Letter Writing

You have read the remarks the President made at the Annual Convention of National Religious Broadcasters. Now write a letter to an American penfriend expressing your amazement about a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary prayer in public schools and ask your friend about his/her opinion. You want to include the following ideas:

• amazement at the President's support of
school prayer

• the President's attempt to override the First
Amendment prohibition against government
advancement of religion.

• fear that even voluntary school prayer would
foster certain—but not all—religious practices

. and beliefs

• suspicion that the argument of traditional
values is only used to hide the true motives,
for example, the attempt to secure the support
of the right-wing evangelical movement.

13 The Arts

PART A Background Information

COMMITMENT TO THE ARTS

INCREASING ATTENDANCE AT CULTURAL EVENTS

MORE

PARTICIPANTS IN THE ARTS

MORE FACILITIES

MASS APPEAL

One stereotype of the United States is that of a culture where television, sports and other forms of popular entertainment overshadow the arts. In fact, Americans are deeply committed to the arts. Not only do more people today attend arts events than sports events, but almost as many people go to art museums as to pop concerts.

Louis Harris's Americans and the Arts poll reveals a surge of artistic activity in America from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. During this period, atten­dance at arts events increased:

• the number of people who attended movies rose from 70 percent to 78
percent

• attendance at theatrical performances rose from 53 percent to 67 percent

• the number of people attending dance performances rose from 23 percent to
34 percent

• attendance at live performances of classical or symphonic music went up
from 25 percent to 34 percent

• between 1980 and 1984, attendance at live performances of operas or musicals
rose from 25 percent to 30 percent.

The same poll also reveals that more people are participating as amateurs or professionals in the arts:

• from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, the number of people involved in
painting, drawing, or the graphic arts rose from 22 percent to 29 percent;

• the number of adults who play musical instruments went up from 18
percent to 31 percent;

• participation in local theater groups increased from 3 percent to 7 percent;

• the number of people who write stories and poems almost doubled, going
from 13 percent to 25 percent;

• participation in ballet and modern dance increased significantly from 9
percent to 21 percent.

To accommodate the public's increasing demand for the arts, many new cultural facilities are being built; the architectural trend towards expansive, imposing new designs for museums and theaters suggests the elevated status of the arts in America today.

The media, particularly television, have generated a broad base of interest and enthusiasm for the arts through regular promotion and coverage of cultural events. The reach of the arts extends in sizable numbers to people of all ages, almost all economic groups, and all regions of the country.

226 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

MINIMAL

GOVERNMENT

SUPPORT

MIXTURE OF STYLES

The Guggenheim Museum, New York

The cultural explosion is all the more remarkable when one considers the relative lack of government support of the arts. Promotion of the arts through private and commerical funding rather than government funding is a firmly established tradition in the United States. Recently, however, the government's role in supporting the arts has increased. The National Endowment for the Arts, a government agency created in 1965, has been contributing to the advancement of the arts. B} 1985, the federal government was spending $163 million a year on this endowment; the annual spending of state governments reached $160 million. Still, all government arts spending remains small com­pared with private arts contributions, which exceeded $4 thousand million in 1985. Moreover, the arts still receive proportionately less government funding in the United States than in any other major Western nation. Even without the security of government subsidies that the arts in other countries traditionally enjoy, the arts in America have flourished.

As American culture evolved, American artists began to create their own art forms. The styles of American art are as diverse as the people. Just as there is no single ethnic group, there is also no single American style. American artists have been inspired by a variety of influences, including folk primitivism and European sophistication. Painters, sculptors, musicians, and innovators in other fields have won fame both at home and abroad.

THE ARTS 227

THE VISUAL ARTS

Until the 1940s, America's visual arts—painting and sculpture—were pri­marily influenced by European trends. American art developed mainly through subject matter and skills, as artists imitated the established styles of the European masters. The most significant developments in American art emerged in the years following the Second World War.

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Flowers, Mary's Table (1971) Willem de Kooning

Mobiles by Alexander Calder

228 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

SCULPTURE

MIXED MEDIA

POP ART

OPART RECENT TRENDS

AMERICAN MUSIC

RAGTIME

BLUES

JAZZ

Abstract expressionism, which was begun by a group of New York artists in the 1940s, became the first American art movement to command the attention of artists abroad. Revolting against traditional graphic styles, the artists of this movement sought to remake the goals and methods of art. Abstract expres­sionists rejected traditional subject matter, such as the human body, still life, or rural scenes. Instead, they focused on such things as the utilization of space, dimension, and surface texture, and the interrelationship of colors. The international influence of America's abstract expressionists was so great that the painting center of the world shifted from Paris to New York.

Among the movement's leaders were Jackson Pollack (1912-54), who is famous for his turbulent paint-splattered canvases; Willem de Kooning, who used savage brush strokes and intense colors; and Mark Rothko, who is known for the bold blocks of color that dominate his huge canvases.

During this period, American sculptors developed new styles of their own. Alexander Calder (1898-1976) designed the mobile. David Smith (1906-65) was the first sculptor to work with welded metals.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, young artists reacted to abstract expres­sionism to produce works of "mixed" media. Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns integrated everyday objects such as photographs and newspaper clippings into their paintings.

The reaction to abstract expressionism continued with a movement called "pop art" ("pop" is short for "popular"). The members of this movement attempted to produce works of art that would reflect the pervasive influence of mass marketing, mass media, and other trends in American popular culture. Important in the pop-art movement were Andy Warhol (1930—87), famous for his multiple rows of soup cans and multiple portraits of Marilyn Monroe; and Roy Lichtenstein, recognized for his mimicry of well-known comic strips.

"Pop" was followed by "Op" art, based on the principle of optical illusion.

Recent trends in art emphasize variety and innovation. Movements of the 1970s and 80s include performance art, earth art, conceptual art, graffiti art, neo- and figural-expressionism, and neo-geo art.

Unique forms and styles of music have developed in America. Ragtime, blues, jazz, country-western, rock 'n' roll, and the musical are all American-born.

The black American music tradition has produced and influenced a variety of genres. Ragtime was the first black American music to gain wide popularity. Composer Scott Joplin (1868—1917) helped develop ragtime from simple parlor piano music into a serious genre. Ragtime is most important for its association with the blues, which then inspired jazz, America's most original music form.

The blues evolved from African folk songs and church music. Sung by soloists or featuring solo instruments, blues music often expresses disappoint­ment or regret.

Jazz, now recognized as a world-wide art form, originated around the turn of the century among black musicians in the American South. The music was inspired by African culture but evolved directly from spirituals, ragtime, and blues. Jazz is characterized by improvisation and a lively attention to rhythm,

de Kooning, Willem: born 1904, Dutch-American painter. Rothko, Mark (1903—70): Russian-born American painter.

THE ARTS 229

COUNTRY-WESTERN MUSIC

THE MUSICAL

ROCK MUSIC

something famous jazz musician Duke Ellington (1899—1974) called "swing."

By 1920, jazz had spread from the South, and in the 1930s, it reached its heyday of mass popularity as big band music. Louis Armstrong, (1900-71) a trumpeter and soloist, was one of the first well-known jazz singers. Other early jazz leaders were Duke Ellington, "Dizzy" Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

Although the improvisational style of early jazz still survives today, jazz has moved on to new frontiers. In the 1960s and 70s, jazz musicians began com­bining the rhythms of rock 'n' roll and electronic instruments with traditional elements of jazz to form a blend of music called "fusion." Today, jazz is extremely popular in America and abroad. Jazz concerts draw thousands of listeners every year.

The influence of jazz is found in many types of American music. The music of George Gershwin (1898-37), one of America's most popular song writers and composers, was strongly influenced by jazz. The concerto "Rhapsody in Blue" and the opera "Porgy and Bess" were two of his works which incor­porated jazz.

Another popular type of music which came out of the American South is country-western. However, its cultural origin and musical sounds are totally different from jazz. The style of country western music has its roots in the folk songs and ballads of the early Scottish and English settlers in the southern colonies. The music developed over a long period with melodies and lyrics reflecting rural life in the Southeast and Southwest. The distinctive sound of country music depends on the guitar, banjo and fiddle. Lyrics generally focus on the sorrows of love or the economic hardships of poor whites.

In the 1940s, the appeal of country music extended beyond the rural South, and the music began to attract nationwide attention. Weekly music ratings indicate the continuing popularity of this type of music.

In the 1930s another native American-born art form emerged. The musical was a new form of entertainment which combined acting, music, and ballet. The musical was inspired by the Anglo-Irish musical theater, the central European operetta, and the American vaudeville minstrel show. Basically en­tertaining in character, most early screen musicals were lavish and glamorous escapist fantasies. Dreams of success came true for characters who overcame hardships by faith and hard work, with some spectacular singing and dancing along the way.

Later musicals, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma" and Sond-heim and Bernstein's "West Side Story," included serious themes and social criticism. "A Chorus Line," first performed in 1975, is still one of the most popular musicals today.

Rock music has dominated the popular music scene ever since America was inundated with the new sound in the 1950s. Rock 'n' roll developed as a

Ellington, Edward Kennedy ("Duke") 1899-1974: American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader.

Rodgers, Richard (1902-79): American composer.

Hammerstein, Oscar, II (1895-1960): American librettist and songwriter.

Sondheim, Stephen: born 1930 American composer and lyricist.

Bernstein, Eeonard: born 1918, American conductor, pianist and composer.

230 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP

One of Andy Warhol's pictures of a Campbell's soup can

THE HILARIOUS LOW-DOWN ON HIGH LIFE!

Poster for the movie version of High Society

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