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Between the Wars: The Emergence of American Modernism:
By the 1920s, the modern art movements burgeoning in Europe -- such as Cubism, Dadaism, Fauvism, and Surrealism -- began to challenge the prevailing taste for realism in the United States. The American public, including most artists, was first exposed to these avant-garde styles at the historic Armory Show, held in New York City in 1913. In the years that followed, many American painters began to absorb the lessons offered by the work of Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse, among others.
Despite experiments with styles such as Cubism and a new emphasis on color, line, and form that anticipated the total abstraction of post-World War II art, most American artists retained some recognizable elements of their chosen subjects. Some painters even eschewed contemporary European influences altogether, choosing instead to continue in the well-established tradition of American realism. |