Significant Findings

Object- and Archives-Based Reassessments of US Art (colonial–1945)

College Art Association Conference

Friday, February 17, 2023

2:30-4:00pm (EST)

Live In-Person Session

Lisa N. Peters (John Henry Twachtman Catalogue Raisonné) and Betty Krulik (Willard Leroy Metcalf Catalogue Raisonné Project), Chairs

Today scholars on art created in the US from the colonial era through 1945, grapple with new theoretical and ontological inquiries—especially as we reckon anew with the nation’s history of imperialism, racism, colonization, and societal and gender inequities. However, the field continues to benefit from an object-centric and evidence-based art history. These papers address the significance of object-based study and art documentation as a means of thinking critically about US art from this time period. In what ways can studies of object materiality and archival resources contribute to perspectives on US art and the US identity, encompassing issues such as social justice, ecocritical awareness, transparency, and cultural humility? How do concerns contended with by Americanists through World War II differ from those addressed by postwar historians?

Papers

"From Archives to Interpretation and Back Again: The Case of Eastman Johnson," Patricia Hills, (Author, Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné) and Abigael MacGibeny (Project Manager, Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné and Independent Art Historian)

"The Artist as Archivist: The Smith Family Papers and the Promise of Archival Art History," Eva McGraw (Independent Scholar)

"The Spectrum of Moonlight: Ralph Albert Blakelock and Some New Tools of Art History," Mark Mitchell (Yale University Art Gallery)

"Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller and the International Origins of the Harlem Renaissance," Erika Schneider (Framingham State University)