True Grit
American Prints from 1900 to 1950
by Stephanie Schrader; James Glisson; Alexander Nemerov
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Pub Date Oct 22 2019 | Archive Date Apr 14 2020
Getty Publications | J. Paul Getty Museum
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Description
In the first half of the twentieth century, a group of American artists influenced by the painter and teacher Robert Henri aimed to reject the pretenses of academic fine art and polite society. Embracing the democratic inclusiveness of the Progressive movement, these artists turned to making prints, which were relatively inexpensive to produce and easy to distribute. For their subject matter, the artists mined the bustling activity and stark realities of the urban centers in which they lived and worked. Their prints feature sublime towering skyscrapers and stifling city streets, jazzy dance halls and bleak tenement interiors—intimate and anonymous everyday scenes that addressed modern life in America.
True Grit examines a rich selection of prints by well-known figures like George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Joseph Pennell, and John Sloan as well as lesser-known artists such as Ida Abelman, Peggy Bacon, Miguel Covarrubias, and Mabel Dwight. Written by three scholars of printmaking and American art, the essays present nuanced discussions of gender, class, literature, and politics, contextualizing the prints in the rapidly changing milieu of the first decades of twentieth-century America.
This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center October 15, 2019, to January 19, 2020.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781606066270 |
| PRICE | $35.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 112 |
Links
Featured Reviews
Joel S, Reviewer
A Real Treat
This publication accompanies the Exhibition of the same name that will be at the Getty in L.A. until January, 2020. While the title suggests that the Exhibition comprises a wide range of artists and works, it's actually closely focused on a few artists who were active in New York City, especially in the and around the 1915's to 1930's. We're talking here about Edward Hopper, George Bellows, Mabel Dwight, Peggy Bacon and a few others, most of whom were strongly influenced by Robert Henri, and that can only be good. Every plate represents another daily scene of gritty urban life, but the artistic approaches and points of view and subjects are as wide and varied as the City itself.
The book is fairly brief. The illustrated text is less than forty pages. This is supplemented, though, by another forty pages of plates of all of the work addressed in the Exhibit. This means the reader can enjoy reading and thinking about the text, but can then study each individual piece of work than seems especially arresting.
And the special treat here is the text. I don't know if it is universally true, but every Getty Exhibit book I've read has been a success. I don't know if it's intentional or not, but these publications always have an inviting and congenial feel that avoids dry pedantry in favor of fresh, energetic, and enthusiastic appreciation and insight.
This time around, in addition to an engaging Introduction, we get three interesting essays. Stephanie Schrader addresses the gendered experiences of the artists that influenced their work, and does so with great style and keen observation. James Glisson starts with promise of New York City, takes us on a tour of skyscrapers, and then moves us through light and dark into the cramped spaces. It is a marvelous and wide ranging essay that directs the reader to the details of many of the included works. Alexander Nemerov offers us a masterful analysis of the relationship, personal and professional, between Edward Hopper and George Bellows. I don't know how mainstream or how idiosyncratic Nemerov's observations are, but they are undeniably fascinating.
So, this small gem of a book was a delight from beginning to end, and struck me as a work of wide appeal and great reward. A very nice find.
(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
Librarian 431790
A fascinating book with three interesting essays and tons of amazing pictures.
It made me crave to see the exhibition.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Erin G, Librarian
A look at several influential artists of the early 20th century, and a love letter to the gritty city. It is curiously poignant to look through this book now, as our cities are temporarily shut down by quarantine, and see the mass of humanity captured in the drawings and paintings. Even without seeing the exhibit this book was created to accompany at the Getty, the reader will get a real feeling for the tone of the included works.
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