artists found that modern art had segregated art from life. Art movements such as abstraction and minimalism left little room for political, social, or personal content in art. Artists, particularly women and minority artists, began focusing on content and relating art to their lives. Miriam Schapiro was joined by a host of other women artists including Frances Myers, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Hollis Sigler, Carrie Mae Weems, and Faith Ringgold who emerged in the art world during the 1970s and 80s with artwork that reflected their lives and experiences as American women.
In Frances Myers' Rescue, 1985, the popular culture icon of Wonder Woman is shown rescuing a man's head. In contrast to traditional gender roles, Wonder Woman, both in Myer's linocut and in the television series, is the heroine of her adventures, providing appropriately timed rescues for men and women alike. Although the woman is mythical, this is still an image of power for women because the man is reliant on the woman for his rescue, in contrast to most rescues.
Hollis Sigler's To Have Power is to Realize Our Lack of Control, 1994, deals with the artist's struggle with breast cancer. Sigler's images are generally brightly colored and drawn in a na•ve approach. This lithograph shows a flood with a single tree rising on an island in the middle of the image. Around the tree in the water are various household possessions and houses that are destroyed by the flood. This image demonstrates the emotions women who battle breast cancer deal with everyday. Breast cancer overwhelms their lives, destroying all that is known and comfortable. Like a flood, cancer is powerful and unrelenting, capable of destroying everything in its path. Sigler's art is intensely personal; dealing with a subject matter few women chose to discuss privately or publicly, yet allows an outsider the opportunity to begin to understand the experience.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (b. 1940) incorporates the values and experiences of her Native American past with those of the late 20th century. Smith is influenced by the formal innovations of 20th century artistic movements, as well as traditional Native American art thus seeing herself as "a mediator and a bridge builder" between the two cultures. Racism: Bones of Color, 1989, reflects the racism prevalent in American society towards any differences. The pile of bones that are featured in this piece mock the assumption that skin color has an underlying difference in human nature. Rather, the belief that skin color affects an individual's bones is a false human construction. Racism: Bones of Color also includes the artist's horse, Cheyenne, as a distant observer and represents the artist in her work.
Carrie Mae Weems is known for her work in conceptual photography. Conceptual photography is the use of photographs manipulated in the darkroom or combined with text to embody a thought or idea rather than just illustrate an object. Weems seeks to make "things that are beautiful, seductive, formally challenging and culturally meaningful," but she is also committed to "radical social change." In Some Said You Were the Spitting Image of Evil, 1995, Weems combined a photograph of an enslaved African American woman with text that reflects the racism of the 19th century and today. Nineteenth century anthropologists used photos like these to scientifically document physical differences between races. The force of Weems' image comes from the text
Miriam Schapiro, American, b. 1923, Kimono, 1976, fabric collage and oil on canvas, Gift of Jane Roseberry Tolleson '56, 1996.008
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and association of a human face with evil. Weems' art reflects the racism and discrimination that African American women have faced for centuries and still face today.
Faith Ringgold's background in art goes back many decades. Ringgold (b. 1930) was among the first group of female artists, along with Miriam Schapiro, who strove for the art of America's "others" to be recognized by the mainstream. For Ringgold, "others" included African Americans as well as women. Perhaps Faith Ringgold's best-known medium is her story quilts. Ringgold seeks to bring traditional female materials and techniques, in this case fabric and quilt making, into the world of art. Faith Ringgold's lithograph The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles, 1996, depicts historical African American women gathered around a quilt of sunflowers, with Vincent Van Gogh looking on. The women Ringgold gathered at this imagined quilting bee come from all areas of African American history, including Harriet Tubman from the 19th century and Rosa Parks from the 20th century. The representation of these women in this print brings attention to the triumphs of African American women throughout American history. The power and successes of this group of women, which one can imagine is only a selected group, inspires the female viewer that they too have the ability to make changes.
These women artists have all succeeded in what was a male dominated world a few decades ago. Changes in the American social climate regarding women and minorities, as well as individual talent and perseverance are responsible for the strength of their voice in art world today. Each of these artists make strong statements about their lives in 20th century America, statements that did not occur in art earlier in this century.
American artists have provided more than an illustration to history in the past century. Often artists have served as a catalyst for change, highlighting portions of American society that are in need of reform as the "Ashcan School" did in the 1910s and artists like Faith Ringgold and Carrie Mae Weems have done for African Americans and women in the last decades of the 20th century. Other artists, including the regionalists of the 1920s and 30s, captured parts of American society that were in danger of being forgotten. Studying the art and artists of America's past can also provide an understanding of where our country has been. Artists can reflect the radical and revolutionary segments of society, such as Miriam Schapiro - a pioneer in the women's movement - as well as more mainstream values and ideals, for example Elizabeth O'Neill Verner who as a product of her time and place reflected ideas of racism and discrimination.
The study of American history along with the history of American art provides a greater understanding of the timing and significance of certain events and movements. Art is intimately linked to American society both by what it takes from society and what it offers to our culture. The developments of American art in the 20th century, therefore, are best understood within the context of the social, cultural, and political events that were occurring in the United States.
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