Pressed in Time
American Prints 1905-1950
Huntington Library Press,US
1st Edition
Published on 2. January 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
88 pages
978-0-87328-234-5 (ISBN)
Description
This volume chronicles the development of printmaking in America through the first half of the twentieth century. During this period of dramatic social and cultural change, printmaking served artists as a cost-effective means of communicating their observations and ideas. Woodcuts, etchings, and lithographs--many illustrated here--by artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, John Sloan, and Grant Wood addressed a variety of themes, including urbanization, small-town life, the Great Depression, the California landscape, and the two World Wars. The skyscraper, for instance, became a prime subject, admired for its roots in American architecture as well as its associations with national power. Prints frequently portrayed the city's inhabitants, often in crowded spaces where the distinctions between public and private life might become uncomfortably blurred. Depictions of the Depression of the 1930s suggest pessimism about the prospects for social justice in a capitalistic economy. Other prints demonstrate a heroic conception of industry and an idealized view of life in the nation's agrarian heartland.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
California
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
70 color illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 229 mm
Thickness: 0 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-87328-234-5 (9780873282345)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jessica Todd Smith is the Virginia Steele Scott Curator of American Art at the Huntington. Kevin M. Murphy is the Huntington's Bradford and Christine Mishler Curatorial Fellow in American Art.