The Unforgettables: Expanding the History of American Art

Description

Eminent art historian Charles C. Eldredge brings together top scholars to celebrate forgotten artists and create a more inclusive history of American art.   Why do some artists become canonical, while others, equally respected in their time, fall into obscurity? This question is central to The Unforgettables, a vibrant collection of essays by leading experts on American art. Each contributor presents a brief for an artist deserving of new or renewed attention, including artists from the colonial era to recent years working in a wide variety of mediums. Histories of American art have traditionally highlighted the work of a familiar roster of artists, largely white and male. The achievements of their peers, notably women and artists of color, have gone uncelebrated. The essays in this volume provide a new and richer understanding of American art, expanding the canon to include many worthy talents. A number of these artists were acclaimed in their day; others, having missed that acclaim, may achieve it now. With contributions from major scholars and museum professionals, The Unforgettables rescues and revises reputations as it enhances and enriches the history of American art. CONTENTS Preface: Attention Must Be Paid! Introduction: Unk., Untitled, n.d., lost MAKING FACES, AND MORE: PORTRAITS AND FIGURES, 18TH–19TH CENTURIES William Williams (1727–1791) José Campeche y Jordán (1751–1809) John Greenwood (1727–1792) Sarah Goodridge (1788–1853) Charles Deas (1818–1867) William Walcutt (1818–1882) Elizabeth Nourse (1859–1938) Ella Ferris Pell (1846–1922) Theodore Wores (1859–1939) REDISCOVERING THE MODERN FIGURE Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones (1885–1968) Meta Warrick Fuller (1877–1968) Arthur Putnam (1873–1930) Margaret Sutermeister (1875–1950) Bill Traylor (ca. 1853–1949) Morris Hirshfield (1872–1946) Gerald Nailor (Toh Yah) (1917–1952) Doris Emrick Lee (1905–1983) Philip Evergood (1901–1973) Ernest L. Blumenschein (1874–1960) Frederick C. Flemister (1917–1976) Miki Hayakawa (1899–1953) Belle (Goldschlager) Baranceanu (1902–1988) Chuzo Tamotzu (1888–1975) Robert Neal (1916–1987) Hughie Lee-Smith (1915–1999) Charles Henry Alston (1907–1977) Paul F. Keene Jr. (1920–2009) Larry Day (1921–1998) May Stevens (1924–2019) Christina Ramberg (1946–1995) Benny Andrews (1930–2006) Jerome David Caja (1958–1995) Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani (1920–2012) Harry Fonseca (1946–2006) LIMNING THE LAND: TOPOGRAPHY AND TEMPERAMENT Eliza Greatorex (1819–1897) Arthur Wesley Dow (1857–1922) Carrie Lillian Hill (1875–1957) Albert Bloch (1882–1961) Marvin Cone (1891–1965) Edith Hamlin (1902–1992) Constance Coleman Richardson (1905–2002) Bob Ross (1942–1995) SPEAKING OF STILL LIFES—AND LISTENING TO THEM, TOO George Washington Carver (ca. 1864–1943) Hobson Pittman (1899–1972) Priscilla Roberts (1916–2001) Brian Connelly (1926–1963) ENRICHING ABSTRACTION Athos Casarini (1883–1917) Agnes Pelton (1881–1961) Helen Torr (1886–1967) Vicci Sperry (1899–1995) Rico Lebrun (1900–1964) Edward Hagedorn (1902–1982) Olinka Hrdy (1902–1987) Charles Biederman (1906–2004) Vera Berdich (1915–2003) George Morrison (1919–2000) DESIGNING BEYOND THE EASEL Don Bernardo Miera y Pacheco (1713–1785) John Joseph Holland (1776–1820) Martha Ann Honeywell (1786–1856) A ski ba kwa (ca. 1846–1929) Sarah Wyman Whitman (1842–1904) Raymond Loewy (1891–1985) David Beck (1953–2018) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS CONTRIBUTORS ILLUSTRATIONS INDEX