The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-1950 | 
 enlarge | Author: Barbara Haskell
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $60.00
Buy Used: $18.90
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 47916
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 406
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 11.3 x 9.8 x 1.4
ISBN: 0393047237
Dewey Decimal Number: 709.730747471
EAN: 9780393047233
ASIN: 0393047237
Publication Date: April 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: HC/DJ, ex-library, missing end page, other moderate reading and shelf wear
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Amazon.com
To celebrate the coming millennium, the Whitney Museum of American Art is mounting a tremendous nine-month show covering American art from 1900 to 2000. The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900-1950, by curator Barbara Haskell, is the catalog for the first part of the exhibition. Included are images from painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, and design, providing a comprehensive overview of artistic and cultural ideas in the first half of this century. The book is broken into four chapters, beginning with "America in the Age of Confidence: 1900-1919," which includes beautiful John Singer Sargent paintings depicting American aristocratic life and silver objects from Tiffany and Company. Next comes the "Jazz Age in America: 1920-1929," with images documenting the importance of cinema: movie stills and an exquisite portrait of Gloria Swanson in lace. Also included in this period is a focus on industrial architecture as seen through the paintings of Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, and Joseph Stella, with their precise but almost abstract renderings of the changing American landscape. Chapter 3, "America in Crisis: 1930-1939," and chapter 4, "War and Its Aftermath: 1940-1949," include many photographs that map the changes in American life during this tumultuous period, from the dustbowl photos of Dorothea Lange to Weegee's pictures of the seamier side of New York City. Within the immensity of this catalog are discussions that relate the works of art to specific cultural phenomena and map the changing trends in the creation of American art. --Jennifer Cohen
Book Description
The American Century is the subject of a year-long exhibition at the Whitney Museum --the most comprehensive display of twentieth-century American art ever assembled, incorporating a wide range of masterpieces from all sections of the country, by both familiar and lesser-known artists. This volume, covering the first half of the century, is a history of American art as well as a permanent record of the Whitney show. Here fine arts achievements are seen as part of the larger culture that helped shape them --the art forms of film, dance, music, literature, photography, decorative arts, architecture, fashion, and industrial design. All are described and set in the context of political and social currents of the era in Barbara Haskell's rich and informative text. Essays by noted experts in many fields illuminate developments in different areas of artistic endeavor while over 750 full-color and duotone illustrations give visual testimony to America's dominant role in the arts.
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| Customer Reviews:
Great images less than great text. January 9, 2003
J. Remington (Adams, Oregon USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This, the first volume of a two volume work (this is by far the stronger of the two)may not contain the strongest prose in terms of capturing the moment in history when America finally began to assert her own unique voice in the visual arts, but it does boast many glorious images. Maybe this book is nothing more than a glorified coffee table book, but what a fine, colorful one it is. The book is crammed full of beautiful reproductions of some of the finest work America's shores ever produced: Stella, Johns, Pollock, O'Keefe, Lawrence, Benton, Hopper and Calder all recieve detailed representation. Being personally obsessed with the art of the Depression, I particularly valued the long, detailed chapter contained here. Many hours have evaporated as I have lost myself in the many rich reproductions. This book, when enjoyed in union with Robert Hughes' excellent "American Visions" (which supplies the much needed rich prose), serves as a fine celebration of America's visual culture. A fine addition to any library.
 Less Art, More Culture November 29, 1999
Naomi DePlume (indianapolis, in USA)
9 out of 15 found this review helpful
This is a survey of American culture, as manifested in everything from travel books, film, dance, to the fine arts. It lurches from subject to subject at times, but its strength is that it places the fine arts in their cultural context.
 Amazing! A MUST HAVE for 20th Century Art lovers. May 10, 1999
TSantiago1@aol.com (Manhattan)
9 out of 17 found this review helpful
I pre-ordered this book from Amazon as soon as I read about the exhibit at the Whitney. Ths book is a wonderful compendium on art of the 20th Century and is loaded with information and great photos of what will become the "classic" works of the 20th Century.
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