Hype, Hope, and Decline.
Despite some notable achievements, the American arts of the 1990s seemed to be gripped by an end-of-the-century cynicism, with profit governing product. Giving people want th...
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The Culture of Success.
Much of American art in the 1980s was shaped by and responded to the consumerism and feel-good conservatism of the Reagan era. In a decade preoccupied with success and image, ...
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Revolution.
Compared with other upheavals of the 1960s, artistic activity seems almost tame. During the 1960s Americans were confronted with a broad range of pressing social issues, and creative arti...
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Shaken.
The United States entered the 1940s a shaken nation. The Depression years had been difficult nationwide. Poverty and unemployment had led to labor strife and the rise of socialist and communi...
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A Vital Decade.
Despite the Depression the 1930s were a rich and vibrant decade for the arts. They were certainly a golden age for American letters, as writers produced works that have since been ack...
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Post-War.
After World War I America replaced Britain and France as the strongest cultural force in the world. The shift resulted not only from America's financial power but from Europe's war casualti...
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Metaphor for Possibility.
Many Americans turned their calendars to 1 January 1900 with confidence in the future and pride in the past. The last years of the 1890s had been stable and productive, at l...
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America 1990-1999: Arts