Introduction

Brown, Milton W.

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Introduction

Milton W. Brown

American Painting: From the Armory Show to the Depression

THE dates 1913 for the Armory Show and 1929 for the depression mark the limits of an important phase of American art. Like all such dates, they are somewhat arbitrary and in any case only approximate, but they do delimit that period in American art during which the influence of what is commonly called “modern art” made its first impact felt in...

Author

Milton W. Brown

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Related print edition pages: pp.vi-

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00013.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18409

Introduction

The dates 1913 for the Armory Show and 1929 for the depression mark the limits of an important phase of American art. Like all such dates, they are somewhat arbitrary and in any case only approximate, but they do delimit that period in American art during which the influence of what is commonly called “modern art” made its first impact felt in this country. It was a period in which newer concepts of art developing in Europe displaced an older tradition of “realism” that had established itself in America in the first decade of this century.

However, the choice of these two dates raises an immediate question beyond those of the arbitrary and the approximate. The former, 1913, is an “artistic” date, the latter, 1929, an “economic” one; one the date of the Armory Show, the other the date of the stockmarket crash and the beginning of the depression. If one is to consider the history of art as a part of cultural history, then the significance of a purely artistic date such as 1913 comes into question. On the other hand, if one is to consider art as an autonomous phenomenon, then 1929 may appear puzzling.

Art is obviously not always a direct and simple reflection of society or of social events, but no matter how purely esthetic the result, it remains always a social phenomenon. Modern art, therefore, no matter how far removed it may appear from what we consider social reality, is still possible only within the context of a specific social climate. The Armory Show, though it may appear to be an historic accident, achieved importance only because conditions to a very large extent had been prepared for it by a decade of revolt, social as well as artistic. The painting subsequently produced in America under the influence of the modern movements in art had no simple, direct relationship to economic, social or political factors. There was in it, with only minor exceptions, no evidence of war, postwar depression, prosperity, industrial expansion or impending catastrophe. It is true that the aloofness from social events, the immersion in esthetic introspection was itself the result of certain historical conditions, but there is no denying that this aloofness did exist. Indeed, a fundamental characteristic of modern art is just this schism between art and society.

The stockmarket crash of 1929 and the depression which followed was a cataclysmic economic event which affected social relationships and consequently the relationship of art to society. It transformed American art. It shocked the American artist into an awareness of the times and inadvertently dragged the national government into the reluctant role of art patron; in the first instance inclining the artist to public rather than semi-private communication and in the second instance offering him an institutional function within society. Both factors led to the rediscovery of a broader public base for art and the development of new formal idioms through which a new content might be more broadly understood. The crisis of 1929 brought to an end a significant period of American art, a period which was important in its formative influences and rich in artistic production.

This study is concerned with the origins, nature and development of modern art movements in this country and their interaction with the already established tradition of realism. It is concerned not only with this struggle of styles but also with the relationship of these artistic developments to the changing social conditions which determined them.

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