Forging An American Culture

1790-1860

Why Study Culture?

Art and literature are the ultimate expression of a nation’s identity

They are the product of the society’s collective experience

Culture can be used to underscore and reinforce themes taught in class

Art: Portraiture

Gilbert Stuart

Art: Portraiture

George Catlin

Art: Portraiture

Art: Landscape

Art: Landscape

Bierstadt, 1868.jpg

Albert Bierstadt

Art: Landscape

Thomas Cole

Art: Landscape

Art: Man in Nature

George Caleb Bingham.jpg

George Caleb Bingham

Art: Man in Nature

Common Man

Art: Man in Nature

The Last of the Race 1847 tompkins matteson.jpg

Art: Man in Nature

Nature Studies

John James Audubon, 1822.jpg

John Audubon

Art: Heroism & Patriotism

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Trumbull.jpg

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism

Rotunda of the US Capitol.jpg

Neoclassicism

US Capital 1818-29 Charles Bulfinch.jpg

Neoclassicism

Apotheosis of Washington.jpg

Neoclassicism

White House.gif

Neogothic

Cullen Building.jpg

Neogothic

Smithsonian Institute, 1855.gif

Literature: Themes

P I C M I N E

Literature: Themes

Past Imagination Common Man & Democracy Mystery & Supernatural Individualism Nature (Love of Nature & its Wisdom) Emotion over Reason

Literature: Writers

Herman Melville: Moby Dick Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter James Fennimore Cooper: The

Leatherstocking Tales Henry David Thoreau: Walden Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson Poetry of William Cullen Bryant Stories of Edgar Allan Poe &

Washington Irving

American Music

No major orchestral composers Few cities had their own symphonies or

large performances Orchestral music reflected romantic

elements Most popular music focused on

common man themes

American Music

Buffalo GalsI danced with a gal with a hole in her stockingAnd he knees was a-knockin' and her shoes was a'rockin'I danced with a gal with a hole in her stockingAnd we danced by the light of the moon

CHORUS:Buffalo gals won't you come out tonightCome out tonight come out tonightBuffalo gals won't you come out tonightAnd we'll dance by the light of the moon

Stephen Collins Foster

Pioneer in American Music

•One of the first to write popular music with wide appeal

•Oh Susanna

•Camptown Races

•The Old Folks at Home (state song of Florida)

Selected Bibliography Hughes, Robert. American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America. New York: Alfred E. Knopf, 1997.

Smithsonian Institution. National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM). Macmillan Digital USA, 1996.

www.allaboutartists.com

www.artcyclopedia.com