Randall Griffin's book examines the ways in which artists and
critics sought to construct a new identity for America during the
era dubbed the Gilded Age because of its leaders' taste for
opulence. Artists such as Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Thomas
Anshutz explored alternative "American" themes and styles, but
widespread belief in the superiority of European art led them and
their audiences to look to the Old World for legitimacy. This rich,
never-resolved contradiction between the native and autonomous, on
the one hand, and, on the other, the European and borrowed serves
as the armature of Griffin's innovative look at how and why the
world of art became a key site in the American struggle for
identity.
Not only does Griffin trace the interplay of issues of
nationalism, class, and gender in American culture, but he also
offers insightful readings of key paintings by Eakins and other
canonical artists. Further, Griffin shows that by 1900 the
nationalist project in art and criticism had helped open the way
for the formulation of American modernism.
Homer, Eakins, and Anshutz will be of importance to all those
interested in American culture as well as to specialists in art
history and art criticism.
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