You choose the one you like and post a response of 150 words or more.
1. Impressionist painters sought to portray the world they saw in emotional and immediate terms. Russian realist painters sought to preserve national traditions and lifestyles in their work. Both contributed to their national cultures by capturing the world around them in their painting, often showing an idealized version of that world. Choose one Impressionist painter and one Realist painter and compare ;their contributions to their nation’s identity. How did their art define something important about their national identity? Chapter 31 has some great examples.
2. What does the Crystal Palace tell us about Britain in terms of technology, the economy, and society at the end of the 19th century?
3. How did Edgar Degas portray women in his artwork? How did Mary Cassatt portray women in her art? Compare the two visions of women using some specific examples that demonstrate the roles these artists saw women playing in their time? Chapter 32 has some great examples.
4. George Catlin’s artwork was exquisite but so were the many pieces of art created by the various Native American art traditions described in Chapter 32. Compare Catlin’s work with one of those artistic traditions and what it produced. Please use specific examples.
5. America created its own Crystal Palace with the Columbian Exhibition of 1893. What was the purpose of this exhibition? What picture of America does this exhibition paint?
6. Your book has a short but good section on the birth of jazz. Jazz is a uniquely American art form. How did it reflect America in the time in which it was being born? What picture of our country did this spectacularly creative art form paint? Why did jazz come into being during a time when so much else was going on in America? How does jazz today define America?
