The Symbolist Impulse in American Art across Media circa 1900

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dc.contributor.advisorAter, Renéeen_US
dc.contributor.authorEron, Abby Rebeccaen_US
dc.contributor.departmentArt History and Archaeologyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2020-07-09T05:33:03Z
dc.date.available2020-07-09T05:33:03Z
dc.date.issued2020en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation analyzes the Symbolist movement in American art in the years around 1900. Symbolism was an antinaturalistic tendency that prioritized imagination and the intangible psychological realm. A reaction against Realism (and Impressionism, considered Realism’s logical extension), Symbolist art appears otherworldly, fantastic, and obscure. Works gravitate towards shared themes—the femme fatale and femme fragile, dreams, the duality of life and death, anguish, and mystical visions. Symbolism was not an organized movement in the sense of artists’ membership in a particular association but rather a trend in literary, artistic, and intellectual circles. While Symbolism has generally been considered from a European perspective, this dissertation describes a vital Symbolist impulse in American art through an evaluation of works by four artists: Gertrude Käsebier (1852–1934), Alice Pike Barney (1857–1931), Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), and George Grey Barnard (1863–1938). Each specialized in a different medium: photography, pastel, painting, and sculpture, respectively. This dissertation attends to surface and technique, and it argues that the animating tension of Symbolism lies in the relationship between the material and the immaterial. Alongside imagery and historical context, the dynamism of materiality and immateriality points to the evanescent yet undeniable presence of Symbolism in the United States. Though Käsebier, Barney, Tanner, and Barnard worked independently of each other, grouping them allows for a comparative analysis across media and enables contextualization beyond solo biographical accounts.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/ouyx-9mkw
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/26147
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledArt historyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledAmericanen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledMediaen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSymbolismen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSymbolisten_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledUnited Statesen_US
dc.titleThe Symbolist Impulse in American Art across Media circa 1900en_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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