Benton, Pollock, and the politics of modernism
Subtitle: from regionalism to abstract expressionism
By: Erika Doss.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 445
Subjects: Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975 -- Criticism and interpretation; Pollock, Jackson. 1912-1956 -- Criticism and interpretation; Regionalism in art -- United States; Abstract expressionism -- United States; Modernism (Art) -- Political aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Description: "In this acclaimed revisionist study, Doss chronicles a historic cultural change in American art from the dominance of regionalism in the 1930s to abstract expressionism in the 1940s. She centers her study on Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock, Benton's foremost student in the early thirties, charting Pollock's early imitation of Benton's style before his radical move to abstraction. By situating painting within the evolving sociopolitical and cultural context of the Depression and the Cold War, Doss explains the reasons for this change and casts light on its significance for contemporary culture."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.