Characteristics of Modern Art in America

Introduction: Defining “Modern Art” in the U.S.

Speaker opens by asking what images the term “modern art” conjures
- Emphasizes that American modern art looks and feels different from early European modern art
Key similarity with Europe
- Underlying goal of expressing something deeper than surface appearance
Key difference
- Europeans: abstracted the internal (emotions, subconscious, irrational mind)
- Americans: began by abstracting the external (physical world, gritty urban life, nature)

2 Core Goals
1. \text{Explore the beginnings of Modernism in the United States}
2. \text{Assess Modernist tendencies in America}

Dominant late 19^{\text{th}}-century style led by Thomas Eakins and the Pennsylvania Academy
Philosophical roots in the Enlightenment
- Rationality of humankind
- Commitment to “unvarnished truth”
Core realist premise
- Reject glorified religious or neoclassical fantasies
- Present life “as-is,” including unpleasant or mundane details

Founded by 8 artists; Robert Henri was central organizer
Urban subject matter
- Poor neighborhoods, grime, hustle of NYC
- “Ash can” = city soot, dirt, refuse → metaphor for gritty observation
Aesthetic hallmarks
- Loose, sketch-like brushwork; rough surfaces; spontaneous feel
John Sloan’s Election Night (1907)
- Depicts crowded New York street during election returns
- Conveys immediacy & chaos, aligning with realist truth-telling
Significance
- First recognizably “modern” movement in U.S. art despite lack of European-style abstraction
- Highlighted darker side of American life, breaking from genteel mainstream realism

Born in New Jersey to wealthy immigrant parents; studied in Germany
Mission 1: Elevate photography to equal status with painting & sculpture
Mission 2: Provide a gateway for European modernism & American experimenters
- Opened influential NYC gallery (commonly called “291”)
- Imported avant-garde European works for U.S. audiences/artists who lacked internet & wide reproduction technologies
Artistic example: Flatiron Building (photograph)
- Iconic triangular skyscraper captured on a poetic winter day
- Demonstrates mastery of composition, exposure, dark-room techniques
- Presents photography as “fine art,” not mere documentation

Massive exhibition of ≈ 1{,}300 works held in a former U.S. National Guard armory
- ≈ 25\% European art → received ≈ 95\% of public attention
Goals
- Expose how “outdated” the National Academy of Design had become
- Accelerate American acceptance of radical forms
Public reaction
- Outrage, shock, moral panic
- Critics labeled Braque, Kandinsky, Matisse, etc. “agents of universal anarchy”
Chicago stopover
- “Morals commission” convened to investigate decency of the show
- Students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago hanged an effigy of Matisse in protest

American response to Armory influence; quasi-Cubist symbolist canvas
Subject: Carl von Freberg (Hartley’s lover, killed in WWI)
- Initials K\,V\,F, age 24, regiment 4 encoded visually
- Iron Cross, flag fragments, geometric patterning convey emotion & memory
Importance
- Use of symbolic fragments rather than literal likeness = breakthrough for U.S. abstraction
- Positions Hartley as a key forerunner of mature American Modernism

Among first U.S. artists to explore pure abstraction
Sought visual equivalents for natural phenomena rather than interior psyche
- Wind, water, light, growth
Nature Symbolized No. 2 (part of a series)
- Curvilinear forms, simplified shapes depict elemental energies
- Mirrors European intention to transcend appearance, but keeps focus on the environment

Married to Alfred Stieglitz; benefited from & contributed to his circle
Advocated dropping gender qualifiers (“woman artist”) → simply “artist”
City Night (1926)
- Stark upward perspective on Manhattan skyscrapers
- Dark tonalities & exaggerated geometry create unease, menace, claustrophobia
- Tiny moon implies man-made structures dwarfing nature—warning against hubris
Personal trajectory
- After Stieglitz’s death in 1929, relocated permanently to New Mexico desert
- Shifted to organic abstractions: bones, flowers, landscapes, continuing symbolic exploration

Enlightenment reason → Realist truth-telling → Ash Can observational grit
European avant-garde (Cubism, Fauvism, Expressionism) entered U.S. consciousness via Stieglitz & Armory Show
Ethical/Philosophical stakes
- What is “truth” in art? External reality vs. internal emotion vs. symbolic essence
- Art as social witness (Ash Can) vs. private emotion (Hartley) vs. environmental spirit (Dove) vs. feminist/anti-urban critique (O’Keeffe)
Practical consequences
- Photography validated as fine art medium
- Museums & galleries forced to confront new aesthetics
- American artists emboldened to pursue non-traditional subjects & styles

Define the philosophical and stylistic differences between European & American early modernism
Be able to describe the Ash Can School’s subject matter & techniques
Explain Alfred Stieglitz’s dual role (photographer and promoter)
Summarize the Armory Show’s impact and public backlash
Recognize how Hartley, Dove, and O’Keeffe each embody different strands of American abstraction

Objective 1 Achieved: Traced U.S. modernism from Realism → Ash Can → Armory Show → individual pioneers
Objective 2 Achieved: Assessed tendencies—external abstraction, symbolism, social critique, elevation of new media
Final Thought
- American modern art served as a search for identity, blending realist truth, symbolic abstraction, and personal expression to propel the nation’s creative voice beyond its academic past.