The Persistence of Memory: The Consecration of Artists in the US Field of Modern Art Público
Braden, Laura E. A. (2011)
Abstract
This dissertation examines how individual attributes, e.g.,
gender and nationality, and
field level factors, e.g., extent and type of museum exhibition,
affect the chances and
extent of an artist's recognition within the art historical canon.
Over the course of the
20th century, I track the population of 308 artists that exhibited
at the 1913 Armory
Show-the watershed visual art exhibition credited for introducing
US audiences to
modern art-through exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, the
first US museum
dedicated to modernist aesthetics, and college-level, survey art
history textbook editions.
After establishing the historical context of the modern art
movement in the United States
at the beginning of that century, my first chapter examines the
early factors that shaped
retrospective consecration in textbooks published during the last
20 years (1989-2009).
The results of this chapter indicate the role of early MoMA
exhibition decisions in
highlighting artists through small group and solo shows and as a
gatekeeper, preferring
male and European Armory artists. Given the importance of early
organizational choices,
my second chapter examines the establishment of the modern art
field within the US
during the first half of the 20th century by examining the
interaction between academia
and MoMA. I follow the changing canonical choices of texts, through
eight early
editions (1926-1970), and MoMA, through approximately 1,000
exhibitions (1929-1968).
Results for this chapter show that MoMA served as an early leader
in modern art's canon
creation, with textbooks following the Museum's artist selections.
As the field
professionalized, however, MoMA and texts' choices coalesced,
largely excluding both
female and non-European artists. Focusing on MoMA exhibition
choices, my third
chapter explores how the Museum connected Armory artists to each
other through in-
common exhibition. Results reveal that MoMA worked not simply to
highlight
individual artists but also created meaningful network connections
between Armory
artists. Thus, those artists who were repeatedly connected to a
large network of peer
Armory artists through MoMA exhibition receive increased coverage
within
contemporary text editions (1970-2009). Overall, this research
specifies the importance
of field level factors and individual attributes in the historical
creation of the cultural
canon.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
References for Introduction 9
CHAPTER ONE From the Armory to Academia: Careers and Reputations of
Early Modern Artists in the United States 16
1. Introduction 16
2. Consecration and legitimation 17
3. Modern art in the US: The 1913 Armory Show 20
4. Artist attributes 24
4.1. Early European success 24
4.2. Nationality 26
4.3. Gender 27
4.4. Posthumous exhibition 28
5. Legitimating organization: Museum of Modern Art 29
6. Data 32
6.1. Dependent variables 32
6.2. Independent variables 34
7. Results 36
7.1. Descriptive statistics 37
7.2. Regression models 39
7.3. The MoMA effect 41
8. Discussion 43
Appendix 1-A.
Additional notes on data sources. 47
Appendix 1-B.
Armory artists omitted from art history textbooks of the early 21st
century. 49
Appendix 1-C.
The impact of artist attributes and a legitimating
organization
upon the number of textbook pages devoted to each Armory artists
49
Appendix 1-D.
The impact of artist attributes and a legitimating
organization
upon the number of textbook pages devoted to each Armory artists
52
References for Chapter One 53
CHAPTER TWO Building a Canon: The Early Years of the US Field
of Modern Art 59
1. Introduction 59
2. Conceptualizing the emergent field of modern art:
DiMaggio's foundational work 60
3. Engaging the emergent field of modern art in the US:
building on the foundation 63
3.1. The rise of a legitimating ideology: art history in the US
64
3.2. The dynamics of field construction 67
3.3. Canon formation and artists 69
4. Documenting the emergent field of modern art in the US:
canonical choices 72
4.1. The choices of MoMA and survey textbooks 72
4.2. Canonical choices and the attributes of artists 75
5. Data 79
5.1 Dependent variables 79
5.2. Independent variables 81
6. Results 81
6.1. Textbook and MoMA choices regarding Armory artists 81
6.2. Descriptive statistics 83
6.3. Canonical choices by Gardner's Art through the Ages 84
6.4. Canonical choices by the Museum of Modern Art 89
6.5. Canonical choices by Janson's History of Art 94
7. Conclusions and discussion 95
References for Chapter Two 107
CHAPTER THREE Stabilizing the Canon: The Later Years of the
US Field of Modern Art 118
1. Introduction 118
2. The importance of artistic networks 119
3. The impact of artistic networks 125
3.1. Artists of the 1913 Armory Show 125
3.2. Network structure and consecration 127
4. Data 133
4.2. Dependent variables 134
4.3. Independent variables 136
5. Results
5.1. Exhibition and network patterns 138
5.2. Descriptive results 144
5.3. Regression analysis 145
6. Discussion and conclusion 152
References for Chapter Three 160
CONCLUSION 168
References for Conclusion 179
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1-A.
The 58 Armory Show artists featured in at least one of the three
textbooks. 183
Table 1-B.
The top artists with the highest number of pages in each of the
three textbooks. 184
Table 1-C. Descriptive statistics. 185
Table 1-D.
The top five artists with the highest number of artworks displayed
at the Armory Show. 186
Table 1-E.
The Armory Show artists with solo and group MoMA exhibition,
1929-1967. 187
Table 1-F.
Logistic regression analyses (odds ratios) for the effects of
artist attributes and
MoMA exhibition on the likelihood of inclusion in three art history
textbooks. 188
Table 1-G.
Logistic regression analyses (odds ratios) for the effects of
artist attributes
on the likelihood of exhibiting at MoMA, 1929-1967. 189
Table 1-H.
OLS regression analyses for the effects of artists attributes and a
legitimating organization on the aggregate number of pages
dedicated to an Armory artist within all three art history
textbooks. 190
Table 1-I.
The 250 Armory Show artists omitted from textbooks. 191
Table 1-J.
Logistic regression analyses (odds ratios) for the effects of
artist attributes and a legitimating organization on the likelihood
of recognition within the three individual art history textbooks.
201
Table 1-K.
OLS regression analyses for the effects of artist attributes and
legitimating organization on the number of pages dedicated to an
Armory artist within the three individual art history textbooks.
202
Table 2-A.
Summary of independent variables. 203
Table 2-B.
All 89 Armory Show artists featured in the five editions of
Gardner's text, 1929-1970. 204
Table 2-C.
All 35 Armory Show artists featured in the three editions of
Janson's text, 1959-1969. 207
Table 2-D.
All 127 Armory Show artists featured in the approximately 40 years
of MoMA exhibition, 1929-1968. 209
Table 2-E.
Descriptive statistics. 214
Table 2-F.
Correlation matrix. 215
Table 2-G.
OLS regression analyses for the effects of artist attributes and
type of MoMA exhibition on the number of pages dedicated to Armory
Show artist within the five editions of Gardner's Art through the
Ages, 1926-1970 216
Table 2-H.
OLS regression analyses for the effects of artist attributes and
textbook edition on the number of exhibitions representing an
Armory Show artists in the Museum of Modern Art from 1929 to 1968
217
Table 2-I.
OLS regression analyses for the effects of artist attributes and
type of MoMA exhibition on the number of pages dedicated to Armory
Show artist within the three editions of Janson's History of Art,
1959-1969 218
Table 3-A.
Leading Armory artists in terms of MoMA exhibitions and
connections, 1929-1968. 219
Table 3-B.
Top nine artists with highest number of MoMA exhibitions and
highest percentage of repeat ties, from 1929-1968. 220
Table 3-C.
Top Armory artists in terms of exhibition network and nationality,
1929 to 1968. 221
Table 3-D.
Top Armory artists in terms of MoMA exhibition with female Armory
artists and Armory artists with prior solo exhibitions at MoMA,
1929-1968. 222
Table 3-E.
Descriptive statistics for network variables of Armory artists
exhibiting together at MoMA, 1929-1968 (996 exhibitions). 223
Table 3-F.
Correlation matrix. 224
Table 3-G.
Ordinary least squares regression analysis of MoMA exhibition, 1929
through 1968, network variables on art history textbook coverage of
the 1913 Armory Show artists. 225
About this Dissertation
School | |
---|---|
Department | |
Degree | |
Submission | |
Language |
|
Research Field | |
Palabra Clave | |
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor | |
Committee Members |
Primary PDF
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|---|---|---|
The Persistence of Memory: The Consecration of Artists in the US Field of Modern Art () | 2018-08-28 10:39:24 -0400 |
|
Supplemental Files
Thumbnail | Title | Date Uploaded | Actions |
---|