Jazz Age Culture

"In Zürich in 1915, losing interest in the slaughterhouses of the world war, . . . we searched for an elementary art that would, we thought, save mankind from the furious folly of those times." (from Hans Arp, "Dadaland," 1948)

"The exhibition of the new art from Europe dropped like a bomb. Before the people could gain their breath, some prune-fattened authorities of the old regime at once hurled the pits and stones of their wrath and contempt against the cubists." (from an Oscar Bleumner article in Alfred Stieglitz's Camera Work, 1913)

"In iterature, in art, in music--the post-war theme is similar: abandon tradition, experiment with the unknown, change the rules, dare to be different, innovate, and above all, expose the sham of western civilization." (from Steven Kreis, "The Age of Anxiety," 2000)

• Cubism--covers different stages in Picasso's art. Surrealism--examples of many surrealist artists, including Magritte and Dali and Varos and Carrington. This lesson plan on The American Avant-Garde 1904-1920 explains how European cubist art freed American artists to experiment with expression and abstraction. See also Modernism and Modernity. For more on the modernist art and jazz connection, see also A Blues Aesthetic.

• Post-Impressionist and Expressionist Painting--View Cezanne's Landscapes and more Monte Sainte-Victoire paintings.  View Van Gogh's Starry Night. Here are 16 Kandinsky paintings plus a biography. For more Expressionist Art, go to my Expressionist Art Gallery webpage.

• Armory Exhibition 1913--view Armory Show. Here is a more detailed treatment of various aspects of the 1913 Armory Show--click on the icons at the bottom of the page. See also New York Dada. View large image of Duchamp's Nude Descending the Stairs; more Duchamp images.

• Salvador Dali--see his most famous surrealist painting: Persistance of Memory. See also Dali's Double Image Paintings. Many Dali images here.

• Art in 1925: The Year in Review--a helpful survey; click on each of the thumbnails. See also my Art Tours web page for paintings by Georgia O'Keefe, Frieda Kahlo, Remedios Varos, and others.

• Marie Laurencin--Try these paintings: Femme au Turban. Here are two early paintings: Artemis & Bacchante; another Artemis.

• Tamara de Lempicka--Lempicka biography. Here are three of her famous Art Deco women: Self-Portrait (Girl in a Green Bergatti); Portrait of Ira P. Here are five more paintings. View 18 images--some new ones--and 15 images.

• Pablo Picasso--go to the section below on Gertrude Stein and Picasso.

• Art Deco--the architectural style of the 20s. Read this:  The Chrysler Building--"New York's most glorious skyscraper, its art deco eagles poised for flight, is a timeless work of Jazz Age poetry in steel"; The Social Construction of the Skyscraper.  Interesting powerpoint presentation: How Jazz Is Like a Skyscraper. Good definitions and illustrations at Art Deco South Beach.

"Our problem is to conceive, develop, establish an art era. Not white art painting black...let's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let's do the impossible. Let's create something transcendentally material, mystically objective. Earthy. Spiritually earthy. Dynamic." (Aaron Douglas)

"Sometimes she entered works in exhibitions that did not recognize African-American artists by having white friends deliver the paintings. In other cases, prizes initially awarded to her on merit were subsequently taken away and given to white competitors. " (from The life and art of Lois Mailou Jones" Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, 1994)

• Here are six pages of Harlem Renaissance posters and art prints. See also Harlem Renaissance--images and brief introductions to Douglas, Jones, Johnson, and Bearden. Jazz: An American Muse --note the definition of jazz art.

• Lois Mailou Jones: View her most famous painting Les Fetiches and read some commentary. Contrast with Jardin du Luxembourg [the garden of Luxembourg]. Here is Ethiopian Boy and more information on Jones. See Ascent of Ethioia and A Close Look at Ascent of Ethiopia. View two illustrations for Senghor's book of poems. Another Jones biography (2). More images: Jones' images.

• William Johnson:Biography/many images. See also Mom Alice, c.1944 and Self-Portrait with Bandana. Here is William Johnson's World on Paper. View 100s of William Johnson paintings--links to 9 pages at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

• Jacob Lawrence: Jacob Lawrence --short biography/image. Meet Jacob Lawrence --excellent site with many links. Here are several Lawrence images. Here are many good Lawrence images. View Lawrence's Dust to Dust (The Funeral). See Jacob Lawrence at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

• Aaron Douglas: Aaron Douglas --short biography. View these Douglas paintings: The Creation, Rise, Shine for Thy Light Has Come, Sahdji (Tribal Women), and The Unknown.

• Archibald J. Motley, Jr.: Two interesting papers on Motley's paintings: Blues and Mending Socks and The Development of Archibald John Motley, Jr.: From the Portrait Period to the Chicago Urban Scene.

• Romare Beardon: Romare Beardon--somewhat later jazz artist.

"The uncertainties of 1919 were over--there seemed little doubt about what was going to happen--America was going on the greatest, gaudiest spree in history. . . . The whole golden boom was in the air--its splendid generosities, its outrageous corruptions. . . ." (from F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up)

". . . the new Klan was going to mean business. And that soon meant expanding its list of enemies to include Asians, immigrants, bootleggers, dope, graft, night clubs and road houses, violation of the Sabbath, sex, pre- and extra-marital escapades and scandalous behavior. The Klan, with its new mission of social vigilance, soon had organizers scouring the nation . . . ." (from Southern Poverty Law Center, "100 Years of Terror")

• Baseball:
  
  • The Black Sox--read how the 1919 World Series was fixed.
  • How the fix was set up and Shoeless Joe Jackson's Virtual Hall of Fame.
  • The Giants and the Color Barrier--good history of the formation of the Negro leagues.
  • The Babe Ruth Times: Constructing a Legend since 1919--1920s hero.
  • Ty Cobb Made his 4000th Hit.

• More Achieving Women:
  
  • Isadora Duncan--famous free-form dancer. More information on Duncan and Duncan(2).
  • Jeanette Rankin--first woman elected to U.S. Congress.
  • Jane Addams--famous social worker/peace activist/Nobel prize winner. Another Addams biography.
  • Bessie Coleman or Bessie Coleman Stamp--good biography included. See also another famous aviator Amelia Earhart (2).
  • Coco Chanel--premier fashion designer from 1920s-1950s.

• The 1929 Crash:
  
  • The Wall Street Crash of 1929--very readable essay.
  • Looking Back on the Crash of "29--read actual newspaper coverage of the catastrophe.

• World War I & Aftermath:
  
  • Great War and Jazz Age--compact overview of the war.
  • World War I--brief history, particularly of black soldiers and their jazz bands.
  • Art of the First World War--100 paintings by famous artists depicting the horrors of World War I.
  • Lost Poets of the Great War--short biographies and selected poems of Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg and others. Good links to War Chronology and the Human Cost (casualty numbers).
  • Aftermath: When the Boys Come Home is a good site about a different "lost generation"--not Hemingway & Co., but the generation of young men who went to war--select topics in left column (good selection of poetry there also).
  • Anthem for a Doomed Youth--this excellent site has many war writers, historical items, posters, and first-rate links at the end.
  • The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century--PBS history with many links.
  • WWI: Thirty Thousand Women were there--helpful summary.
  • The American Foreign Legion: Black Soldiers of the 93d in World War I --racial discrimination in U.S. military.
  • Encyclopedia of the First World War--links to many entries (excellent selection of art, illustrators, and cartoonists of the war).
  • World War I and Post-war Society--chronicle of the African American soldier in World War I.
  • "Cavalries, Calvaries, and Wilfred Owen's Greater Love"--scholarly article.