American Visions
American Visions
The Epic History of Art in America
by Robert Hughes
First published 1997
Harvill 636 PP
American Visions -The Epic History of Art in America
In the early years of this century the best known and arguably most regarded art historian in the world was an Australian living in New York. His name was Robert Hughes and thanks to two successful TV documentary series and the resulting coffee table books he was pretty hot shit. American Visions is a chunky book and the title tells the story. So if the subject doesn’t appeal you might be better off moving on. But if you do have an interest in, and I quote Robert, “What can we say about America from the things and images they have made? … we wanted to look at America through the lens of its art,” then this is a book for you.
636 x 250mm x 195mm pages, oodles of yummy photos of art including paintings, prints, photos, sculpture and even buildings [ he explains why] and of course Robert’s informed, clear, and at times wry explanations and opinions.
Robert is of course referring to Western Art in America and not to the art of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America. Therefore we have art from about the 1560s through to the late 1990s. Certainly something for everyone in that time period and all but impossible to document everything, everybody and explain their intents and impacts. But all the big names and movements are here from Whistler to Warhol, Pop Art to Piss Christ, Singer Sargent, Homer, Wood, O Keefe, Hopper, Stieglitz, Stella, Rothko, Pollock, Impressionism etc.
The book is great for a quick browse if you don’t want to get into wheres and whys and I discovered a couple of interesting things. The first one, a personal one being that although I can match artists to artwork quite well when the artist is Australian or European, I really struggle with American art. Sure Warhol and soup cans, but just who did paint that often parodied image of the farmer and his wife with the pitchfork in front of their house?
The other part of American Visions I found fascinating was the space that Hughes gave to discussing buildings like The Chrysler Centre, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water [a building I have seen personally and it is a piece of art], Spanish churches in Mexico from the 1760s and Puritan furniture and Meeting Halls.
Hughes’s prose is not too technical, certainly readable for the interested layperson and I found his insights and social commentary highly entertaining. Believe me too when I say that some of the things that Hughes discusses in terms of the society and the art it created over 150 years ago has heavy resonance again today. For a big heavy subject in a big heavy package I reckon the book has just the right amount of intellectual weight. Not sure how easy it is to find if you’re interested but I believe American Visions is still in print and I really recommend it. The documentary TV series is equally entertaining and there are episodes up on YouTube.
A playlist? Sure why not.
Facades – Phillip Glass
Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby
Portrait of Tracy - Jaco Pastouris
New Frontier- Donald Fagen
Artists Only- Talking Heads
Andy Warhol – David Bowie
