Art History 354: American Art 1870 - Present

The Companion provides an accessible critical survey of Western visual art theory from sources in Classical, Medieval and Renaissance thought through to contemporary writings.

With an A to Z format that departs from the usual emphasis on genres and time periods, it offers an unparalleled overview of the most influential and best-loved American artists from Colonial times to the present. The American Art Bookpresents 500 artists and their works, ranging from Puritan portraits to the luminous paintings of the Hudson River School and the American Impressionists, to the videos and digital works of today's most intriguing conceptual artists. Each artist is represented by a full-page colour plate of a representative work together with an informative, engaging text that places the artist and the image in the context of contemporary movements and preceding traditions. The book includes an easy-to-use glossary of artistic terms and movements, and a directory of museums and public collections across the United States and around the world with important holdings in American art.

Framing America embraces the full scope of American art from the sixteenth century to the present. In addition to offering comprehensive coverage of the canon, Frances K. Pohl's narrative goes beyond the traditional, and sometimes derogatory, treatment of certain populations in American society and addresses the domestic arts and the social and political contexts of art.

Art of the United States is a landmark volume that presents three centuries of US art through a broad array of historical texts, including writings by artists, critics, patrons, literary figures, and other commentators. Combining a wide-ranging selection of texts with high-quality reproductions of artworks, it offers a resource for the study and understanding of the visual arts of the United States. With contextual essays, explanatory headnotes, a chronology of US historical landmarks, maps, and full-color illustrations of key artworks, the volume will appeal to national and international audiences ranging from undergraduates and museum visitors to art historians and other scholars.

American Art of the 20th-21st Centuries charts the evolution of American art from the 1890s through today. Guided by three main themes--modernism, migration, and mobility--the text highlights the production, dissemination, and consumption of modern and contemporary American art in various settings. Erika Doss explores a wide range of media within cultural, economic, political, social, and theoretical contexts and considers the varied styles, cultures, identities, and geographies that constitute American art in order to add definition to the broader concept of "America."

This book is intended for art courses where there is a writing component. This text guides art students through the writing process. Students are shown how to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture. The text includes: coverage of essential writing assignments including formal analysis, comparison, research paper, review of an exhibition, essay examination; clear step-by-step writing instructions guiding students though the research and writing processes; sample essays, with analytic comments by the author, demonstrating the virtues of effective writing.

Writing About Art walks students through every step of the writing process—from looking critically at art, to researching, to developing a thesis, to revising and polishing a final draft. Questions and examples prompt readers as they study artworks, develop a thesis, structure an argument, and cite research.

The book explains the different approaches college students encounter in undergraduate art history classes. Each chapter outlines the characteristics of one type of visual or historical analysis and briefly explains its history and development. Passages by well-known art historians provide examples of each method. Sample essays by students are accompanied by extensive explanations of suggested revisions. The book also includes a step-by-step guide to researching art historical topics and a section about correctly citing sources.

Interpreting Art highlights the norms, premises, and patterns that tend to guide interpretation along the way. Interpreting Art reveals subtle features of art writing central to the often unnoticed interpretative practices through which we understand works of art. In doing so, the book also sheds light on possible alternatives, pointing to how writers on art might choose to operate differently in the future.