A Companion to American Art [Hardcover]

A Companion to American Art presents 35 newly-commissioned essays by leading?scholars that explore the methodology, historiography, and current state of the field of American art history.

• Features contributions from a balance of established and emerging scholars, art and architectural historians, and other specialists
• Includes several paired essays to emphasize dialogue and debate between scholars on important contemporary issues in American art history
• Examines topics such as the methodological stakes in the writing of American art history, changing ideas about what constitutes Americanness, and the relationship of art to public culture
• Offers a fascinating portrait of the evolution and current state of the field of American art history and suggests future directions of scholarship

List of Figures xi

Notes on Contributors xvii

Acknowledgments xxiii

Introduction: American Art History Now: A Snapshot 1
John Davis, Jennifer A. Greenhill, and Jason D. LaFountain

Part I Writing American Art History 13

Dialogue 15

1 A Conversation Missed: Toward a Historical Understanding of the Americanist/Modernist Divide 17
Joshua Shannon and Jason Weems

2 Response: Setting the Roundtable, or, Prospects for Dialogue between Americanists and Modernists 34
Jennifer L. Roberts

3 A Time and a Place: Rethinking Race in American Art History 49
Tanya Sheehan

Dialogue 69

4 On the Social History of American Art 71
Alan Wallach

5 Response: Our Cause Is What? 85