American Encounters

by Angela L. Miller, Janet C. Berlo, Bryan Wolf

American Encounters is a long-awaited dynamic new narrative of the history of American art that focuses on historical encounters among diverse cultures, upon broad structural transformations such as the rise of the middle classes and the emergence of consumer and mass culture, and on the fluid exchanges between “high” art and vernacular expression. The text emphasizes the intersections among cultures and populations, as well as the influences, borrowings, and appropriations that have enriched and vitalized our collective cultural heritage. There was a readily perceived need for an up-to-date survey of American art that addressed the thematic, cultural, and historical concerns of the field in the 21 st century. American Encounters offers a new narrative of American art organized around the theme of cross-cultural exchanges. It locates America at the cross-roads of cultural encounters between Asia, Africa, Europe, and the New World, for over five centuries. The authors do not treat traditions separately, rather they explore how peoples and cultures encounter and influence each other and then evolve based on an exchange of ideas, materials etc.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

704 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2007

Reviews

[Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for Modernism and Early 20th Century American Art

A much more traditional American Art History textbook than Wanda Corn's. Also, seemed pretty racist to me at times. At least it mentioned the Harlem Renaissance (for 2 pages) (the reason the Harlem Renaissance is on my mind is I wrote on it for my anthro class and had a heck of a time finding info on the art from it)

Blah, as is usual for traditional American art history texts, though this one did bring in some interesting media like costume, that you don't always see.

[Dfunky1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a serviceable history of American art that takes into account recent trends in the field.