Norman Rockwell was the quintessential painter of American life. His images reflect the history of America as told through the eyes of this idealistic and patriotic artist who sought to show America at its best, and to present the lives, hopes and dreams of the average American in the middle-20th century. Few artists have produced so many images…

Many people have seen "The Kiss" (1907-08), an iconic artwork by Austrian Symbolist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), but know little about its background. Since its creation, the sensual subject matter and lush golden patterns have been this culture's example of romantic love. The painting exemplifies Klimt's brand of Art Nouveau. Acceptance often eluded…

The "all-over" abstract canvases that Jackson Pollock produced between 1943 and 1951 present a pedagogical challenge in how to account for their apparently chaotic structure. One reason that they are difficult to teach about is that they have proved notoriously difficult for art historians to come to terms with. This is undoubtedly a consequence…

Although there is a surplus of literature dealing with U.S.-Mexico border identities and cultures, this article begins to problematize and reposition Chicana/o art historical discourse by engaging with the U.S.-Canada border. By investigating the relationship between working-class histories and Chicana/o visual culture in Michigan, the article…

In his book "A Whole New Mind," Daniel Pink describes the aptitude of Symphony as the ability to synthesize, or to put pieces together. Symphony is the capacity to see relationships, detect broad patterns, and to create by combining diverse elements together. The artist Wassily Kandinsky exemplifies Symphonic thinking. A pioneer in nonobjective…

In this article, the author analyzes Arthur Efland's "Art and Cognition," which advocates study of the visual arts for its cognitive benefits. The author argues that Efland's cognitive premises are largely sound but that his specific recommendations often belie the general principles he espouses. Efland focuses on the interpretation of baffling…

In this article, the author describes how her intermediate art class used silhouettes expressively and interpreted ancient and contemporary silhouettes in a personal way. The students analyze relationships of works of art to one another in terms of history, aesthetics, and culture, justifying conclusions made in the analysis, and using such…

The artist and scientist have been depicted as polar opposites since Michelangelo claimed that Leonardo da Vinci was wasting time with foolish inventions while his art suffered. However, the artist taking on the role of the researcher has precedent. In the 1960s, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), led by Bell Labs' engineer Billy Kluver,…

The National Endowment for the Humanities funded the Rembrandt Project for the purpose of developing an online teaching resource that can provide a means for accessing Rembrandt's art and his world. The Web site for the project includes numerous links that direct teachers to American museums that hold paintings, etchings, or drawings by Rembrandt…

Addresses various phenomena that abetted the "fluxizing" of American art. Noted that the New York-based Fluxus movement began an extended period of dissemination and, in some sense dissolution, around 1967. (RS)

In the spring of 1919, Andrp Breton and Phillipe Soupault conducted various experiments in automatic writing. They converted themselves into machines to record the whispers of the unconscious, inspired by Rimbaudes urge for adventure in quest of cosmic knowledge and Lautreamontes conviction of art as a communal enterprise. To destroy bourgeois…

Presents a photographic essay that features photo documentation by Peter Moore of three Wolf Vostell projects produced in New York during the period 1963-64. Notes that Vostell used de-collage techniques as a means to critique broadcast television. (RS)

Discusses George Maciunas' pivotal contributions to the renaissance of SoHo, the New York City community south of Houston Street. Recounts the establishment of Fluxus cooperatives, the history of the FilmMakers' Cinematheque, Maciunas' long struggle with the Attorney General's office, and closes with a description of the February 1978 erotic Flux…

Outlines coincidences between the birth of Dada and the birth of Fluxus. Charts the adoption of similar ahistorical strategies by members of both movements as they attempted to position themselves historically. Questions the assumption that democratization of the arts is the natural result of artistic actions that attempt to break down the line…

Explores why Fluxus' ambiguous affirmations and denials of modernism are not contradictory but part of a self-conscious strategy designed to manipulate the operational apparatus of modernism. Suggests that, in its separation of means and ends, Fluxus lost the authority to author itself, became the subject of a traditional modernist debate and the…