Art for Democracy's Sake

American Decades | Date: 2001

ART FOR DEMOCRACY'S SAKE

American Impressionism

American artists and their patrons rightly felt proud of the achievements of the past century. Excellent public art institutes existed in New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago, and private collectors had acquired some of the most magnificent of Europe's art treasures. Painters such as George Inness (1825-1894) had moved beyond the Hudson River school by applying a looser brush style to create rich, emotional landscapes. Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), Winslow Homer (1836-1910), John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), and James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) were living masters of international repute. Eakins's thoughtful, realistic portraits and his vigorous sporting scenes bore the stamp of his intellectual independence, while the vibrant influence of thirty years of French Impressionism could be seen in the works of Homer, Sargent, and Whistler. These painters' reductions of solid objects to broad smudges and misty shadows and their concern with tonality over precision gave their work an enigmatic, romantic quality. It was Mary Cassati (1844-1926), however, who was identified as the first "pure" Impressionist born on American soil, and her prismatic modeling of shapes into light and color did much to popularize the style in the United States. Cassati herself, like Sargent and Whistler, chose to live and work in Europe.

The Ten

The Impressionists who remained in America forged a formidable presence. The American Impressionist Establishment. a painters known to themselves and their followers as "The Ten"—had, in the late 1800s, become dissatisfied with the conservatism of dominant American art organizations as well as with their typically huge exhibitions, whose jumble of styles and quality created viewer confusion. They also were concerned that American collectors were buying the works of Parisian painters and ignoring American Impressionism. Frank Benson, Joseph De Camp, Thomas Dewing, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Robert Reid, Edward Simmons, Edmond Tarbell, J. Alden Weir, and John Twachtman (whose death in 1902 brought William Merritt Chase into the fold) all signed an agreement in 1897 to exhibit annually and exclusively as "The Ten" in small, selective venues in New York City. Their independence established, they dominated the young American art scene at the turn of the century.

Regional Flowering

Outside New York City, regional Impressionism grew. The Boston School, the Hoosier School in Indiana, and others in Connecticut and Pennsylvania produced important artists after 1900, as did the art colonies of the West, especially in San Francisco and Taos, New Mexico. Several Chicago-trained painters arrived in Giverny, France, in the early 1900s, and as a result the Art Institute of Chicago was the first American art museum to acquire paintings by Claude Monet.

CAMERA WORK

I saw that what others were doing was to make hard cold copies of hard cold subjects in hard cold light. I did not see why a photograph should not be a work of art, and I studied to learn to make it one.

—Alfred Stieglitz, 1908

In 1903, after he had broken away from Camera Notes because of its increasing conservatism, Alfred Stieglitz set about publication of the photography journal Camera Work. His new journal celebrated American and European pictorialist photographers; its stated intention was to "appeal to the everincreasing ranks of those who have faith in photography as a medium of individual expression, and, in addition, to make converts of many at present ignorant of its possibilities." At first, only photography selected for "individuality and artistic worth" was published. After 1908 the journal invited critical essays from such respected authors as George Bernard Shaw and Gertrude Stein, reproduced works by Pablo Picasso and Auguste Rodin, and provided retrospectives on early photographic pioneers.

Camera Work not only produced quality artwork, but was a work of art in itself. Beautifully rendered halftone prints and photogravures and carefully integrated typeface and initial letters, along with wide margins, gave the journal the look of the best of the pre-Raphaelite designers. Camera Work was printed on the finest paper, and copies were often touched up by hand before they were mailed. In addition, Stieglitz designed covers that contributed to the magazine's artistic unity and even judged advertisements on their artistic merit. For over a decade Camera Work was the standard against which the art of photography and the craft of printin g was measured. In 1924, when England's Royal Photographic Society gave Stieglitz its highest award, the Progress Medal, Camera Work was recognized as "the most artistic record of photography ever attempted."

Stasis

By 1900 Impressionism was no longer a radical departure in the minds of the American art establishment, and although it continued to have its critics throughout the first decades of the century, the style had affirmed its worth and lasting appeal. By the middle of the decade The Ten had successfully "Americanized" French Impressionism and had established the position, if not the fashion, of the small, independent art show. What, then, was "wrong" with American art? First, after more than one hundred years of political independence, America was still looking to European models for instruction and affirmation. Second, the character of American art institutions, from the rulebound Society of American Artists (against which The Ten had rebelled) to the exclusivity of The Ten themselves, invited reassessment and reform.

The Eight

The painters who chose to move on did so not from a disagreement with Impressionist philosophy or technique but from a determination to wrest American art from European influence and academic artificiality. The first American artists to attempt both a style and a subject matter suited to the American experience turned back to preimpressionist realism. In addition, they specifically rejected the norms of the various "schools" and the elitism of the academies. Calling themselves "The Eight" in conscious echo of the Impressionist Ten, Arthur Bowen Davies, Robert Henri, William Glackens, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan banded together in rejection of the Eurocentric tastes and undemocratic exhibition policies of the established galleries.

Henri

Robert Henri (1865-1929) was the leader of The Eight, or the "revolutionary black gang" (an epithet coined by critics of the group), which gathered regularly in his studio for discussions of music, literature, and art—and occasional irreverent theatrical parodies of the "living masters." Henri's uncompromising attention to scenes from urban life and his quick, spontaneous technique challenged the "art for art's sake" sensibilities of the early century and encouraged further disparaging references to his circle as "Apostles of Ugliness" and, finally, as the "Ash Can School."

Diversity

All of The Eight were influenced by Impressionism, insisting that realistic subject matter did not dictate realistic detail. And not all of The Eight practiced realism. It is a comment on the group's commitment to inclusion that Davies's dreamlike unicorns, Lawson's land- and cityscapes, and Prendergast's mosaic-inspired abstractions were appreciated as fully as Luks's celebrations of human physicality, Sloan's shops and slums, and Shinn's and Glackens's images of nightlife. Nor were The Eight utterly rejected by the academy. By 1905 each member of the group had been accepted by the Society of American Artists, and Henri, Glackens, and Sloan had won prestige and honors for their work.

The Ash Can Exhibition

For the spring 1907 National Academy of Design exhibition, Henri learned that, despite his having been asked to serve as a judge, his paintings were to be treated as second-rate and that none of his friends' work had been accepted. Henri promptly withdrew from the show. The academy's slight galvanized The Eight, who set about promoting their own, independent exhibition at a New York gallery owned by William Macbeth. The controversial show opened at the Macbeth Gallery in February 1908.

Attacks. Critics descended on the exhibit, complaining in particular about the subject matter: the gritty urban vistas and the coarse faces of tenement dwellers were certainly not fit to hang above the divan, they said, and likened the works to "sores" on canvas and "explosions in a paint factory." The public was especially affronted by George Luks's painting of pigs, and the show was roundly castigated for its disregard of thematic unity.

Realism Triumphs

To the nonconformist Eight, however, opinion was outweighed by fact: the show drew so many viewers that Macbeth ran out of catalogues, and seven paintings found buyers. "Art for life's sake" had achieved a minor triumph. What came to be known in later years as the Ash Can Exhibit had struck a blow against rules and standards and had democratized not only subject matter but exhibition practices. These artists of the vernacular succeeded in promoting the kind of subject matter being treated by naturalist Theodore Dreiser and muckraker Lincoln Steffens. But the lasting significance of the Ash Can School remains in its portrayal of the vitality of the American spirit—a spirit that did not emanate from the ivory towers of high art but rather from the mean streets of urban America. The trend toward revitalized realism dominated avant-garde painting after 1907, culminating in the work of Henri's protégé George Bellows (1882-1925). Bellows's boxing matches and back-alley observations are perhaps the most vigorous and dramatic of the contemporary scenes favored by the realists. Not until the next decade would Americans take up the modernist techniques of Post-Impressionism such as Cubism, Fauvism, and Futurism, and only then after Europe's Post-Impressionists were formally introduced at the Armory Show of 1913.

Photography as Art

The sponsor of the Armory Show, and the individual most responsible for the introduction of modern painting to America, was a photographer, Alfred Stieglitz. His influence on the arts from 1900-1909 and beyond is almost immeasurable. Besides opening Americans' eyes to Georges Braque, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and later to Georgia O'Keeffe, he pioneered a revolutionary movement to prove photography equal to painting as an art form, nurtured and encouraged scores of young artists, and established Camera Notes and Camera Work, the first art photography journals.

Photo-Secessionism

Stieglitz had been at the forefront of the "pictorial" photography movement since the 1890s. Pictorial photography, like Impressionist painting, emphasized composition over subject and suggestion over detail. It recognized the camera's ability to elicit mood and to record emotion as effectively as the painter's tools. In 1902, with his friends and fellow photographers Edward Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier, and Clarence White, Stieglitz formed the Photo-Secession, a society of artists dedicated to the advancement of pictorial photography.

Early Efforts

Stieglitz's earlier efforts to bring photography into the realm of art had been somewhat successful, and annual photographic salons had been mounted in New York and Philadelphia in the 1890s. The Philadelphia Photographic Society had even joined with the stiff-necked Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1898, and the ensuing exhibits were well received. But in 1900 a third of these exhibits were marked by declining standards and political infighting. The "old school" literalists objected to the hazy, soft-focus effects of the "new school" pictorialists and called the newcomers "fuzzyographers." When the conservative faction won out, Stieglitz and the pictorialists seceded.

Turning Point

The Secessionists' first exhibition, at the National Arts Club Show in New York, was a significant moment in the history of photography; its success placed pictorialism at the vanguard of the art photography movement. The Photo-Secession exhibited from 1902 through 1905 at various galleries throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Major talents in addition to Kasebier, White, Steichen, and Stieglitz were Joseph T. Keiley, Frank Eugene Smith, and Alvin Langdon Coburn. Their work not only expanded the boundaries of pictorialism, but their technical innovations in printing and developing resulted in innovative photographic effects.

The 291 Galleries

The Photo-Secessionists were in need of a permanent home, and in 1905 Stieglitz signed a lease on the studio that was to become the hub of avant-garde art in the first decade of the century. The Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession would soon be known simply as 291, the building's Fifth Avenue street number in New York City. As the announcement of its policies indicated, however, 291 would promote "modern art, not necessarily photographic." Through its doors from 1905 to 1909 would come the first American exhibitions of Henri Matisse and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and the first one-woman show (of works by watercolorist Pamela Coleman Smith). Later came the first exhibit of African sculpture and the first children's exhibit. In 1908 the gallery exhibited fifty-eight drawings by Auguste Rodin. Painters John Marin, Marsden Hartley, Max Weber, and Arthur Dove were among 291's frequent visitors and exhibitors. And, although their presence exacerbated the personal and aesthetic differences among them, Robert Henri and members of The Eight could occasionally be found deep in conversation with Stieglitz, Steichen, and the rest of the photo-rebels.

JOSEPH STELLA: ARTIST OF THE
MELTING POT

Joseph Stella arrived in New York City from Naples, Italy, at the age of nineteen to begin his studies in medicine; within two years he had put himself under the tutelage of William Merritt Chase at the New York School of Art. Like Chase, Stella took New York City scenes as his subjects. But Stella moved away from his teacher in the type of scenes he would create. Stella chose as his canvas New York's Lower East Side, the home of recent immigrants, rather than sunny Long Island or stylish Central Park. He became a magazine illustrator in 1905 and for the next several years produced strong, realistic pencil portraits as well as Whistleresque cityscapes. Working for Outlook and Survey magazines, Stella drew immigrants at Ellis Island, coal miners in West Virginia, steelworkers in Pittsburgh, and crowds at Coney Island. Stella's fascination with industry led him in later years to become associated with the Futurists, but in the first decade of the century he made his mark with works such as Italian Immigrant (1907), a tribute to his own relocated countrymen.

Decisive Victory

Stieglitz himself was influenced by the interchange of ideas that flowed through the Secessionist gatherings and those at 291, and by the end of the decade his own technique had changed: he had moved away from soft-focus approach to create the clear compositions of light and shadow that mark some of his best-known work. But the Photo-Secessionists had never swerved from their basic beliefs—that photography, at its best, was indeed a fine art, and that photography was unique unto itself, not an imitation of other arts. By the end of the decade the photographic image had achieved unquestioned status as a form of artistic expression. With painting and the graphic and cinematic arts, photography would go on to shape the vision of the American Century.

FREDERIC REMINGTON (1861-1909)

Frederic Remington's sculpture and paintings are almost synonymous with the spirit of the West in the minds of many Americans. Naturally inclined toward outdoor life, Remington spent little time in formal study. His three years at Yale's School of Art gave him "a smattering" of technique, but he was soon traveling in the West, visiting Indian encampments and detailing cavalry and cowboy life. Remington's magazine work was well known before the turn of the century. His struggle to be appreciated as a serious artist and not simply an illustrator was successful, and by the early 1900s he had achieved celebrity as a talented painter and sculptor. His beautifully balanced sculptures of the early 1900s depicted the action-filled Old West as he remembered it. The Cheyenne (1901), Comin' Through the Rye (1902-1904), and Bronco Buster (1905) are some of his best-known pieces. Remington, who died at age forty-eight of appendicitis, once said, "I knew more about cowboys than I did about drawing." The appreciative viewers of his work felt him to be an expert on both.

Sources:

Sean Dennis Cashman, America in the Age of the Titans (New York: New York University Press, 1988);

William H. Gerdts, American Impressionism (New York: Abbeville Press, 1984);

William Innes Homer, Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession (Boston: Little, Brown, 1983);

Christina Peterson, Alfred Stieglitz's Camera Notes (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts / New York: Norton, 1993);

Barbara Rose, American Art Since 1900 (New York: Praeger, 1967).

Copyright 2001, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.