ARTH758L

How did artists respond to the economic, political, and social turmoil that defined the Great Depression era in the United States? How can art historians plumb the historically-specific meanings, possibilities and limits of media and materials in analyzing works of art and visual culture? Guided by these two questions, this seminar will explore artistic production in 1930s America. In addition to close analysis of traditional media such as painting and sculpture, we will consider the role of intermediality in thirties constructions like the photobook as well as unconventional materials soil, radio, pedagogy in defining the arts of the era. Throughout, we will question the explicit and implicit politics of works of art and elucidate the formations of race, class, gender, and sexuality that underpin them.