Evolution Or Revolution:the Reception And Change Of Modern Art In The United States In The Early 20^th Century

Modern art’s rise in earth 20th century’s America was a covered and relatively complex problem.It involves the awakening of the local discourse of modernism,modernist’s practical encirclement as well as gambling between professional institutions.On the one hand,European countries with rich art histories do not willing to admit that the modern art,witch was originate from European has been transferred to America and became the sources of American contemporary art.On the other hand,America,who was lack of art historic traditions reluctant to confess its art’s traditional rootlessness even worse.Scholars tried to incorporate European modern art into their own historical narrative discourse to maintain American art history’s continuity.However,between these two,existed a problem that can not be ignored,means,when America almost complete its European system and the early transplantation of modern society as well as its evolution in "The Gilded Age",the delay and conservative of its art became an incompatible"infarction" in the process of modern society.How to graft a modem mentality into European art traditions therefore cultivate an American local modern art became a constantly controverted discovery.This dissertation aims to investigate how modern art in early 20th century presented an "American style" appearance by stranding in the third-party position outside both America and European.In this process,critics,exhibitions,social movements,collections and local American artists’ practices constituted a complex relationship of intergrowth,confrontation and combination.From the initially American anti-government thoughts to Robert Henri’s individualism,then the movement of anti-academic,the avant-garde thought didn’t inspired America’s local avant-garde movement.Instead,it incurred siege from many scholars and artists.As Robert Henri’s student,Walter Pach’s "Pro-France" attitude had a direct influence on the "Paris taste" of the Armory Show,but was ignored for a long time.While American artists began to pay attention to those opportunities brought by this "new art",the pubic just took the Armory Show as anecdote,and the close down of the 291 gallery was a testimony of various complexity behind the "wonders".In this process join forces of different classes and their purposes gradually inspired the later introspective status of America’s national modern consciousness.This dissertation uses the Armory Show as the central clue to elaborate different segments’ changing receptions and comments on the "new art" before and after the exhibition.As for the structure of the thesis,this paper will take the artistic changes and their individualistic demands of American local artist,such as Robert Henri and Walter Pach as the beginning point,and try to restore those artists who were first to had the modern conscious and their practices,as well as criticisms of different views in early American modern time.In this paper,the Armory Show is both a time node and a "arena" of new and old arts,I try to reflect this exhibition’s impact on the change and evolving of the new concepts of art in America though explore those covered historical events and persons.In addition,this dissertation will take John Quinn’s sponsor to modern art into the investigation of American modern art history,especially the debates caused by his modern collections after his death in America,to consider the early hard process of modern art in America.Besides reorganizing the early developing of modern art in America,this dissertation will also point out with a number of documents and cases that after the confused and groping stage,except some painting patterns were deductive from European,the spiritual core of modern art in America was the revolution of American modern experience,thus the early stage of modern art in America was an extremely complicated process,and it was a product of unique dual character.The art in this stage was a further developing based on the rebellion,anarchism and revolution of European modern art,it was an "new art" with its unique appearance,and its was continuously stretching and creating during the process of evolution and revolution.