PBS American Visions The History of American Art and Architecture [VHS]
"What can we say about Americans from the things they've made? When we look at them through the lens of their art, what do we see?," host and acclaimedTIMEmagazine art critic Robert Hughes asks. This extraordinary series presents a panoramic view of American history as reflected by artists in every medium and genre, from "primitive" portraits of the Colonial era to the complex visions of the present day. Explore the luminous, almost sacred work of early-American landscape artists. The varied experiences of 19th century America appear in the paintings of John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt and Winslow Homer. Discover how a uniquely American modernism was forged at the 1913 Armory Show, and ponder the creative genius that blossomed during the '20s, the Depression years and the exciting, innovative periods following World War II.Titles are: "The Republic of Virtue," "The Promised Land," "The Wilderness and the West," "The Gilded Age," "A Wave from the Atlantic," "Streamlines and Breadlines," "The Empire of Signs," and "The Age of Anxiety."