An Introduction to American Architecture, Painting and Sculpture

AN INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE

,

PAINTING

AND SCULPTURE:A COURSE PLAN DESIGNED

FOR CHINESE STUDENTS

Yti Ytih· chao

INTRODUCTION

余玉

日召

This course proposal is designed particularly for those Chinese college students who wish to obtain some general knowledge of America's achievements in the fields of

archi-tecture,painting,and sculpture. So far as I know,many college~level courses in various

aspects ofAmerican culture,such asAmerican history,governme肘， politics ，foreign poli呵，

economy, mass media,education,philosophy,and literature, are offered here in Taiwan.

But no general survey coursein American 缸ts has yet been given for those students who

are interested in learning something about American 訂ts. In order to help such students,

I have ventured to design the following course plan for their reference.

百le significance of the artistic dimension in the curriculum related to American

culture is self-evident. The special issue ofNe仇wsweek (ωDe臼c. 24

,

1973) on

America" w姐沮1 c臼e叮rta剖in!址ly make Chinese readers aware t血ha叫t American arts have been playing

aVI而er叮yimportant role in American life.1 _{To understand the s:泣副it仙ua前tionofthe缸ts inAmerica,}

也at issue ofNewsweek is of much help because it gives a rather comprehensive survey of

America's various artistic landscapes,including those of fIlm,pop-music, jazz,symphony

orchestras, dance, new forms of visual art, modern architecture, the literary scene,and

even the world of the critics. To further understand the great role of art inAmerican life,

we may also consult Alvin Toffler's interesting book,The Culture Consumers: A Study of

Art and Affluence in America. Toffler rightly observed，“四le American attitude toward the arts has completed a l80-degree turn since the end of World War II. From one of

apathy,indifference,and evenhostili旬， ithas become one of eager,if sometimes ignorant,

enthusiasm."2 Now that Americans are so enthusiastic about the arts, we must know

something about their 訂郎， among other things, if we expect to know America better. It

1.“TheArtsinAmerica,"Newsweek,24 Dec. 1973,pp. 34-98.

2. AlvinToff1er,TheCui似reConsumers: A Study ofArt and Affluence in America(New York: Vintage Books,1964),

is exactly for this reason that I consider it worthwhile to propose that a ~eneral survey

∞urse in American architecture,painting,and sculpture be added to the curriculum about

American culture. Ifthis course proves to be satiSfactory to the students,I am sure they

will be interested in exploring by themselves the other aspects ofAmerican art,notably,

music and film.

The proposed course is to be completed within one semester. Suppose there-are

fourteen weeks in a semester,with three hours allotted for this course each week,then I

will budget my time this way: the fIrSt five weeks will deal with American architecture

,

the next six weeks with American painting,the 12th and the 13th weeks with American

sculpture,and in the last week a sample comparative study of Chinese and American arts

will be undertaken. The details of the whole plan are as follows.

GOALS, METHODS, MATERIALS, AND ASSIGNMENTS

In the first hour of the fIrSt week,I will explain the goals of this course,the methods

and materi?1s to be used,and the assignments to be given. As has been indicated earlier,

the primary goal of this course is to help the students acquire a basic understanding.of

American architecture, painting, and sculpture, the most tangible aspects of American

culture. My teaching method will be a combination of lecture and discussion,but since I

assume my students do not yet have adequate background knowledge of the chosen fields,

I think I will have to spend most of my time lecturing on the relevant topics. Generally,

a

“

cross-cultural approach" will be employed. Iw坦1 presentAmericaninterpreta討onsof

the 缸ts concerned, and then I will encourage the students to form 血eir own judgments

using Chinese points of view. Of course

,

if they expect to make meaningful judgments

,

they will have to utilize their knowledge of Chinese architecture

,

painting

,

and sculpture

I will encourage them to make comparative studies of Chinese and American achievements

in these fields. I think there are many possible subjects suitable for such comparative

studies. For example, they may compare paintings by a modem Chinese artist and his

American counterpart; They may study American influence on m0dern Chinese

archi-tecture.

or

they may examine to what extent and in what ways Am erican 訂tshave ever

been influenced by China. The usefulnessof this cross-cultural approach is very well

illustrated in Benjamin Rowland's Art in East and West: An Introduction through

Com-parisons. I will further illustrate this approach in the 14th week.

covered.Most of the books are shown 扭曲.e selected bibliography. My lectures will

largely be based on these books

,

but the students are encouraged to read some additional

materials. Besides

,

I will introduce some books writtenin Chinese

,

such as the Chinese

translation of Sam Hunter's Modern American Painting and Sculpture. In addition

to reading these books so marked

,

each studentwill be given at least two more assignments

,

that is, wri世ng a short paper on any appropriate topic of his own choice, preferably a

topic of cross-cultural nature,and translating a chapter ofRichard McLanathan 's Art in

America: A BriefHistory 血toChinese. After translating the assigned chapter,heisexpected

to read the other chapters translated by his classmates. I believe this brief history of

American art written in simple and clear English can be completely translated within a

semester by a team of some ten students. My long-term plan is to have a number of very good basic textbooks translated into Chinese jointly by my fellow teachers and students .

.AMERICAN ARCHI主EcrURE

Having made some introductory remarks，扭 the second hour of the frrst week Iw血

be ready to get down to business. In this hour I plan to guide the class through a q叫ck

tour of American architecture by showing them the slides of the most representative

b叫ld扭gs 扭 each historical period. This slide show is intended to 斟ve the students a

general impression of how American architecture has evolved or developed from th~

earliest days up to thep扭扭nt. Since the students have not had the chanceto 油it America~

they need this kind of show to get mentally prepared for this course. As each building

is shown, I will explain very briefly its main features characteristic of a particular era or

school. To further help the students get ready for this coUrse

,

I willalso spend one hour

introducing a number of special terms which they are most likely to come across in the

assigned readings and my lectures. 'Agood glossary of architectural terms such as prepared

by William A. Coles and Henry Hope Reed

,

Jr. inArchitecture in America: A Battle of

Styles would be helpful to the students.

In the next three weeks I will explain 卸 greaterdetail the major styles and architects

of each period. 前Ie history of American architecture is naturally divided into several

periods, but historians v訂y on how to make the divisions and on what terms to use 扭

describing the divisions. For example

,

Alan Gowans hadin mind four stages of the

evolu-tion ofAmerican architecture and furniture

,

namely

,

(I)the 可nedieval"stage of the 17血

here their respective traditions; (2) the

“

classical" stage of the 18th century; (3) the

“Victorian" stage of the 19th century; and (4) the “'modern" stage of this century. He

further subdivided each stage into several phases sO as to give very detailed account of each.

According to Wayne Andrews

,

there are six periods: (1)Colonial Period; (2) Federal Period

(1789-1820); (3) Romantic Era (1820-1860); (4) The Age of Indecision (during and after

the CivilW旺);(5) The Age of Elegance(1872-1913); and (6) Modern Times. The divisions

made by Richard McLanathan more or less correspond to those described by Wayne

Andrews: (1) from the beginning of settlement to 1700 - the native buildings such as the

Indian wigwams and those reflecting numerous traditions from the Old World; (2) from 1700 to the Revolution - the Georgian style; (3) from the Revolution to the Age of Jackson - the Federalist style; (4) the Age of Jackson to the Civil War - from classic temples to Gothic fancies; (5) from the Civil War to the turn of the century - from palaces

to skyscrapers; and (6) the 20th century. The different ways of describing the various

periods seem complementary to each other,but I think the tenns for the various periods

as used by Wayne Andrews are easier for the students to follow. So I plan to devote the

second week to the first two periods,the third week to the next three periods,and the

fourth week to the 20th century.

When I go deeper into each period,I will be concerned not only with the features or

qualities of that period's main style or trend, but with the various forces which helped

shape the style. In this respect, I am adopting Alan Gowans' basic approach as a cultural

historian. Just like Lewis Mumford and Thomas Jefferson Watenbaker,Gowans chose to

study and interpret American architecture in tenns of economic,political,religious,and

technological forces. Gowans stated,“Affected by economic conditions,social structure,

climate,technology,reli回ous beliefs,and tides of fashionable taste to a degree rare in more

individualistic arts like painting or sculpture,architecture and furniture are history in its

most tangible fonn."3 As a matter of fact, such scholars as Oliver Larkin, Richard

McLanathan, Russell Lynes, John Burchard, and Albert Bush-Brown all stress these

shaping forces of artistic styles. Both Andrews and Lynes are interested in the theme of

taste as reflected in American arts.αlangesof taste in var

3. Alan Gowans,Images of American Living: Four Centuries of ArchitectureandFurnitureasCulturaJ Expressian~ew

“

Private Taste" with the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor after the 1880's,

and “Corporate Taste" with the rapid development of the automobile industry and the

movies. As to John Burchard and Albert Bush-Brown, their attitude was made clear by

也e subtitle of their book on American architecture: “a social & cultural history." In

short, I think it is important to emphasize this sort of cultural historian's approach by

which we can better understand American 訂ts in the context of American culture as a

whole.

In the second week,I will talk about the Colonial Period and the Federal Period. The

main points about the beginning of American architecture are the transported styles of

the Old World and the early settlers' practiCal adjustment to the New World. Manyearly

buildings manifested architectural heritage of Europe. For example

,“

Governor 's Palace in

Santa F己， New Mexico'.' (1610-14) reveals the influence of the Spar由h Baroque style;

“

Jackson Square

,

New Orleans" (c. 1795) shows French influence;

“

Van Cortlandt House

,

Croton-on-Hudson, New York" (1660s) shows Dutch influence,while the log cabin is an

expression of the Scandinavian tradition of wood construction. However, Georgian

architecture prevailed in the colonies up to the Revolution. Such buildings as “Mulberry,

near Charleston, South Carolina" (廿1714) and

(1 750-δ53) are cha叮ra酹ct紀eris鈴ti此c of Geor耳an formal symmetry,simplicity,and dignity. 訂閱

main public buildings remaining from the colonial period include Boston's Old State House,

Andrew Hamilton's Independence Hall, and Newport's Colony House in Rhode Island

(1739-42). The restoration campaign initiated in 1927 in Williamsburg is also worthy of

note. That campaign has made Williamsburg

“

an amazingly complete and consistent

example of the style of architecture,planning,and decoration of the earlier years of 也e

18th century.'>4

During the Federalist Period,American standards of architecture were raised

remark-ably by many architects who migrated to America, including William Thornton, James

Hoban, Pierre-Charles L'Enfant,and Benjamin Henry Latrobe,as well as by some eminent

native figures such as Thomas Jefferson, Charles Bulfinch, Samuel McIntire, and Asher

Benjamin. L'enfant contributed much to planning Washington. Latrobe was remembered

for his part in building the U.S. Capitol. Bulfmch was famous for many buildings such as

“

State Hous

While the Federalist style was dominant, the Classical Revival had appeared with

Jefferson's design for the Capitol atRichmond,V亂，臼 1786. 回sgreat fame as an architect

was also associated with his designs for “Monticello" and the University of Virginia at

Charlottesville. Asher Benjamin's American builders' guides, the first of their kind in

America,were inclined toward classicism. As the Classical Revival was gaining momentum,

we entered the Romantic Era. It is romanticism that I will focus on in the third week. In

this era, the Greek,the Gothic,and many other revivals formed the mainstream. Latrobe

introduced the Greek Revival with “Bank of Pennsylvania"(1799) and the Gothic Revival

with

“

William Crammond's house in Philadelphia" (1799). The classical tradition was

carried on by many other people, including Alexander Jackson Davis,James Renwick,

Jr., whose

“

Grace Church in New York City" (1846) was one of the finest Gothic churches

of this era

,

RichaHl Upjohn whose

“

Trinity Church

,

New York City" (1846) ranked the

greatest of all the churches of this era,John Notman who designed an Italian~tyle 泊l1a 一

“

Residence of Rt. Rev. George Washington Doane, Burlington, New Jersey" (1837),

William Strickland who designed

“

Second Bank of the United States

,

Philadelphia"(1

814-24),Samuel Sloan,and Henry Walters. While the picturesque exotic styles prevailed,the

so-called balloon-frame, a revolutionary form of wood construction, was invented by

Augustine Deodat Taylor,who in 1833 built St. Mary's Catholic Church in Chicago,the

first balloon-frame building in America. According to JohnA. Kouwenhoven,the balloon

frame can best illustrate the “vernacular tradition" in American architecture since it

reflects the same characteristics as seen in the vernacular technological design-“simplicity,

lightness, flexibility, and wide availability.吋 I think it is important to bear in mind

Kouwenhoven's well-founded thesis that the vernacular tradition in architecture and other

arts has well interacted with the

“

tradition of cultivated taste" emanating from Europe.

In the brief Age of Indecision many buildings looked

“

brutal and confused"6

betray-ing American architects' uncertainty at that time. The mansardic style and the Venetian

Gothic were popular then. rwo examples:

“

Olana

,

Residence of F. E. Church

,

Greendale

-on-Hudson, New York" (1872) designed by F.E.Chu

5. John A. Kouwenhoven,The Arts in'Modem American 0vilization(New York: Norton,1948),p. 52.

6. Wayne Andrews,Architecture in America: A Photographic Histo，η from the Colonial Period to thePresent (New York: AtheneumPublishers,1960),p. 74.

for millionaires. As pointed out by Russell Lynes,Richard Morris Hunt,among others, helped bring about the Age of Private Taste when he built grand palaces catering to the

fancies of the millionaires, most notably, Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt. The other

prominent architects in this era included Henry HobsonRichardson,whose

“

Trinity Church,

Boston"(1872-77) brought about a short-lived Romanesque Revival,and McKim,Mead&

White, who built many famous buildings such as

“

Boston Public Library" (1887) and

“Residence of Isaac Bell,Jr., Newport,R.I." (1883). The influence ofRichardson on later

architects is to be stressed here. Richard Morris Hunt and McKim,Mead andWhite designed

the

“

Great White City" for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, which was an

epitome of eclecticism and conservatism.

The topic for the fourth week is modern architecture. I would like to begin with the

pioneering builders of skyscrapers, including William Le Baron Jenney, whose

“

Home

Insurance Building" was completed in 1885; John Wellborn Root,who designed

“

Monad-nock Building" (1889-91); and Louis Sullivan who

,

with his famous motto that “form

follows function," designed such outstanding buildings as

“

Schlesinger and Mayer

Build-ing" (1899-1904) (now called Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co.) in Chicago and

“

Guaranty

B叫lding" (1895) in Buffalo,New York. After discussing Sullivan's impact on American

architecture, I will go on to introduce a long list of modern architects including Frank

Lloyd Wright,who is very famous for his

“

organic architecture" as most eminently

demon-strated by

“

Falling Water, Residence of E. J. Kaufm詛咒 Bear Run,Pa."(1936); Walter

Gropius,who headed the Bauhaus;Richard Neutra and Marcel Breuer,who introduced the

International Style; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,who headed the Bauhaus after the resig..

nation of Gropius;Philip Johnson,who designed with Mies van der Rohe

“

Seagram Building,

New York City";Albert Kahn,who designed colossal buildings forGeneral Motors,Chrysler

and Ford; Wallace K. Harrison,who with others designed “Rockef~llerCenter"(193140)

and “U. N. Secretariat" (1950); Owings

&

Merrill,whose most famous design was “Lever

House" (1952); Minoru Yamasaki,who designed

“

Municipal Airport,St.Louis,Missouri"

(1954); Eero Saarinen, who was famous for such buildings as “David S. Ingalls Hockey

Rink

,

Yale University" (1959) and “Styling Build

illustrated with

“

Palace of the Fine Arts,San Francisco"(1915);I. M. Pei,whose concern

with environment was shown in His design for “The Christian Science Church Center in

Boston刊; and Fazlur Khan,who created the 1

,4

54-foot Sears Tower in Chicago. In the

course of introducing these major modern architects, I will call attention to the persistent

tension between the two groups: the Veblenites,who are

“

cool,impersonal, anti

-indivi-dualistic, dogmatic, absolutist, worshiping the machine,spellbound by modern materials

such as steel and glass and willing to discard the site," and the Jacobites,who are “warm,

personal, individualistic, casual, pragmatic, much more concerned with the texture of

materials than with their modernity and emphasized the site."8

Th.e.n in the fifth week,I intend to further discuss the four great modern architects:

Wright, Mies, Le Corbusier, and Gropius.

“

Each cast the world in his own image,one

organic,one structural,one primitive,one mechanistic. Together they offered the

genera-tions to come both ideas and choice and this wdqld have been enough'"stated Burchard

and Bush-Brown.9 For a study of these men,I find very useful the book edited by Adolf

K. Placzek, Four Great Makers σ1Modern Architecture, in which are found such good

essays as “The Domestic Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright,"“The Urban Space

Con-cepts of Mies van der Rohe:' “The Influence of Le Corbusier,"and “The Influence of the

Bauhaus.f, In addition,I will discuss the book,Architecture in America: A BattleofStyles,

which deals with the theories, id~als， and criticisms of many architectural styles. Besides,

I want to discuss Lewis Mumford as one of the most influential critics on modern

architec-ture. His criticism of such modern buildings as the Secretariat Building of the U. N. is

illuminating.

AMERICAN PAINTING

During the next six weeks,I will deal with American painting. In the first hour of

the 6th week,I will give a slide show of the most representative paintings inAmerica. This

panoramic view is meant to help students grasp the general course of the development of

American painting. Then in the second hour, I will introduce a bunch of special terms to

the class, such as Luminism, romanticism, Ileo-classicism, social realism,Impressionism,

post-Impressionism, expressionism,abstract expressionism,Cubism,Futurism,Naturalism,

8. Wayne Andrews,Architecture,Ambition and Americans(New York:The FreePress,1964),p. 256.

9. John Burchard and Albert Bush-Brown,The Architecture of America: A Social& Cultural History (Boston:Little, Brown,1966),p.371.

Fauvism

,

Dadaism

,

and Surrealism. If the students can understand the meanings of these

扭lportant terms at the very beginning, they will be able to avoid unnecessary confusions later on.

From the third hour on,I will proceed to introduce the major artists' representative

works in each of the main periods or schools. In this hour,I will talk about some

portrait-painters, artist-explorers, and artist-naturalists who painted primarily for the reporting

purpose in the 16th and the 17th centuries. The early self-trained limners,such as John

Freak and Captain Thomas Smith, were mainly concerned with human character rather

than beauty or elegance. I will also discuss the Baroque artists of the 18th century,such as

Gustavus Hesselius,John Smibe此， and Robert Feke,as well as the Rococo artists in

mid-18th century,including Benjamin West,John Singleton Copley,Matthew Pratt,and Charles

Willson Peale. In the 18th century, most American painters devoted themselves almost

completely to the study of human personality and the portrait form; they paid very little attention to landscape and stilllife.

Next, in the 7th week,I will focus on Neoclassicism (1780-1820). Benjamin West,

the first American artist who achieved an international fame, painted

“

William Penn's

Treaty with the Indians" (1772). Another distinguished artist in the Neoclassic vein was

John Vanderlyn,whose

“

Ariadne" (1812) was regarded as

“

the most successful ideal nude

produced by American neoclassicism."lO Other painters in this age were interested in

heroism of the real world,such as John Trumbull,who was famous for “訂閱 Declaration

of Independence" (1818) and “The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown" (1817-20);

Charles Willson Peale,who painted the memorable portraits ofWashington,Franklin,John

Adams, and Jefferson; Gilbert Stuart, who painted

“

Washington at Dorchester Heights"

(1806); Henry Sargent,who created such genre paintings asωTheDinner Party " (c.

1815-20) and

“

The Tea Party" (c. 1815-20);andAlexander Wilson,who was famous forAmerican

Ornithology (9 vols., 1808-1814). The neoclassic period was the first major period in the

history ofAmerican painting.

“

Realistic,narrative,democratic in spirit,it gave this country

its first imaginative image of itself,evolved its own style,and left behind a substantial and

distinguished legacy of good painting."l1

Romanticism is the topic for th

10. Edgar P. Richardson,Painting 初 Americ~: The Story of 450 Years (NewYork: 訕。mas Y. Crowell Company, 1965),p. 90.

romantic age whenit saw the picture,“The Sun Reflecting on the Dew,a Garden Scene,

Echo, Pennsylvania, a Place Belonging to Mr. D. Bavarage" (1808), by William Russell

Birch, one ofAmerica'sflISt landscapists. In the flISt generation ofAmerican romanticism

(1800-1830), the major artists included Washington Allston, whocreated such highly

subjective paintings as “訂閱 Moonlit Landscape" (1819) and “Elijah in the Desert"(1818),

Rubens Peale,who painted a number of stilllifes and pictures,and John James Audubon,

whoseThe Birds ofAmerica (4 vols,1827-1838) established his position as one of the most

outstanding artist - naturalists in America. 百lese artists viewed the world through many

new perspectives 一“'passion， gloom,mystery,excitement,tragedy,religious faith,

senti-mentality,love of solitude."12 But their techniques remained to be perfected.

In the second generation of romanticism (1825-1850),the wilderness was one of the

exciting discoveries. Thomas Cole created many good paintings such as “In the Catskills"

(1837),“The Course ofEmpire，"“四Ie Voyage of Life." and “An Evening in Arcady."

Asher B. Durand,another major figure of this generation,painted “Kindred Spirits"(1849)

and engraved many plates including Trumbull這“Declaration of Independence" and

Vanderlyn's“Ariadne." George Caleb Bingham andGeorge Catlin were especially interested

in the frontier theme. William Page was well-known for his“Cupid and Psyche." Edward

Hicks,the most populat naive painter,created “訂閱 PeaceableKingdom." The rise of the

panorama was also an important phenomenon of this era.

J"

eol1Pomarede and John

Ban-vard

,

among others

,

used theMississippiRiver as their favorite panorama subject.

From 1850 to 1875,romanticism began to fade away. In this generation,four major

forces affected the artistic scene: (1) the newly risen science of chemistry brought about

many new colors,(2) the rise of the new middle -class,(3) the growing influence of camera,

and (4) the civil w缸. Luminism

,

naturalism

,

and sentimentalism prevailed. Among the

landscape painters who were concerned with luminism were John Frederick Kensett,

Worthington Whittredge, and Sanford Gifford. F. E. Church's “Niagara" (1857) and

George,Inness's

“

Harvest Tin晦" (1864) were two examples of naturalism. Deeply

con-cerned with the sentimental historical subject were Daniel Huntington,who painted “The

Republican Court'

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glgA3 pu -e‘ u-e 0IS ul[ °f ‘SUg 有"-eID 叮叮!TIM ‘ s)[n '1 g~lOgD‘ PUgHpgqo~ Aq Alum凹 pmlglgM suop -e punoJ gl[ l l["!l[MJO “‘ 100l["S u-eJ l[SY" pgn -e,,-osg l[ l -e"pg 凹Y u! gSOl -e glgl[ l、 dOl n芷 u!~U!POldxg glgM 凹spnlnd u -e n -e n pu -e ‘叩!suo~ssgldx3 U-e uilgD‘凹 s!A n-e d pu -e lUsNnJ 可"Ugld gTI l[ M 'Al nlUg" S!l[ lJO wnlg l[ llY °-e lg limllod即! S! l[ llnoq -e-e gp! l-e lgUg~ -e ~U!U!-e lqolOJ InJdlg l[ Ap-e lmpl-e d ~fr6 [ a;)U1SJ .L V UV;)μ aUl VS‘uOl l[SY gADa pu-e χ JnJ ua:J woz awjOJ.LVUV :Jμ aUl V s ‘ 19wnH lU-eS ‘U01SSa .Lda σ allJ OJ MOllS 心O Ul.LV aw 凶0 .Lj 8u !J U1VJ UV;)μ9 凶V S , UMOl S: OM uom刺 punoJ gA -el[ I‘ u-el[ l-e u-e'1"刺 pu-e u同 R可 Aq S有 ooq g l[ l 0l u0 !H pp -e uI °lUgSgld g l[ l'0l dns , 0£6I gl[ l凹 OlJ popgdg l[ l uo有 ggM l[ lI I g l[ l pu-e‘ M°l[ S AlO 凹lY g l[ l S -e MlUgAg W-e pod凹 qso凹叫 ll["阿 M~upnp Al nwg" S阿lJ o UOp-elgUg~ lSlY g l[l uosn"oJ !TIA也有 ggM l[ lOI g l[ l °S)[ ggMOMl ~l月 MOnOJ g l[ lu! pgssn"s!p gq 0l S! ~upu!U du -e"pg 叩V Almod 叮叮uOJ ﹒(S98 J)“P 田間lS0 '1 g l[l" pu -e( 1798I) “ lUgWgS -e gs gl[ l)O耳-e'1 g l[l" S -el[ "nssglnp!d ~UmglAl OlSg 凹的pglU! -ed O l[ M ‘ 19ppgA n l[!I3 pu -e‘ glnreU'lnoq -e AlglSA 凹JO gSUgSdggp B pgpg日 3人， lSgd凹 g.L g吐 L" pu -e“ pl !fl p -e ga gl[l"的 Ol[ M‘ 19pA~間官司 )[u!d pgqIV '(998 J)“ Ug)[0.L gA0 '1 )[gglD" pgl叫“ Ol[ M‘ g~lU d-e'1 uqof ~閃pnp 叮叮叮l-e gp! JO sgm~gg 凹的 pg"npOld oSJU -e lg S阿 1‘凹 S!JU gl JO Ug lU gSg l[ l 0lu0 !H pp -e uI °uop -e lgdo u -e JO g"U -elUl OJlgd g l[ l pgA凹 pod AI Jn JTI)[S l["阿A也有 SL8J)“ "!UnJ ssolD g l[ l" s -e s~unu!B d l[ "ns u! UA也O l[S S -e M Sp -e J "日pU ;:lpS u! lSglgJU! dggp S‘SU 同它芷 . (IL8 J)“ 100 l[ "S Al lunoJ" pu -e (998 J) "lUOld gl[ l凹 OlJSlgUOSPd" s-e l["ns ‘S~up 回-ed AU-e凹 lOJ sno lU-eJ S-e M 19間 0H °SU同它芷 S-e凹 0l[l pu-e 19 lU OH MOISU!MJO )[lOM g l[ l Aq pgl-e llsUO間 gp lSgqS -e M H ‘叩Sn 昀~ gA!pgfqO 0l sy °OS8I JO uopmgug~ g l[lJ o lU sn -e ml -e ug l[ l0l UO!p -e gl JO pas -e S-e M叮叮 UOfSsgld叩 I‘有 lOMS ‘Ug 叩JSg l[l Aq pglSgn -e sy 0(S68 J)“ SPU!M g l[ l JO dl -e H g l[.L" pgl -e gl" Ol[ M‘叫 p-e制品叩 0H pu -e‘ (998 J)“ Agn -e A )[M-el[ O刺 gl[l" pglU !B d O l[ M ‘ lU -e AM °H 19pu-e XgIV ‘.'lS! 刺 gl[ l u! ~um-es" p呵呵-e d Ol[ M ‘u -e凹ll[，，-e M.L O M. u l[ 0f ‘ (1788 J) “ pu -e l -l[ "ooD'A -ea AglD"呵呵呵 HM SSgUUI g~lO~glgM 叩S!UO~

the works of the radical artists of Europe, including Rodin, Matisse, Henri Rousseau,

Cezanne, Picasso, and Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as the works of such Paris-trained

American artists as Max Weber,Alfred H. Maurer,Samuel Halpert,and Abraham Walkowitz,

Stieglitz made some unforgettable contributions to the development of modernism in

America. However, it was the International Exhibition of ModernA此，also known as the

Armory Show,that most successfully exposed the general public to the new movements.

The big event took place at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York from February 17th

to March 15th,1913.

Milton W. Brown gave a very comprehensive summary of criticisms on the Armory

Show. He pointed out that this controversy centered around the problem of revolution

versus tradition. “In some cases modernism was demned by association with the political

anathemas of anarchism, socialism and,after 1917, bolshevism; in other cases,by charges

of degeneracy, insanity, immorality, incompetence, charlantanry, foreignism, ugliness,

unintelligibility or individualism."13 The impact of this show is clear. Iteffectively

sup-pressed academicism and the general public began to get prepared for later development of

modern American art. After the Armory Show, the struggle against academicism was

carried on by"a number of events including the Independents' Exhibition in 1917.

After explaining how modern trends got started off, I will introduce some major

modern works. In the twenties, Cubism became the most influential style. The major

Cubists and works included John Covert's

“

Brass Band,"Konrad Cramer's "Improvisation

No.1," Charles Demuth's “Trees" and “Incense of a New Church," Charles Sheeler's

"American Landscape" and “Upper Deck," May Ray's ‘'The Rope Dancer Accompanies

Herself with Her Shadows," Joseph Stella's “Battle of Light, Coney Island," Arthur G.

Dove's“The Red One," and George O'Keeffe's‘'The American Radiator Building." Marcel

Duchamp and Francis Picabia were closer to the Futurists than to the Cubists since they greatly stressed mechanical forms in their paintings.

John Marin, Max Weber, Marsden Hartley, and Walt Kuhn received some influence

of Cubism, but they were closer to the Fauve tradition as their art betrayed Expressionist

emotionalism and abstract distortion. See Marin's

“

Woolworth Building, No. 31" and

“

Tree and Sea, Maine,"Weber's

“

New York a

13. Milton W. Brown,American Painting from the Armory Show to the Depression (princeton,N.J.:Princeton Univ. Press,1955),p. 54.

“

Victoria."

While the experimentation of modernism was progressing steadily,realism reasserted

itself in the twenties and the thirties. Among the artists of realism who were concerned

about American scene were Edward Hopper-“Early Sunday Morning,"FranklinWatkins一

“Thomas Rawburn White," Charles Burchfield一“Black Iron," Ivan LeLorrain Albright

“That Which I Should. Have Done I Did Not Do," Mark Tobey一“San Francisco Street,"

and Grant Wood “American Gothic." As to Expressionism of the forties,it was

mani-fested in Hyman Bloom's “訂閱 Bride"and Jack Levine's “ Gangster Funeral."

After World War II, Abstract Expressionism or

“

Action Painting" became the most

vital genre. The leader of this school was Jackson Pollock, whose well-known works

include “世le She-Wolf" (1943), “Lavender Mist" (1949-50), “Sounds in the Grass:

Shimmering Substance" (1946), and

“

Echo" (1951). Aside from Pollock, the major

Abstract Expressionists in the forties were Wi1lem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Robert

Motherwell, Barnett Newman, and Ad Reinhardt. During the early fifties they were

joined by Franz Kline, Philip Guston, James Brooks, Morris Louis, and other younger

artists. In this connection,Sam Hunter said:

“

For the constellation of painters identified

with de Kooning and Pollock, Action Painting presented itself as an art of passionate

gesture,fluent or amorphous structure,and large individualliberties. The painting could

be understood as the record of an act, for the vital signs of personal involvement and

spontaneous invention were left conspicuously visible."14

Finally,in the last t~o hours of the 11 th week,I will talk about what emerged in the

late fifties and the sixties,such as pop art,op art,minimal art, neo-Dada,and New Realism.

Thesenew forms arose as a reaction against the extremely specialized styles of Abstract

Expressionism. Pop art reveals a deep interest in the material environment and the v,!lues、

of mass society. The major figures of this trend include Allan Kaprow一“Penny Arcade','

(1956), Robert Rauschenberg一“Coca-Cola Plan" (1958) and “Buffalo" (1964), Jasper

Johns一“Field Painting" (1964) and “Flag" (1958), and Andy Warhol “One Hundred

Campbell's Soup Cans" (1962). It is interesting to note how Sam Hunter interpreted Pop

Art with sympathy: “The junk material可 whichRauschenberg,Kaprow,and others

estab-lished in a new aesthetic context could be read as a symbol ofalienation from thedominant

folkwaysof an aggressive consumer's society which extravagent1y valued a gleaming,ersatz

newness in its possessions."15

In an article entitled “Art Without Limits,"Douglas Davis says, “American art in the

1970s is rambunctious and perverse . . . .'叫 He adds,“These different kinds of art bear

catch-phrase names of their own-earth 盯t ， conceptual 旺t ， performance art, body art,

process art. But it seems to me they are all based on one esthetic premise: that the artist

is no longer confined in his expression to objects. What follows from this principle is

radical indeed. Itmeans that art need no longer be something that can be collected or even

shown in traditional ways. You don't exhibit a piece of earth art,you go to see it,often

with some difficulty or even risk. American art of the '70s is post-object art. "17 Another

good description of the unusual situation of contemporary art in America is derived from

The American Heritage History of the Artists'America:

From the mid-1940's until the present day the body of work produced byAm

eri-can 紅包ts has been dominated by no single style,ideology,or aesthetic. Rather,

the creative output of theIωtseveral decades hasbeen 個 sucha state of flux as it

has never been before,with 紅也tscontinually seeking out new modes of expression

個d perception,and with numerous,rapid,and often violent shifts in direction.

Developments and changes that were formerly wrought over several decades ，的

least,now take place in a matter of seasons, and what the mass media hailas 位le

latest trend one week,may be obsolete the next.18

In the last part of my lecture on contemporaryAmerican painting,I will further illustrate

the diverse

“

new modes of expression and perception,"with special references to

philoso-phical assumptions and experimental techniques of post-modernism.19

AMERICAN SCULPTURE

I plan to spend two weeks introducingAmerican sculpture. There were very few real

sculptors in a formal sense before mid-19th century. Before that time most sculptors

were only artisans and craftsmen who produced such things as figureheads and inn- and

trade- signs. For example, William Rush carved a figurehead of

“

Benjamin Franklin"

15. Ibid.,p. 265.

16. Doug1;ls Davis,“Art WithoutLimits,''Newsweek,24 Dec. 1973,p. 68.

17. Ibid.

18. MarshallB. Davidson and0也ers，eds.The AmericanH，耐tage Histo，η ofthe Artists'·America 剝削 York:American

HeritagePublishing Company,1973),p. 371.

(c. 1785); Samuel F. B. Morse created “Dying Hercules" (1812); and John Henri Isaac

Browere made a series of plaster busts including one of‘'Thomas Jefferson." The following

figures well represented neoclassicism: Thomas Crawford made “Washington Monument,

Richmond, Va," (1850-57); Hiram Powers was well-known for his

“

Greek Slave"(1843)

which, together with E. D. Palmer's “四le White Captive" (1858), first made the nude

acceptable to Americans; Horatio Greenough 's

“

George Washington" (1832-39) was

“

the

first attempt at genuinely monumental sculpture by an American.呵。The other minor

figures included Clark Mills, who made a bronze statue of“Andrew Jackson"(1853),and

William Rimmer, who was known for “Dying Centaur" (1871) and “Falling Gladiator"

(1 861)，四lelast decades of the 19th century saw such famous sculptors as John Rogers,

who made

“

Fugitive's Story" (1869), Augustus Saint-Gaudens,who was known for ‘'The

Sherman Monument" (l892-1903), Daniel Chester French, who was best known for

“

Abraham Lincoln" (191 日， and George Grey Barnard, whose colossal

“

Struggle of the

Two Natures of Man" (1893) was well received.

In the 20th century,many sorts of experiments have been undertaken in sculpture,

just as in other arts. Gutzon Borglum who carved four Presidential portraits on Mount

Rushmore in South Dakota (1930-41) and Jo Davidson who made a bronze portrait of

“

Gertrude Stein" participated in the Armory Show in 1913. E1ie Nadelman,a Cubist,

created

“

Woman at the Piano" (c. 1917) and

“

Man in the Open Air" (c. 1915). Among

the post-war movements are Abstract Expressionism and Constructionism. Seymour

Lipton who made “Sanctury" (1953) and “Pioneer" (1957F

),Jacques Lipchitz who made

“

Sacrifice II" (1948-52),David Smith with his

“

HudsonRiver Landscape"(1951),Theodore

Roszak with his

“

Sea Sentinel" (1956) and

“

Spectre ofKitty Hawk"(1946-47),and Herbert

Ferber who created “Flame" (1949) are all Abstract Expressionists.

The main sculptors of Constructionism include Jose de Rivera一“Construction #93"

(1966), Richard Lippold一“Variation Number 7: Full Moon" (1949-50), IsamuNoguchi一

“Humpty Dumpty" (1946), AlexanderCalder一“Spider"(1939),and David Smith-‘'Cubi

XVIII" (1964) and

“

Menand III"(1963). David Smith's favorite material is steel,a symbol

of this age of technology. In his own words,“The metal possesses little art history. What

associat

20. McLanathan,Art in A merica,p,134.

Cornell's box constructions, Claes Oldenburg's

“

Floor Cake" (1962) and

“

Giant Icebag"

(1971), Edward Kienholz's ‘'The Beaneη戶， (1965), and Howard Kanovitz's “Mazola and

Ronzoni" (1969). Finally, I will direct attention to some prominent sculptors'

repre-sentative works in the 1970's, such as. Duane Hanson's “Race Riot" (1969-71),William

Tucker's “Arc" (1977-78), Rafael Ferrer's “Mr. Equis" (1978), Herbert George's “Visit

and the Apparition" (1980), and Christopher Wilmarth's “Gnomon's Parade (Peace)"

(1980).

COMPARATIVE ARTS

In the last (14th) week,I will give a talk on the subject of

“

A Comparative Study of

Artistic Treatment ofthe Man-Nature Relationship in America and China." The theme of

the man-nature relationship is of universal interest,so I think it is worthwhile to

under-take this comparative study. In the study I will concern myself not only with aesthetic

qualities of the works to be examined but also with their philosophical assumptions. For

the main points to be covered, please see the outline of the lecture in Appendix. In

addition to this lecture, I would also like to discuss such other topics as “Action Painting

~nd Chinese Calligraphy" and

“

Lao Tzu vs. Frank Lloyd Wright." By so doing,I mean

to arouse the students' interest in “comparative arts." A very good book for the beginners

isArt in East and West by Benjamin Rowland,Je. I fully agree that the comparative study

of “works of art widely separated in time and place invariably opens new possibilities of

interpretation."22 Rowland explains his purpose and methods in writing this book:

The comparisons presented here illustrate accidental parallels in theartof the East

and West,stemming from a common background or affected by similar

circum-stances, social,artistic,andtechnical ，扭曲e process of their making. The subjects

have been arranged in categories of figures,portraits,religious images,landscapes,

birds,beasts,and flowers,andst血 life. These works of art have been analyzed in

considerable detail both from the technical and aesthetic viewpoints in relation to

their historical background. ..戶

Itis the same scheme of analysis that I will follow in my study of the man-nature

relation-ship as treated in αlineseand American arts. I believe it is important for us to approach

the comparative study from technical,aesthetic,and historical perspectives.

22. B巴njaminRowland,Jr.,Art in East and West: An Introduction Through Comparisons(Boston: Beacon Press,1964),

p.Vll.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrews,Wayne.Architecture,Ambition and Americans. New York:The Free Press,1964.

一-一一 .Architecture in America: A Photographic History from the Colonial Period to the

Present. New York: Atheneum,1960.

Armstrong, Tom, and others. 200 Years of American Sculpture. New York: Whitney

Museum ofAmerican Art,1976.

Ashton,Dore.American Art Since 1945. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1982.

Baigell,Matthew.A History ofAmerican Painting. New York: Praeger,1971.

Born,Wolfgang.American Landscape Painting. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press,1948.

Boyle,Richard J.American Impressionism. Boston: Little,Brown,1974.

Brown,Milton W:American Painting from the Armory Show to the Depression. Princeton,

N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press,1955.

Brumm丘， C. Ludwig. Contemporary American Sculpture. New York: Crown Publishers,

1948.

Burchard, John, and Albert Bush-Brown. The Architecture of America: A Social &

Cultural History. Boston: Little,Brown,1966.

Coles, William A., and Henry Hope Reed,Jr., eds.Architecture in America: A Battle of

Styles. New York: Appleton -Century -Crofts, 1961.

Craven,Wayne.Sculpture in America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell,1968.

Cummings,Paul.Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists. 4th ed. New York: 81.

Martin's Press,1982.

Davidson,Marshall B.,and others. The American Heritage History of the Artists' America.

New York: American Heritage Publishing Company,1973.

Elliott,Osborn,ed. “TheArts inAmerica."Newsweek,24 Dec. 1973,pp. 34-98.

F1exner,James Thomas. That Wilder Image: The Painters ofAmη1erica 台NativeSchoolf戶計均om?η₁

Thomas Cole to Winslow Homer. Boston: Little,Brown,1962.

Gardner

,

Albert TenEyck. American Sculpture: A α talogue of the Collection of the

Gowans,Alan. Images of American Living: Four Centuries of Architecture and Furniture

as Cultural Expression. New York: J. B. Lippinco 仗， 1964.

How瓜， John K. The Hudson,Riverand Its Painters. New York: The Viking Press, 1972.

Hunter,Sam.Modern American Painting and Sculpture. New York: Dell,1959.

一一一一-

.

American Art of the 20th Century. New York: Harry N. Abrams,1972.

Kouwenhoven, John A. The Arts in Modern American Civilization. New York: Norton,

1948.

Larkin,Oliver W.Art and Life in America. New York: Holt,1960.

Lipman,Jean.American Primitive Painting. New York: Oxford Univ. Press,1942.

Lynes,Russell. The Tastemakers. New York: Grosset& Dunlap,1954.

McLanathan, Richard. The American Tradition in the Arts. New York: Harcourt,Brace&

World,1968.

"一-一一-

.

Art in America: A Brief History. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973.

Placzek, AdolfK., ed. Four Great Makers of Modern Architecture: Gropius,Le Corbusier,

Mies van der Rohe,Wright. New York: Da Capo Press,1970.

Richardson, Edgar P.Painting in America: The Story of 450 Years. New York: Thomas Y.

Crowell,1965.

Rose,Barbara.American Painting: The 20th Century. Cleveland,Ohio: The World Pu

bli-shing Company, 1967.

Rowland, Benjamin, Jr. Art in East and West: An Introduction Through Comparisions.

Boston: Beacon Press, 1954.

Stewa肘， H. Michael, and Bette Griffin, eds. American Architecture for the Arts. Vol. I.

New York: Handel& Sons,1978.

Toff1er, Alvin. The Culture Consumers: A Study οfArt andA刀luence in America. New

York: Vintage Books,1964.

Turpie

,

Mary

c.,

compoA Selected List of Buildings for the Study ofAmericanCivilization.

Minneapolis: Univ. ofMinnesota,1965.

一一一一一.ASelected List of Paintings for the Study of American Civilization. Minneapolis:

"t~61'A.I官 1q門的 Jp~凹 VM. ~N:有 10λ M.~N "JsnoH

lV

J.n JvNJlf .L "POAl1有的 1tl

'l

1P3

P M.

APPENDIX

A Comparative Study of Artistic Treatment of the Man-Nature

Relationsh恥的 Chinaand America (An Outline)

1.Perspectives

A. Rationale behind the cross-cultural orientation

B. Emphasis on both the aesthetic qualities and philosophical basis of the works concerned

C.Definitions and limitations

II. Chinese and American writers on nature A. Tocqueville's observations

B.Nathaniel Hawthorne-Puritan concept of wilderness

C.Herman Melville-Moby Dick

D. James Fenimore Cooper-ThePioneers and other Leatherstocking tales

E. Ralph Waldo Emerson-Nature

F. Henry DavidThoreau-Walden,and

‘

'The Inward Morning"

G.Chuang Tzu一“The Bones of Chuang Tzu"(“k'u lou fu")

H. TaoCh'ien一“WrittenWhile Drunk"

I .Wang Wei-“Bamboo Grove" and “Rill of the House of the Luans"

J .Leo Marx-The Machine in the Garden

K.Taoism vs. Transcendentalism

III.Chinese landscape paintings

A.Philosophical foundation-Confucianism,Taoism,and Ch'an Buddhism

B. Lack of religious or allegorical associations

C.Emphasis on

“

ch'i" and on subtle rendering of an idea,an emotion,or a,mood,

rather than the form

D. Marriage of painting,poetry,and calligraphy

E. Some illustrations

1. Wen Cheng-ming

“

Ancient Tree and a Cool Spring"(1531)

2. Wen Po-jen (1 502-1576一“Landscape"(Ming Dynasty)

(1668)

4. Hsia Kuei-

“

Gazing at a Waterfall" (Southern Sung Dynasty)

5. Ts'ao Chili-po(1 272-1355)一“Landscape" (Yuan Dynasty)

6. Yen Wen· kuei (960-1127)一“A Myriad Trees on Strange Peaks"

(c. 1010)

7. Mu· Ch'i (Fa

-e

h'ang) (Born early 13th century,active 1269)一“Six

Persimmons" IV. American landscape paintings

A.The earliest landscapes as perfunctory backdrops to portraits by John Smibe此，

Robert Feke,Gilbert Stuart,Ralph Earl,etc.

B. The first pure landscapes by William Russell Birch,John Trumbull,Washington

Allston,John Vanderlyn,andThomas Doughty

C. Thomas Cole

1.Asa poet-

‘

'The Wild"

2. Asa painter-founder of the Hudson River School

3. His philosophy on art and nature

4. A comparison of Cole with a Chinese landscapist D.After Cole

1. Asher Brown Durand “Kindred Sp廿its"

2. Frederic E. Church “Oil Sketch: View of Catskills from Olana"

3. GeorgeInness一“Hudson River Valley"

4. Worthington Whittredge-“The Trout Pool"

5. Martin Johnson Heade-'

‘

Storm ove

1-

Narragansett Bay"

6. Jasper Francis Cropsey一“UpperHudson"

7. AlbertBierstadt一“EatesPark

,

Colorado

,

1869"

8.Thomas Moran一“Great Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,

1898"

9. John Frederick Kensett-'‘Lakes and Mountains"

10. Winslow Homer-"The Hudson River- -Logging" and

“

Woodsman

and Fallen Tree" E. Primitive landscape paintings

1. Edward Hicks一“PeaceableKingdom"

2. Anna Mary Robertson,or Grandma Moses-

“

McDonell Farm"

G. The artists.naturalists-such as John James Audubon

H. Impact of industrial and social developments on landscape paintings as seen in