Verified Document

Civil Rights And Art Essay

¶ … Role of Art in America Since the Gilded Age Beginning with the Gilded Age, how has Art been a Reflection of Society?

The Gilded Age was an epoch of immense societal change and economic growth in the United States. In particular, this was a period of quick industrialization, where the nation transformed from one that was founded on agriculture to one that became urbanized and industrialized. This encompassed the formation of roads, railways, advancements in science and technology, and also the development of major businesses. All these transformations can be tied to the aspect of evolving and also the influence of increasing wealth. And with all these changes in the society, so was art influenced in the process. In particular, art became somewhat of a reflection of the society. This change within the society also had an influence on art, which changed in a radical pace (Arnesen et al., 2006). Subsequent to the Gilded Age, the civil rights era and the present day, art has been strongly used to portray and mirror the society. For instance, up until today, representations of art such as graffiti are used across the globe to express societal feelings and perspectives. In addition, paintings and cartoons have been used widely in magazines and newspapers to express the prevailing economic and political state of the society, outlining what ought to change for the better.

According to Marley et al. (2016), in the realm of art, the introduction of French Impressionism to art in America completely altered the manner in which artists captured the world around them on paintings. Instead of focusing or laying emphasis on the recreation of illusionistic spaces in the studio similar to artists in the preceding era, the American artists in the Gilded Age sought to create impressions of life, painting with colors that were not modulated and also utilizing sketchy brush strokes. In turn, the artists reacted to the change period by coming up with works that mirrored reality in the urban areas, capturing overcrowded cities, fast industrialization and rapidly increasing immigrant cultures. In addition, art has been a reflection of the society in terms...

When the society has calls for change or experiences change, more often than not, art has largely complied with it. A good example is the painting of urban regions and the aspects of industrialization. Another example is the paintings and graffiti in period of civil rights with the main endeavor of expressing social emotions with the endeavor of upheaval (Labedzki, 2009).
How art, in the context of the social justice movements of the 20th century, challenged and shaped American society.

The 20th Century period saw numerous amounts of social justice movements seeking impartiality within the society. In this epoch, art played a significant role in not only challenging but also shaping the American society. These social movements purposed to have better alignment of the political and social order in America with the morals of freedom, impartiality, and opportunity for all. Art was employed to embolden social change, enable and entrench commitment, convey to the community as a whole regarding social issues and generate harmony for social activists within the social justice movements. More so, art played a vital role in enlightening internally in the expression as well as reinforcement of values and ideologies and also externally as a more efficacious approach of communicating movement principles to individuals outside the movement (Milbrandt, 2010).

According to Frank (2014), in the 1960s and 1970s, the American nation was changed permanently as the petition for civil rights stimulated unity, protests along with radical movement. Similar to preceding eras of social and political cataclysm, artists had been at the front position involving this revolution, adding pulsating imagery to show and motivate the nation on the whole. Art was key in ratifying the goals of the social movement directly to invent, express and reiterate the history of the movement. These pieces of art conveyed an emotional response and challenged for change in the society. Through the use of drawings, paintings and even graffiti, art was able to mirror the American society to generate awareness, nurture imagination and inspire individuals to promote social change. In addition, through music, people could communicate their feelings, particularly their pain and desire for change. This helped in growing a movement that could no longer be ignored and thereby instigated change (Jasper, 2008).

In overall, art played a vital role in social justice movements and changed America to what it is today.…

Sources used in this document:
References

Arnesen, E., Barrows, R. G., Les Benedict, M., Campbell, B. C., Carlson, W. B., Cordery, S. A.,. .. & Fry, J. A. (2006). The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Frank, P. (2014). 11 African-American Artists Who Helped Shape The Civil Rights Movement. The Huffington Post.

Garfias, R. (1991). Cultural diversity and the arts in America. Public money and the muse, ed. Stephen Benedict. New York: Norton.

Jasper, J. M. (2008). The art of moral protest: Culture, biography, and creativity in social movements. University of Chicago Press.
Labedzki, A. (2009). Art is a Reflection on Society -- A perspective. Retrieved from: http://ezinearticles.com/?Art-is-a-Reflection-on-Society- -- A-Perspective&id=2283547
Marley, A. O., Cozzolino, R., Kaplan, E., Kaplan, E. (2016). American Art at the Turn of the 20th Century: Impressionism, Ashcan and The Gilded Age. PAFA. Retrieved from: https://www.pafa.org/impressionism
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Civil Rights Movement in America
Words: 2291 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

The milestone that the Civil Rights Movement made as concerns the property ownership is encapsulated in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which is also more commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68. This was as a follow-up or reaffirmation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discussed above. It is apparent that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 outlawed discrimination in property and housing there

Civil Rights Movement Was a
Words: 890 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

In 1934 he published his first collection of short stories, entitled, the Ways of White Folks, which provided a series of short insights into the humorous and tragic interactions between the two races. During this time Hughes also established several theater groups in such cities as Los Angeles and Chicago. In 1935 he also received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which he used to help begin to write scripts for movies

Civil Rights and Other Special Legislation Enacted During the Mid...
Words: 982 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Civil Rights The 1960s was a period that Americans remember as being a period bursting with activities and movements. There was a lot that these years brought out. Some of the things that the period is remembered for are the many movements, including the civil rights and hippies movements, evolution of art and music and a promotion of love and peace with activism against the war in Vietnam. There were

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Equal Opportunity
Words: 3067 Length: 10 Document Type: Essay

Civil Rights Act of 1964 enforced the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution by ensuring a legislative act that would prevent discrimination and extend equal protection under the law. The bill in its entirety protects all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, national background, and gender. It was and still is considered to be a landmark bill, in spite of the fact that the Fourteenth Amendment already technically guarantees equal protection

60's Civil Rights Movement
Words: 2928 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's is a prime example of a movement containing both utopian and practical elements. To the outside observer, the passive resistance of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s rousing "I Have a Dream Speech," seems hopeful and utopian. In contrast, the gritty determination of Malcolm X and the Black Muslims, who sought equal rights, but not integration, seems the more practical

Factors of the Civil Rights Movement
Words: 1502 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Turner's Sitting In and Nikki Giovanni's The Collected Poems, as well as the movie, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, demonstrate the way the black civil rights movement changed during the 1960s? What significant changes do they show? What was causing those changes? Turner's remarkable book, Sitting In, demonstrates that range of ways in which the black civil rights movement experienced and manifested change during the 1960s. One of the tremendous

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now