Notes – The Art of the Jazz Age (USAD 2025–26)

INTRODUCTION

• Vision of US Academic Decathlon® art resource: The primary goal is to provide students with the necessary tools and knowledge to analyze U.S. art from the Jazz Age (roughly the 1920s to early 1930s). This analysis is to be conducted within its broader political, cultural, and social contexts.
• Guide structure: The guide is systematically organized into five comprehensive sections:
  • Fundamentals: Covers the foundational principles of art history and analysis.
  • Origins of Modernism: Explores the inception of modern art movements in America.
  • Jazz-Age City Life: Focuses on artistic expressions reflecting urban experiences during the Jazz Age.
  • Global Connections: Examines the international influences and exchanges within American art.
  • Social Conflicts: Addresses how art engaged with and reflected societal tensions and activism.
    In addition to these sections, the guide includes a detailed timeline of significant events and a glossary of key terms.
• Content: The resource delves into 18 pivotal works spanning various artistic mediums, including painting, photography, architecture, sculpture, and pottery, offering a diverse array of examples from the period.

SECTION I – ART FUNDAMENTALS

• Art History goals: The discipline of art history aims to reconstruct the social, cultural, and economic environments in which artworks were created and consumed. It combines formal analysis—studying the visual elements of a work—with contextual analysis, which examines the historical and cultural background.
• Formal elements: These are the basic components artists use to create a work of art, influencing how we perceive and interpret it:
  • Line: Refers to the perceived mark between two points, analyzed by its quality (e.g., thick, thin, broken) and direction (e.g., horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved), conveying movement or stability.
  • Shape vs. Form: Shape is a two-dimensional area defined by lines or edges, while form is three-dimensional, possessing height, width, and depth.
  • Space: The area around, between, or within components of a work of art.
  • Positive–negative space: Positive space is the tangible or occupied area, while negative space is the empty space around or between objects.
  • Perspective: Techniques used to create the illusion of depth and distance on a two-dimensional surface.
    • Linear perspective: Uses geometric lines to create the illusion of depth, with objects appearing smaller as they recede into the distance.
    • Aerial perspective (atmospheric perspective): Creates depth through less distinct, hazy, or bluish objects in the distance.
  • Foreshortening: A technique used to depict an object or body part as closer than it is, appearing compressed or distorted.
  • Color: Defined by three properties:
  • Hue: The pure color itself (e.g., red, blue, green).
  • Value: The lightness or darkness of a color, ranging from white to black; also known as tone.
  • Intensity (saturation): The purity or brightness of a color.
  • Warm vs. cool colors: Warm colors (reds, yellows, oranges) tend to advance and energize, while cool colors (blues, greens, purples) tend to recede and calm.
  • Local / optical / arbitrary color: Local color is how we perceive an object's color in normal light; optical color is how light affects local color; arbitrary color is used for expressive or symbolic purposes, not naturalistic representation.
  • Texture: The perceived surface quality of a work of art.
  • Actual texture: The tactile quality of a surface that can be physically felt.
  • Visual texture (implied texture): The illusion of texture created by an artist through various techniques.
  • Composition principles: How elements are organized and arranged within a work:
  • Rhythm: Created by the repetition of elements or motifs, guiding the viewer's eye.
  • Motif/Pattern: A repeated design or image that creates a sense of unity and rhythm.
  • Balance: The distribution of visual weight in a composition.
    • Symmetrical balance: Elements are equally weighted on either side of a central axis.
    • Approximate symmetry: Elements are similar but not identical on either side, providing a sense of balance without rigid formality.
    • Asymmetrical balance: Elements are unequally weighted but arranged to achieve visual equilibrium.
  • Contrast: The juxtaposition of different elements (e.g., light and dark, rough and smooth) to create visual interest.
  • Proportion/Scale: Proportion refers to the relative size of parts within a whole; scale refers to the size of an object in relation to other objects or to human size.
• 2-D media & techniques: Methods used to create two-dimensional art:
  • Drawing: Creating images using lines and marks.
  • Hatching: Creating tone or shading with closely spaced parallel lines.
  • Cross-hatching: Using intersecting sets of parallel lines.
  • Stippling: Creating tone or shading using small dots.
  • Printmaking: Creating images by transferring ink from a matrix to another surface.
  • Relief printmaking: Areas that are cut away from the matrix do not print (e.g., woodcut, linocut).
  • Intaglio printmaking: Incised areas hold the ink (e.g., engraving, etching).
  • Lithograph: A planographic process based on oil and water repulsion.
  • Screen printing (serigraphy): Uses a stencil to apply ink through a mesh screen.
  • Painting: Applying pigment suspended in a medium to a surface.
  • Fresco: Painting on wet plaster (buon fresco) or dry plaster (fresco secco).
  • Tempera: Pigment mixed with egg yolk, known for its durable and vibrant colors.
  • Oil painting: Pigment mixed with oil, offering rich colors, slow drying time, and blendability.
  • Encaustic: Pigment mixed with heated wax.
  • Gouache: Opaque watercolor, often used for its matte finish.
  • Watercolor: Transparent pigment mixed with water.
  • Acrylic: Pigment mixed with a synthetic resin emulsion, fast-drying and versatile.
  • Photography: The art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor.
• 3-D & other: Forms of art that occupy space or involve performance:
  • Sculpture: Creating three-dimensional forms.
  • Carving: Subtractive process removing material (e.g., wood, stone).
  • Modeling: Additive process building up material (e.g., clay).
  • Casting: Creating a form by pouring liquid material into a mold.
  • Construction: Assembling various materials.
  • Mixed media/collage/assemblage: Artworks created using a combination of different materials or techniques.
  • Performance art: Art presented live by the artist, often involving interaction with the audience.
  • Craft: Skill-based practices often involving functional objects.
  • Pottery: Objects made from clay and fired.
  • Fibers: Art made from natural or synthetic fibers.
  • Glass: Art made from melted and shaped glass.
  • Wood: Art crafted from wood.
  • Architecture: The art and science of designing and constructing buildings.
  • Post-and-lintel: Basic structural system with vertical posts supporting a horizontal lintel.
  • Arch/vault/dome: Structural elements that span openings.
  • Gothic flying buttress: External architectural support that transfers weight from walls.
  • Modern steel/concrete: Revolutionary materials enabling new forms and heights in construction.
• Chronological Western survey: A brief overview of key styles and periods in Western art history:
  • Prehistoric (Chauvet cave $c.~30{,}000\, \text{BCE}$): Early cave paintings demonstrating symbolic thought and artistic skill.
  • Mesopotamian ziggurats: Massive tiered pyramid-like structures, serving as temples to deities.
  • Egyptian hierarchical scale & fractional representation: Art that depicts figures' importance by size and combines different viewpoints within a single figure.
  • Greek contrapposto & Parthenon: Contrapposto is a naturalistic pose showing shifted weight; the Parthenon is an iconic Doric temple dedicated to Athena.
  • Roman concrete/arch: Innovations allowing for monumental and durable structures like the Colosseum and aqueducts.
  • Byzantine mosaic Hagia Sophia: Intricate religious mosaics and the domed basilica of Hagia Sophia, blending Roman and Eastern influences.
  • Gothic Chartres: Cathedrals characterized by pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and stained-glass windows.
  • Renaissance humanism (Giotto perspective ➜ Leonardo sfumato ➜ Michelangelo Sistine): A period of renewed interest in classical thought and art, marked by Giotto's early attempts at perspective, Leonardo's soft, blended sfumato technique, and Michelangelo's monumental Sistine Chapel frescoes, reflecting humanistic ideals.
  • Baroque chiaroscuro (Caravaggio, Bernini): Characterized by dramatic light and shadow (chiaroscuro) and intense emotion, exemplified by Caravaggio's paintings and Bernini's sculptures.
  • Rococo fête galante (Watteau): Lighthearted, ornate style often depicting aristocratic outdoor parties (fête galante), as seen in Watteau's works.
  • Neoclassicism (David): Return to classical ideals of order, rationality, and heroism, epitomized by David's historical paintings.
  • Romanticism (Delacroix): Emphasizes emotion, individualism, and the sublime, with artists like Delacroix focusing on dramatic and exotic subjects.
  • Realism (Courbet): Depicts everyday life and ordinary subjects with accuracy, rejecting idealized forms, championed by Courbet.
  • Impressionism (Monet): Focuses on capturing fleeting moments and the effects of light and atmosphere, notably by Monet.
  • Post-Impressionism (Cézanne planes, Seurat optical mixing, Van Gogh expressive color): Artists who built upon Impressionism, with Cézanne using geometric planes, Seurat employing optical mixing of colors (pointillism), and Van Gogh using vivid, expressive color and brushwork.
  • Modernism: A broad movement rejecting traditional forms, including:
  • Fauvism: Characterized by strong, wild colors.
  • Cubism: Developed by Picasso and Braque, breaking objects into geometric forms.
  • Expressionism: Emphasizing emotional expression rather than objective reality.
  • Dada readymades: Anti-art movement using everyday objects as art (e.g., Duchamp's Fountain).
  • Surrealism: Exploring the unconscious mind and dream imagery.
  • Bauhaus: Influential German school combining craft and fine arts, emphasizing functional design.
  • Abstract Expressionism: Post-WWII American movement focused on spontaneous, emotional expression.
  • Pop Art: Incorporating popular culture and commercial imagery.
  • Minimalism: Art reduced to its essential forms and materials.
  • Photorealism: Highly detailed painting mimicking photographs.
  • Earthworks: Land art using natural landscapes.
• Non-Western overview: A brief look at significant artistic traditions outside the Western world:
  • Chinese Qin terracotta army: Thousands of life-sized terracotta soldiers buried with Emperor Qin Shi Huang, showcasing impressive sculptural realism and organizational power.
  • Indian sensuous sculpture & Buddha: Characterized by fluid forms, often depicting spiritual figures like the Buddha with symbolic gestures and idealized beauty.
  • Japanese prints influence: Woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) that depicted scenes of everyday life, theater, and nature, profoundly influencing Western Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists.
  • African Nok bronze & Benin court: Ancient West African cultures known for sophisticated terracotta sculptures (Nok) and elaborate bronze castings (Benin court), often depicting rulers and ancestral figures with rich symbolic meaning.
  • Oceania Melanesian shields: Intricately carved and painted shields from Melanesian cultures, used for warfare, ceremony, and displaying tribal identity, often featuring stylized figures and abstract patterns.
  • Islamic calligraphic decoration: Emphasis on intricate geometric patterns, arabesques, and highly decorative calligraphy, reflecting the aniconic tradition in Islamic art, often adorning mosques and manuscripts.
  • Pre-Columbian pyramids: Monumental stepped pyramids built by ancient Mesoamerican civilizations (e.g., Maya, Aztec), serving as religious and ceremonial centers.
  • North-American pueblos: Communal multistory dwellings constructed by Indigenous peoples of the Southwestern United States, blending architectural forms with the natural environment.

SECTION II – ORIGINS OF AMERICAN MODERNISM

• Pre-WWI academy system conservative: Before World War I, the established art institutions and academies in the U.S. rigidly adhered to traditional European artistic styles and conventions, favoring academic realism and historical subjects over innovative approaches.
• Ashcan School (Henri, Sloan, Bellows) painted gritty NYC: A group of American realist artists who, in contrast to the academic norms, focused on depicting the everyday life of New York City, often portraying the working class, urban landscapes, and social realities with a raw, unidealized aesthetic.
• 1913 Armory Show: introduced Cubism/Futurism (Picasso, Duchamp’s $Nude\,Descending\,a\,Staircase$) to U.S. This groundbreaking exhibition in New York City was a pivotal moment, exposing American audiences and artists to radical European avant-garde movements like Cubism and Futurism, fundamentally challenging existing artistic conventions and igniting a shift towards modernism in the U.S. Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was particularly controversial and impactful.
• New York Dada (Duchamp, Man Ray) foregrounded concept/ready-made: Following the Armory Show, a vibrant Dada movement emerged in New York, led by artists like Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray. This movement rejected traditional aesthetics and celebrated irrationality, chance, and the provocative use of