Winslow Homer II August 24, 2020PermalinkMetasebia TessemaToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History Lead: In the spring of 1862, a young artist, Winslow Homer, returned to illustrate the story of the Army of the Potomac – and thus began one of the most illustrious art careers in American history. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: In April 1862 Union General George McClellan finally began to the Army of the Potomac. His plan was to march his army up the Virginia Peninsula and capture Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Anticipating a great decisive battle, leading illustrators as Alfred and William Waud, Thomas Nast, and Winslow Homer traveled with the army, hoping to record the drama of a major military engagement. McClellan had not changed, however. Nearly always erring on the side of caution, he brought a whole new meaning to the word prudence. He overestimated the strength of the Confederate forces and moved very slowly. As McClellan spent a wasted month besieging tiny Yorktown, Winslow Homer, got busy. He began to send a stream of brilliant war illustrations back to Harper’s Weekly in New York. He did sketches and drawings of camp life, skirmishes, and sharpshooters at work. Download [97.43 KB]
Winslow Homer I August 24, 2020PermalinkMetasebia TessemaToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History Lead: In 1861 a young American artist began a stellar career with an assignment to illustrate scenes of the Civil War. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Winslow Homer, considered one of the finest American artists of the nineteenth century, is most well known for his objective paintings of rural American life, the tropics, and the life and struggles of fishermen at sea. Homer was born in Boston in 1836. Unlike most of his contemporaries such as John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, and James McNeill Whistler, he was not academically trained in Europe and painted a majority of his works in the United States. He was mostly self-taught; apprenticed to a lithographic firm at age 19, in 1858 he began his professional career in New York as a free-lance illustrator for Harper’s Weekly. Homer’s reputation was built responding to a new relish by the reading public for visual material to accompany printed text. He specialized in wood engravings, designs etched onto wood blocks which were then printed. Newly established weeklies as Ballou’s Pictorial, Leslie’s Weekly, and the most popular of all – Harper’s, created an unprecedented demand for illustrators. Simplified forms, crisp outlines and objectivity characterized Homer’s work and set him apart from other artists. Download [98.80 KB]
Peter Paul Rubens October 20, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITArt History, European History Lead: The 16th-century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens is best known for his vivid joyous murals filled with voluptuous women and fleshy cupids. He was also a hard-nosed businessman and successful diplomat. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Son of an Antwerp lawyer, in 1600 at the age of 22 Rubens went to Italy to complete his training as an artist. A chance meeting brought him into the service of the Duke of Mantua who used him not only as a painter but also as an advisor and informal representative. Rubens used his time in Italy well, studying the work of Italian painters and absorbing the decayed culture of Italy's classical past. He returned to Antwerp in 1608 and was hired as court painter to the Hapsburg Archduke Albert of the Spanish Netherlands. Read more →
Mexican Muralism May 30, 2019PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History, Mexican History Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice. Download [75.84 KB]
Mexican Muralism November 27, 2018PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITArt History, Mexican History Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice. Download [76.23 KB]
Belle Huntington II July 6, 2018PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History, Financial History Lead: Born of humble circumstances in Richmond, Arabella Yarrington Huntington in 1900 was considered by many to be the richest woman in the world. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: After helping to build the first transcontinental railroad, Collis Potter Huntington went south to explore investment opportunities. During his stays at a Richmond, Virginia boardinghouse, he fell in love with the daughter of the owner who also served as barmaid, Arabella. She was thirty years his junior but a vivacious and beautiful woman. She moved to New York, became his mistress, and bore him a son in 1870. Download [6.57 KB]
Cole Porter’s Breakthrough April 29, 2018PermalinkSandy CreedToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History, Entertainment History Lead: The 1940s were not a good decade for Cole Porter. Intro.: "A Moment in Time" with Dan Roberts. Content: Though he was one of the hottest properties in Broadway with a seemingly endless stream of successes in the 1930s and though his music and lyrics represented the epitome of sophistication and wit, during the war decade Porter went through a long period of personal and professional discouragement. Read more →
Mexican Muralism January 31, 2018PermalinkNancy WaldoToday's AMITAmerican History, Art History, Mexican History, Social Justice Movements Lead: At the root of the explosion of graffiti on American public spaces was the revolutionary artistic movement known as Mexican Muralism. Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts. Content: Murals have been around since prehistoric times, but the modern genesis of the term in part originated with the Mexican "muralista" art movement. In the years following the Mexican revolution, during the 1920s and 1930s, native art, often with a powerful political message, began to decorate blank walls all over Mexico. Varying in quality, murals helped turn the cities into works of art. Muralists used open public spaces to call attention to a troubled society’s dreams, needs and hopes, revealing the need for social transformation. These murals could not be quickly eradicated, though the authorities tried. They were in-your-face, provocative, and demonstrated insistent demands by the artists for social justice. Download [75.84 KB]
