|
|
 |
Click on an image for a larger
version with captions and credits.
|
A brief history
of . . .Art
in Wisconsin |
|
Wisconsin art during the mid to latter part of the 19th century was characterized
by realism. This art was primarily expressed through nature landscapes
and panoramas and portraits. The artists of this time sought to give the
most realistic representation of the new sights they were experiencing
by being a part of the settlement of the Middle West. These artists were
truly the first of an American school of painting dedicated to capturing
the realism of the new frontier. Art was painted to be literal and historic.
Two artists of this time included John O. Lewis and George Catlin. They
are known as the painter reporters who documented the landscapes and Native
Americans. As Catlin said of his own paintings, "they have been intended
as true and facsimile traces of individual life and historical facts."
Much of what the East and Europe learned about Native Americans was through
his paintings.
|
|
|
| America's new Middle West settlers
were concerned with daily survival and although art was not shunned, it
was not a priority in their lives either. "The ideals of equality,
freedom of opporunity, faith in the common man are deep rooted in al the
Middle West...Not were these ideals limited to the Native American settlers:
Germans and Scandinavians who poured into the Middle West sought the country
with like hopes and like faith." (Frederick Jackson Turner) The artists
sought to represent the settlers and the indigenous peoples with portraits
and landscapes reflecting the Middle West. The Frontier produced a new art
of its own by withstanding the importations of European style at that time,
namely impressionism and expressionism. The artists became the narrators
of community customs and daily life. For many immigrants their own cultural
folk arts played a more important role by representing their culture in
a creative way and very often to be used in a utilitarian way. The frontier
was still an omnipresent force until the 1880's and the population and social
forces were in flux. It takes a stable economic and political environment
for cultural arts to flourish and take root. As the new frontier artists
were shaking off their European influences and asserting the new indigenous
frontier art, some of these gains were put aside by the prominence of the
emerging Industrial Revolution and quite importantly, the use of the camera
for recording physical nature. With the advent of photography there was
no longer a necessity for creating an exact reproduction in art. A distinctly
American art could not develop in the face of general unsettlement. |
|
|
|
While artists were documenting the new frontier in a realistic way, many
new immigrants were settling the new Middle West. Most of these immigrants
were of European ancestry coming from many diverse, ethnic cultures. With
them they brought their traditional works of art and craftsmanship representing
their native cultures. Along with the many adjustments the immigrants were
making in their lives, their traditional folk arts provided the continuity
and familiarity they trusted. In addition, the folk art provided a means
of perpetuating their individual communities' spiritual and cultural perspectives.
Many times the folk arts were decorative; yet many times the arts were used
in practical applications. |
|
|
| In addition, the Native Americans already living here continued
their tribal art traditions. |
|
|
| Folk arts provided a consistency and continuity
to immigrants' lives. By passing these folk arts on generation to the next,
immigrants used their folk arts to express their unique ethnic, regional,
and occupational identities. Folk arts may change due to individual artist
expression. Some changes result from use of different materials, use of
different technologies, and new markets for their arts. Folk arts continue
the traditions and celebrate ethnic variation and pride of culture |
|
|
|
|
Butts, Porter. Art in Wisconsin. Madison, Wis. : Madison Art
Association in conjunction with the Wisconsin Centennial Committee and
the University of Wisconsin Division of Social Education, 1936.
Teske, Robert T., ed. Wisconsin Folk Art: a Sesquicentennial Celebration.
Cedarburg, Wis. : Cedarburg Cultural Center, c1997.
Further resources
|
|
|
| Created on: April 17, 2000 |
