Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
Art History
Advisor
Gail Levin
Committee Members
Joshua Cohen
Philip Eliasoph
Thomas Kessner
Subject Categories
American Art and Architecture | Painting
Keywords
Realism, Magic Realism, The Museum of Modern Art, "Americans" series, World War II
Abstract
The show Americans 1943: American Realists and Magic Realists marked a decisive moment in the history of American art. It opened at MoMA at a crucial time in history, in the midst of World War II. Even as Europe was being devastated by the fury of the Nazi occupation, New York was still thriving and producing amazing culture. Moreover, it represented a crucial moment in the history of the definition of the American artistic identity. This dissertation focuses on a major question, “How did MoMA present the artistic identity of “the arsenal of democracy” (to quote President Roosevelt’s famous definition of the country) at this time?”
Woefully understudied, the show and the series were previously analyzed in two important articles by Lynn Zelevansky and Angela Miller, but they have never before been studied in depth. It was organized by three of the most influential personalities of the art establishment of the time: Dorothy Miller, Director of the show and of the Americans series of which the show was a part; Lincoln Kirstein, a modern version of a Renaissance man; and Alfred Barr, MoMA’s Director. Miller had focused on the importance of American art since her years at the Newark Museum of Art. She considered realism – which, she writes in the exhibition catalogue “has always been strongly ingrained in the American tradition” – to be the quintessentially American style. For Kirstein, the style represented by the works featured in the show, characterized by “sharp focus and precise representation,” was typically American because it was Protestant and Puritan and of northern European origins. “There is something peculiarly northern or at least protestant about this attitude,” he wrote in the catalogue. Barr, however, was strongly in favor of the European avant-gardes. In 1940 he referred to American painting and sculpture as “two fields in which America is not yet, I am afraid, quite the equal of France.” He did suggest some artists for the show but gave over the direction of the entire series to Miller.
The inclusion of Magic realism in the show was key at that crucial moment of the definition of the American artistic identity. It had the fundamental function of drawing a distinction between American realism and the realism of Germany. Originating in Europe in the 1920s, it was complex, ambiguous and fascinating: A clear expression of an open, free-thinking democratic nation, opposed to a totalitarian regime. Moreover, the show was presented as a series of minisolo shows which aimed at emphasizing the style and the individuality of the artists. It was the perfect expression of democratic intellectual society which values the individual in opposition to a totalitarian regime in which the system crushes the individual. But the show sparked very harsh criticism. In Art News, Doris Brian wrote in regard to Paul Cadmus that his realism, “given the proper ‘angle,’ [was] the sort of painting which would warm the heart of a totalitarian minister of propaganda.”
Moreover, the show presented the artistic production of a country with such a rich and complex history of immigration as an ensemble of works by mostly white, male artists of European origin; only two women were included. This dissertation wants to open the door to artists of color, additional women and other minorities who could have been included in the show, so as to expand the potential choices of the Museum and to do justice to what was in fact the real artistic profile of the “arsenal of democracy” of the time.
Recommended Citation
Bucarelli, Viviana, "American Realists and Magic Realists: MoMA’s 1943 Wartime Show" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6122
