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New World Visions: American Art and the Metropolitan Museum, Part 1 (1650-1840) - Currently Unavailable
Vincent Scully, Sterling Professor of
the History of Art at Yale University, examines American art, architecture,
and design from 1650 to 1914 and shows how the styles and forms that developed
reflected the emerging American consciousness. Part 1 of two parts, covering
1650-1840, examines the evolution of the materialistic colonial craftsman's
culture to the almost religious reverence of the open American landscape
two hundred years later. Beginning with the American Wing of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York City, Professor Scully shows architecture, sculpture,
furniture, paintings, and period rooms, discussing early American room
architecture (the Hart Room, dark and protective), furniture design (Brewster
chair; examples of the William and Mary, Queen Anne, and Chippendale styles),
paintings (Robert Feke, John Singleton Copley, Ralph Earl), and works
in silver (Paul Revere, Daniel Van Voorhis). Then he explains that the
postcolonial period favored a lighter, more delicate style, a heroic verticality
expressed in portraits (by Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, Rembrandt
Peale, Hiram Powers, Emanuel Leutze), silver, architecture (classical
revival), and furniture (Hepplewhite). In the 1830s-1850s, artists turned
to landscape painting (Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand).Curator's Comments: Vincent Scully offers a perceptive interpretation of how American history helped to shape its art. He discusses art works in relation to the temper of the times: a highlight is his analysis of Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire. An intelligent script, with excellent cinematography and lively pacing, make this an absorbing document for anyone interested in art, architecture, or history. DATE: 1983 COUNTRY: United States CREDITS: PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: TOPICS:
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