Identity in Doubt: American Art Theory in the Formative Years

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Harald Klinke
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2008 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 82736965

Following Benjamin West, two generations of American artists came to London in order to study the high style of art and bring it back to America, with the intent to establish a school of American art. However, after gaining national independence, the European academic system of thinking about art seemed no longer appropriate for the American society. The aesthetic consensus still shared in London broke up in a controversy about the role of art in a free society. The search for a dialectical solution between adoption and rejection of the European cultural heritage was of crucial relevance for the creation of a national identity in the arts. The analysis of the development of fundamental ideas about art in the decades after Independence will help to understand the development of the history of American art up to Modernism and will provide a conceptual framework for the study of the visual arts throughout the 19th century.The research project will analyze the conditions of the gradual advancements in the development of American art theory by tracking the change of opinion through the study of individual protagonists and comparing written documents, such as lectures, publications and letters in order to reveal personal reasons for deviations from initial convictions. It will open a field for future research utilizable for both the History of Art and the American Studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Robert E. Harrist