| Exhibition Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3

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| Exhibition Review | The Journal of American History, 93.3 | The History Cooperative

Exhibition Reviews

"The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935." Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, WA 98402. Temporary exhibition, Feb. 4–May 26, 2006. 8,000 sq. ft. Wanda M. Corn and Patricia McDonnell, co-curators. Traveling exhibition, Sept. 17, 2005–Jan. 1, 2006, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA. The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935. By Wanda M. Corn. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. xxiv, 447 pp. Cloth, $65.00, ISBN 0-520-21049-2. Paper, $39.95, ISBN 0-520-23199-6.) The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935. Supplementary catalog, by Wanda M. Corn and Patricia McDonnell (Tacoma: Tacoma Art Museum, 2005. 32 pp. Paper, $5.00.) Internet: brief exhibition description, audio tour, museum events and programs, education resources, and membership information, http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/page.asp?view=5387.
An American born in the 1880s who came of age after 1900 was likely to disdain tradition, value progress, love cities, admire new technology, and seek literature, art, music, and architecture that embraced what was called the "modern." The quest to be modern, however, also forced young Americans to define their own and their nation's identity. The painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986) captured the mood when she wrote: The city men I had been seeing in the East ... talked so often of writing the Great American Novel—the Great American Play—the Great American Poetry.... I was quite excited over our country and I knew that at that time almost any one of those great minds would have been living in Europe if it had been possible for them. They didn't even want to live in New York—how was the Great American Thing going to happen?	1
O'Keeffe's provocative words led the co-curators Wanda M. Corn and Patricia McDonnell to present a pathbreaking, intellectually challenging, and visually rich exhibit of American paintings, drawings, photographs, lithographs, sculptures, books, postcards, brochures, and short musical and film clips produced between 1915 and 1935. Inspired in part by Corn's 1999 book, The Great American Thing, the exhibit brought together myriad modern objects in ways that juxtaposed, surprised, and delighted. The total effect of the "Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935" was much greater than the sum of its parts. At the same time, the 175 individual objects that were in the exhibit are of high quality. Corn and McDonnell demonstrated an eye for the best example and the most telling work; they obtained wonderful, little-known pieces by famous artists from out-of-the-way places, as well as excellent items from top museums.	2
Part of the search for the Great American Thing involved travel to Europe. Honoring such travel, the American painter Stuart Davis cleverly merged cityscapes from both continents in his painting New York-Paris No. 2 (1931). Both European and American artists celebrated jazz. The exhibit included many photographs of well-known jazz artists, including two by a little-known pioneering African American photographer, James Van Der Zee; lithographs of black sheet music covers; and the extraordinary Blues (1929) by the black painter Archibald J. Motley Jr. This large oil painting presents a vibrant night scene in a Paris club frequented by Africans. The exhibit included a ten-minute video providing excerpts of jazz performances from five films produced between 1929 and 1935.	3
Because American artists wanted to emphasize the uniqueness of the United States, many turned to the skyscraper, which was rapidly remaking the New York skyline. Paintings by Louis Lozowick, George Ault, and Max Weber were displayed with photographs by Alfred Stieglitz and Berenice Abbott. The stark black and white renderings of America's new buildings were complemented by equally stark, black and white photographs of the nation's new artists by Man Ray, Walker Evans, Ralph Steiner, and Robert Disraeli.	. . .

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