November 13, 2024 · 6pm-7:30pm
$25 members, $35 non-members
Photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz is credited with bringing modernism to the American public. The first to exhibit the works of Picasso and Matisse Stieglitz soon organized a group of artists that included Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, Aurthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, and Charles Demuth who were actively adapting modernism to an American sensibility. However, in reaction to growing urbanization in the early 20th century another group of painters turned their back on the city and set their sights on rural America. Portraying a landscape and lifestyle that was rapidly retreating, or never actually existed, artists like Thomas Hart Benton, John Curry, and Grant Wood created a new rural mythology. Historically, these groups have been viewed as in opposition. This talk will look at the tension between two seemingly divergent visions of America and consider how they reflect broader inclinations in the US. In the early 20th century.
Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930. Oil on composition board, 30 3⁄4 x 25 3⁄4 in. (78 x 65.3 cm). Art Institute of Chicago
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