Thursday, February 26, 2015

ARCHITECTURE

Hello! We are going to see now the American Architecture in the 19th and 20th century. In the USA there are many amazing skyscrapers that are famous around the world, but we think it is important to see first the beginnings of the architecture itself to understand how it changed and how it got to be like that in those centuries. Then, we are naming and showing examples of authors and their different styles.



Pre-Colonial Era (? - 1607)
The architecture started in the pre-Colonial period, with the Inca and the Mayan architecture, who build their structures with shaped stones in geometrical forms. Then, it started the Colonial period that was influenced by every country that arrived there from all over the world so depending on the country, they had different styles.

Colonial Era (1607 - 1830)
In this century, we can perceive a few main styles, all coming from the colonizers countries and used in the houses: the Spanish Colonial in the North of America, using rocks, adobe and bricks to build low houses; the German Colonial that used local materials to copy their national style (walls of sandstone and stoned arches); the Dutch Colonial near the Hudson river and in New York city with chimneys on both sides. Also the Georgian with big symmetrical houses and many windows; the French with columns, galleries and no hallways; the Federal House Style with oval romos; the Colonial Revival style that returned to the classical style and, finally, the Neo-Colonial Style mixing classical and modern style.
Spanish Colonial Style House


French Colonial Style House


Federal Age (1789 - 1865)
These buildings predominated the period of time from the creation of the US Constitution to the start of the Civil War and they were very popular especially in New England. The styles of this era reflected the optimism of a growing nation through the harmony and they are:
- The Adam style (named like this for the British architect Robert Adam) with cornices with tooth-like dentils, an elliptical fanlight over the front with side lights and decorative crowns.
- The Greek Revival Style that was the first style that actually emerged on the country and it was used in public or commercial buildings and also houses.
- The Antebellum Style is based on pre-Civil War houses in a huge scale showing the importance and prestige of Southern landowners at that time through distinction.
- The Federal Hardware style including many features of this material and built-in closets.
Adam-Federal Home Style House
Greek Revival Style (U.S Custom House, New York) 
Antebellum Style House

Victorian Age (1837-1914)
In this era was reflected the Industrial Revolution through asymmetrical shapes using new materials and technologies. There are many styles in this period of time:
- The Gothic Revival Style that copied the ideas from Western Europe and mixed them with medieval forms, adding colour and textures.
- The Italianate Style with the influence of the Federal era, a bit of the Roman architecture and a lot of decoration.
- The Second Empire Style thought mostly for urban constructions based on Paris buildings during the time of Napoleon III with rectangular or square forms and with two entry doors.
- The Stick or Eastlake Style (for the English designer Charles Eastlake) common in California using wood and geometrical simple forms, the Shingle Style is simple  with wooden manufactured items
- The Folk Victorian Style that surged from the working class building their own houses with local materials and creative decoration
- The Queen Anne Style based on the ideas of the English architect Richard Norman Shawn with royal image thanks to the towers and the rounded porches that shows a notable greatness
- The Richardsonian Romanesque Style (named like this for the architect Henry Hobson Richardson) using stone to create small castles, mostly to build public buildings, but also sometimes private homes
- The Glided Age/Beaux Arts/American Renaissance Style based on the palaces of Europe with stone walls, large arched windows, porches, entries, paired columns and stone sculptures
- The Octagon Style (rare) named like this for his eight-sided houses to give more light and ventilation
- The Victorian Hardware Style with items in brass and bronze, electrical switches and doorbells.
Gothic Revival Style (Woolwoth Building, New York)
Italianate Style House (Rinckel Mansion, Nevada)




 

Characteristics of a Victorian Gothic Home

Here finishes this post, but there are a couple of periods of style left that we are going to see in a future publication (Arts & Crafts and Modernism). We hope you like it and enjoy all of it!
● BIBLIOGRAPHY
● PICTURES
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Monday, February 23, 2015

SCULPTURE


INTRODUCTION

Hi, everyone! Today, we are going to talk a little about the history of American sculpture in the 19th and 20th century. We will explain its evolution and we will appoint to several authors and their creations, but not focus too much on them because we will do it in future posts. This art is varied in styles: neoclassical, naturalism, realism, etc.

Firstly, we can say that the sculpture dates to the period of Native Americans, but it was probably the least cultivated art in the tribes and colonies. The most important sculptor was William Rush, who had practiced it in pre-Revolutionary and Federalist times.




THE 19TH CENTURY

Now, let's focus on the 19th century, a period in which the sculpture works were mainly developed in Italy, although, the importance in the United States arrived later.
[1] George Washington
The  American sculpture of the 19th century is divided in three phases:
- The first phase was in the beginnings of the century, when American sculptors looked in Italy for inspiration. Then, in 1820, the sculptors traveled to Florence and Rome, where there was a high quality of Marble Neoclassical sculptures. Even American students learnt the characteristics and techniques. Artists such as Horatio Greenough, who made the statue of George Washington in 1840 (National Museum of American History, Washington), [1] worked in abroad and then sent his creations to the United States.
 




This century was characterized by the first works created by women such as Beatrice Cenci (St. Louis Mercantile Library, Misouri) [2] made by Harriet Hosmer in 1857, The Death of Cleopatra (Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington) [3] in 1876 by Edmonia Lewis and Bethesda Fountain, whose statue is known as The Angel of Water (Bethesda Terrace, New York) [4] in 1852 by Emma Stebbins.
[2] Beatrice Cenci
[4] The Angel of Water
 
[3] The Death of Cleopatra


















[5] Abraham Lincoln
-Later, during the second half of the century, American sculptors moved to Paris because in that country the works were more realistic, naturalistic and expressive. For this reason, it was changed from Neoclassicism to Realism. Naturally, this phase had many relevant authors too, such as Daniel Chester French, whose masterpiece was the sculpture dedicated to the President of United States, Abraham Lincoln in 1916 (Washington) [5].

- Finally, due to the variety and styles of Italy and Paris, American sculpture got a wide range of topics such as romantic literature, monumental portraiture, classical mythology, Western imagery and Victorian morality tales.


[6] Bronco Buster
The innovation came in the last quarter of the century with the beginning of Western Art Style, whose main subject was life on the frontier. But his authentic development was during the 20th century. This was possible thanks to Frederick Remington, who made the Bronco Buster sculpture statue in 1895 (Wisconsin) [6] and Alexander Phimister Proctor.



THE 20TH CENTURY
Let's move to a new century in the United States. It is the 20th century, one of the most varied, innovative and revolutionary in American sculpture history. We are going to explain the different reasons.
- In the early 20th century, there was a conflict between naturalists and idealized modes of representation. Among the sculptors of this movement are Frederick MacMonnies, who became famous thanks to the Shakespeare Statue (Library of Congress, Washington) [7] in 1916, and Lorado Taft, who exerted a strong influence over the young sculptors of the West and who made colossal fountains such as Fountain of Time (Washington Park, Chicago) [8] in 1922. 

[7] Shakespeare Statue
[8] Fountain of Time


 







[9] Mount Rushmore
A significant cultural development of the era was the founding and expansion of American museums, whose collections were important to art students and public alike. One of the important museums dedicated to sculptures is the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York which was inaugurated in 1930.
Later, it was given a particular relevance to the development of new techniques and new modes of expression.

[10] The standing woman


- During the 20s and 30s, realistic sculptures continued because the artists wanted to keep the traditional styles. This is observed in the excellent Mt. Rushmore National Memorial Monument (Dakota) [9] made by Gutzon Borglum in 1927. Although, the dominant tendency of national sculpture was the abstract and expressive forms. An example is The standing Woman (Los Angeles) [10] created by Gaston Lachaise in 1932.


[11] Agricola
- In the 40s and 50s, the abstract forms and new materials were characteristics. There were a lot of genius and sculptures in these years. Agricola (Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington) [11] made by David Smith in 1952, it is an example.
In the second half of the 20th century, it was a mix and variety of different styles, none prevailed over the other. There was minimalism, abstraction, photorealism, conceptualism and neoexpressionism.




Finishing for today, we hope you have enjoyed the introduction to the American sculpture. We have tried to make it easy giving you an overview of it. In future publications we are going to examine more on the subject.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Information:
Pictures:
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Friday, February 13, 2015

PAINTING



Well, it is time to talk about visual arts in the United States.

Everybody tends to think that America could not have a long art history because of its short history, but they are wrong. Some artistic movements such as abstract expressionism began in the United States. Also, they have the best animation designers, like Walt Disney and more recent Matt Groening (The Simpsons). All these industries need a drawer behind and the United States have the best ones.

Let’s talk a little bit about abstract expressionism. It is an artistic movement born mainly in New York City in the early 1940s. They were a small group of artists that was known as "Abstract Expressionists" or "The New York School" that broke away from the accepted conventions. They were pioneers in a new technique of drawing putting the canvas on the ground despite of putting them on an easel-side. Artists such as Jackson Pollock, from Wyoming, created the spilling technique. He put the canvas on the ground and he began to spill liquid paint over it. He was considerate the most influential artist of the United States at this time, even if he had a complicated live, managing his alcoholism until his dead.
His pieces inspired lots of new artists. For example, all the album covers from The Stone Roses, an indie group of music from Great Britain, are creations of Pollock. Also, his biography filmed in 2000 wined a Pulitzer Prize. His masterpiece was Mural (1943) and it is assured in $140 million. He created more than 38 pieces from 1942 to 1953. The pieces of Jackson Pollock are in some of the most prestigious museums in the world, such as the Tate Modern (London, UK), Musée National d'Art Modern (Paris, FR), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid, SP), Museum of Modern Art (New York, EEUU) or in privates collections like Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice, IT).
 
Mural by Jackson Pollock
Another American genius was Andy Warhol. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928. He was the leader of the "Pop Art" movement. We know him for his famous Campbell soup (MOMA, NYC), his Green Coca-Cola Bottles (Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC) or Gold Marilyn Monroe (MOMA, NYC).
When he finished his degree in painting and sculpture he moved to New York, where he starts working as a graphic designer and illustrator. He was hated and loved at the same time; shy and homosexual; eccentric and paranoid and he often went to private parties. He was shot once by Valerie Solanis in Factory and he survived miraculously.
He also went through experimental cinema, a movie called The Chelsea Girls (1966), a seven hours’ documentary. Other pieces by Warhol were Sleep, My Husler or Couch. He made as well an international co-production in 3D with Carlo Ponti. Well known for his extravagance, his 200 wigs and his wardrobe, Warhol, who died in 1987 in New York City, was the most influential American artist of the second part of the 20th century
 
Gold Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol

Let’s move to another genius from the United States. Everybody in this world knows him for his movies or his enigmatic history. Yes! I am talking about the great Walt Disney.
He was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1901. He was a writer, producer, actor, scriptwriter and animator and he is famous for his animated movies, like his first masterpiece: Snow White. He drew before Mickey Mouse (with his own voice) but this little mouse became famous later.
Walt Disney Empire owns twenty two Oscars: twelve of them were for "Best Short Subject" (cartoons), six for "Best Short Subject" (two-reel), two for "Best Long Subject" (documentary) and four "Honorary" awards. The company also built the Disney World Resort in Florida after Walt Disney was dead, as a commemoration of all his work; and, later, other parks were built in his name.
When he died in California in 1966, a myth was created: people thought that his body had been frozen with advanced methods to give him a new lease of life in the future, when medical surgery would be able to recover him from his disease. But, as his own family has said, he was finally incinerated.
Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie,
one of the first animated short film of Walt Disney.

Finishing for today, we are inviting you to keep reading our blog if you are interested in these geniuses because we are going to talk more about them in future posts.

Bibliography
• Information:
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/w/warhol.htm
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/monografia/disney/
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/p/pollock.htm
• Pictures:
-Mural: http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2012/february/images/022912Pollock%20Mural_hirez.jpg
-Golden Marilyn Monroe: https://www.flickr.com/photos/renzodionigi/5356404689/
-Steamboat Willie: http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/yHtAWRPQUqK3uWHhdgX56j8NwcI.jpg

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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Welcome!


Hi everyone!


 Welcome to our blog.

 We are Carolina, Fani, Franny, Gloria and Patricia and we are students of Translation and Interpreting at UPO University. This blog has been created for the Culture and Societies of the Anglo-Saxon World subject and we have decided to focus on American Art. In this blog we will talk about many kind of art: architecture, sculpture, visual arts (painting and drawing) and finally, photography.
In general terms, we will write an introduction for each art and then we will focus on an artist, a work, a style, etc. from the 19th century to nowadays. We will make this in an educative but also enjoyable way because we want you to learn having a good time.
We hope you like the blog.

See you soon!



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