Architecture
Colonial architecture
When the
Europeans settled in North America, they brought their architectural
traditions and construction techniques for building. Construction was dependent
upon the available resources: wood
and brick are the common elements of
English buildings in New England. Excavations at the first permanent
English speaking settlement Jamestown in Virginia have unearthed part
of the James
Fort. These settlers often came to the New World for economic
purposes, therefore revealing why most early homes reflect the influences of
modest village homes and small farms. The appearance of structures was very
plain and made with little imported material. Windows, for example, were
extremely small. The glass that was used was imported from England and
was incredibly expensive.
Naturally
many houses were made of wood. As
for decorative elements, there were very few notable efforts made to show
creativity with the early colonial homes. The prize architectural aspect of the
house was the chimney. Large and
usually made of brick or stone, the chimney was very fashionable. The oldest
remaining building of Plymouth in Massachusetts is the Harlow House built 1677 and now a museum. Typical
colonial architecture is House of the Seven Gables in Salem.
Georgian architecture
Georgian
style appeared during the 18th century took hold in the Colony
of Virginia. The Governor's Palace there, built in 1706,
respects the principle of symmetry and uses of red brick and white painted
wood. This style is used to build the houses for prosperous plantation
owners in the country and wealthy merchants in town. In religious architecture,
the common design features were brick,
stone-like stucco and a single tower that tops the entrance
like Saint Paul's
Church in New York build in 1761.
Neoclassical architecture or
Federal style
In the 1780s
after Revolutionary War, the Federal style
began to diverge bit by bit from the Georgian style and became a uniquely
American genre. Federal style was popular along the Atlantic coast from 1780 to 1830.
Characteristics of the federal style include neoclassical elements, bright
interiors with large windows and white walls and ceilings. Bostonian architect Charles Bulfinch
gave Massachusetts
State House original gilded dome.
United States Capitol in Washington
D.C. , meeting
place of Congress, is an example of ideal of the monumental city and
neoclassicism, designed by William Thornton. Statue of Freedom was placed
later on the dome. The White House, official residence and workplace
of President, was designed by an Irish-American architect James Hoban between 1792-1800
and Thomas Jefferson expanded two colonnades.
Thomas Jefferson was a scholar in many domains,
including architecture. Having journeyed several times in Europe, he hoped to
apply the rules of antiquity in public and private architecture, adapting Neoclassical architecture to American
democracy. He contributed to the plans for the University of Virginia, which
began construction in 1817. The university library is situated under
a rotunda covered by a dome inspired by the Pantheon of Rome.
The Washington
Monument is an Obelisk memorial erected in honour
of George Washington, the first American President. It was Robert Mills who
had designed it originally in 1838. There is a perceivable colour difference
towards the bottom of the monument, which is because its construction was put
on hiatus for lack of money and Civil War. 169 m
high, it was completed in 1884.
Greek revival
Greek revival
style attracted American architects working in the first half of the 19th century.
The young nation, free from Britannic protection, was persuaded to be the
new Athens, a predecessor for democracy. Capitol buildings that adopted
the Greek Revival style are Capitol in North Carolina, Capitol in
Indianapolis and Capitol in Columbus, Ohio, designed by Henry Walters and
completed in 1861.
The simple façade and the absence of a dome give clear impression of
greatness of the building.
Gothic revival
From the 1840s on,
the Gothic Revival style became popular in the United States, under the
influence of Andrew
Jackson Downing. His work is characterized by a return to Medieval
decor: chimneys, gables (štít), towers, gargoyles, stained glass and severely
sloped (svažující) roofs. New York City is home to James Renwick's Saint Patrick Cathedral,
inspired by Notre Dame in Paris. The Gothic Revival style was also used in the
construction of universities Yale and Harvard.
Late Victorian architecture
during the Gilded Age
Following
the American Civil War, a number of related styles, trends, and movements
emerged, are loosely and broadly categorized as "Victorian", due to
their correspondence with similar movements of the time in the British Empire
during the later reign of Queen Victoria.
After the
war, the uniquely-American Stick Style developed that uses wooden
rod to hold the construction, the origin of its name. The style was commonly
used in houses, hotels, railway depots, and other structures primarily of wood. The buildings are
topped by high roofs with slopes and rich decoration of the gables. Carson Mansion
by Samuel Newsom
was built by a group of 100 craftsmen in California.
First skyscrapers
The most
notable United States architectural innovation has been the skyscraper. Several
technical advances made this possible when in 1853 Elisha Otis invented the first safety elevator. Elevators
allowed buildings to rise above the four or five stories that people were
willing to climb by stairs for normal occupancy. Some of the most graceful
early towers were designed by Louis Sullivan, America's first great modern architect,
such as Auditorium
Building in Chicago in 1885
that adopted Italian design and for decades American skyscrapers blended
conservative decorative elements with technical innovation. His most talented
student was Frank Lloyd Wright, who spent much of his career designing
private residences.
Soon skyscrapers
encountered a new technological challenge. Load-bearing stone walls become
impractical as a structure gains height, reaching a technical limit at about 20
stories. Professional engineer William Jenney solved the problem with a
steel support frame in Chicago's 10-story Home Insurance Building in 1885.
This is the first true skyscraper.
Beaux-Arts and the American
Renaissance
Frederick Law Olmsted was a landscape architect who had
designed the layout of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., involved in City Beautiful
movement, which, as its name suggests, sought to aesthetically
transformed cities. As the century progressed, the Beaux-Arts influence would
become somewhat more restrained, returning
to its more Neoclassical roots.
Lincoln Memorial (1915–1922), made out of marble and
white limestone (vápenec), takes its form from Greek temples. Jefferson
memorial is also neoclassical, although its construction was
completed in 1943
by Russel Pope.
Inside is a bronze status of Jefferson, added 1947, surrounded by inscription
from the Declaration.
Art Deco
Art
Deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished
internationally into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas
of design, including architecture and interior design. Although many design
movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, art deco was purely decorative. Art deco
was popular during the later years of the movie palace era of large
decorated movie theatres. Excellent examples of art deco theatres, such as the Fargo Theatre in
North Dakota.
Empire State Building (symbol of NY, 381 m, 1931)
and Chrysler
Building (NY, 319 m, headquarters of automaker company, 1930)
are representatives of Art Deco which represents elegance, glamour,
functionality and modernity. The tallest building in the United States is the Sears (Willis)
Tower in Chicago with 527 m in 1973.
The
original World
Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring
landmark twin towers in Manhattan, New York. The complex opened in 1973,
and was destroyed in 2001 in the September 11 attacks. The site is being
rebuilt with five new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of
the attacks.
Art
Sculpture - Statue of Liberty on Liberty
Island in New York Harbour was a gift from the French government for the 100th
birthday of America's Independence (46 meters high, with pedestal 93 meters.
The crown of the statue has seven spikes that symbolize seven seas. The statue
holds a tablet with the Declaration of Independence in the left hand and in the
right hand a torch, symbolizing Enlightenment. The seated figure of Abraham Lincoln
in Lincoln Memorial in Washington by Chester
French.
Most of early
art consists of history painting and portraits like Gilbert Stuart: George
Washington portrait and John Trumbull´s paintings of large battle
scenes of the Revolutionary War. Hudson River School were romantic landscape
painters working from 1825-1875, particularly attracted by Niagara Falls and
the scenery of the Hudson River Valley, representative Thomas Cole.
Luminism - landscape painting style of the
1850s -1870s, effects of light in landscapes. American realism - creating new
and more urban works that reflected city, Ashcan
School was portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer
neighborhoods (Robert
Henri). Modernism - exploration of different
techniques and ways of artistic expressiveness. In photography the Photo-Secession
movement led by Alfred
Steiglitz made pathways for photography as an emerging art.
Abstract expressionism - use of abstract art to express
feelings, decided to try instinctual, intuitive, spontaneous arrangements of
space, line, shape and color (Jackson Pollock). Minimalism - 1960s, rejects all
references to the artist‘s personality or feelings, the work of art has no
meaning, painters stress the basic physical nature of painting-color, Frank Stella.
Pop art -
movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, usage of mass-produced artefacts of urban
culture, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements, most often through the use
of irony Andy Warhol (Roy Lichtenstein). Op
Art - Optical Art giving an illusion of movement. Cartoons
- two-dimensional illustrated visual art (Walt
Dysney: Mickey Mouse, Carl Barks:
Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Matt Groening:
The Simpsons).
National Gallery of Art (Washington), Metropolitan Museum of Art
(NY), Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (NY)
Theatre
The first
actual theatres were those built at Williamsburg
in 1716, none of them remaining in use for more than a few seasons.
Professional theatre begin with the arrival of a complete company of
professional English players Colly Cibbers version of Richard III in March.
Later, the English actor/manager William Hallam formed a company in America,
but was forced to leave the colonies when the Revolution broke out and most of
the theatres were taken over by the British Military and used to present shows
for the garrisons.
The Walnut is the oldest theater in America,
founded in 1809
with the first play The Rivals. In attendance were President
Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette. The 19th century theateres often
lacked the proper equipment and heating, and so it was more convenient for the
companies to travel from town to town.
In 1821 William Henry Brown established the African Grove
Theatre. Throughout the 19th century, theatre culture was associated
with hedonism and female actors were looked upon only little better than
prostitutes. Farce began to be popular, mocking the politics and culture of the
day. Criticized for its sexuality and outspokenness, this form of entertainment
was transfered in saloons. In 1896 the Theatrical Syndicate was formed.
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre from the
early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance is made up of a series of
separate, unrelated acts, such as opular and classical musicians, dancers,
comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators.
Non-vaudeville theatre of this era became more sophisticated and the star
acotrs (Ethel
Barrymore, John Drew) were often seen as even more
important than the show itself. During Great Depresseion, plays took on social
roles, identifying with immigrants and the unemployed. After World War II,
American playwrights Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, became
world-renowned.
Film
Its history
is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical
Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period. In 1894,
the world's first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York
City, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. Film industry has largely been based
in and around Hollywood (Los Angeles – California) for its mild climate. Citizen Kane
(1941) is frequently cited as the greatest film of all time. American screen
actors like Marilyn
Monroe have become iconic figures.
The Jazz Singer was the first film with
synchronized voices in 1927. Short films were called nickelodeons named after price
of a nickel. Ambitious men like Samuel Goldwyn, William Fox and the Warner Brothers
made business of film-making. Other moviemakers arrived from Europe after WW1
like Alfred
Hitchcock and actors like Rudolph Valentino and Marlene Dietrich.
During the
so-called Golden
Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era to the
early 1960s, thousands of movies were issued from the Hollywood studios. One
could usually guess which studio made which film, largely because of the actors
who appeared in it plus each studio had its own style and characteristic
touches - trait that does not exist
today.
New Hollywood is a term used to describe the
emergence of a new generation of film school-trained directors who had absorbed
the techniques developed in Europe in the 1960s - film Bonnie and Clyde
filmmakers like Francis
Ford Coppola and Roman Polanski. The enormous success by Spielberg
and George
Lucas with The Exorcist, Jaws, and Star Wars helped to give rise to
the modern blockbuster.
20th
century Fox
Music
African
American music includes blues and gospel. Spirituals were primarily expressions of
religious faith, sung by slaves on southern plantations. Fisk University became
home to the Jubilee
Singers, a pioneering group that popularized spirituals across the
country. Gospel quartets arose, singing preachers, from whence came the popular
style of gospel music. Blues is a combination of African work songs, developed
in the rural South in the first decade of the 20th century.
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