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Speer, George Van Cleve
Things of the Spirit
Art and Healing in the American Body Politic, 1929-1941
Series: Literature and the Visual Arts - Volume 17
Year of Publication: 2012
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2012. XIV, 238 pp., num. ill.
ISBN 978-1-4331-1568-4 hb.
(Hardcover)
ISBN
978-1-4539-0225-7
(eBook)
Weight: 0.510 kg, 1.124 lbs
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Discipline
Book synopsis
In the 1930s, the crises brought about by the Depression, climatic devastation, and the rearmament of Europe led Americans from all walks of life to believe that capitalism and technology had synthesized into a monstrous force that threatened the human race. And yet, this chaotic decade also witnessed an unprecedented level of support, both rhetorical and institutional, for the importance of art in the lives of everyday Americans. This book investigates that paradox, asking why, when simple survival presented its own obstacles, our historically pragmatic culture began to define art as a necessity rather than a luxury. To answer this question, the book traces the symbolism of the embattled and recuperative body across a broad spectrum of American culture in the Machine Age. The book situates this symbolism within the commentary of artists, novelists, critics, and educators who trusted in the power of artistic expression and the experience of art to restore the health of the body politic.
About the author(s)/editor(s)
George Van Cleve Speer received his doctoral degree from Washington University in St. Louis. After serving as Curator of the Luce Foundation Center for American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Dr. Speer came to Northern Arizona University, where he is Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies and Director of the NAU Art Museum.
Series
Literature and the Visual Arts: New Foundations. Vol. 17
General Editor: Ernest B. Gilman