by Nicolas Lampert
The New Press
2015, paperback
SKU: 9781620971338
Inspired by the pathbreaking work of Howard Zinn, a book that takes American art history out of the museum and into the streets
“When artists join social movements, they become agitators in the best sense of the word, and their art becomes less about the individual and more about the common vision and aspirations of many. Their art challenges power and becomes part of a culture of resistance.”
—from A People’s Art History of the United States
Most people outside of the art world view art as something that is foreign to their experiences and everyday lives. A People’s Art History of the United States places art history squarely in the rough-and-tumble of politics, social struggles, and the fight for justice from the colonial era through the present day.
Author and radical artist Nicolas Lampert combines historical sweep with detailed examinations of individual artists and works in a politically charged narrative that spans the conquest of the Americas, the American Revolution, slavery and abolition, western expansion, the suffragette movement and feminism, civil rights movements, environmental movements, LGBT movements, antiglobalization movements, contemporary antiwar movements, and beyond.
A People’s Art History of the United States introduces us to key works of American radical art alongside dramatic retellings of the histories that inspired them. Stylishly illustrated with over two hundred images, this book is nothing less than an alternative education for anyone interested in the powerful role that art plays in our society.
Artists and works discussed include:
- Paul Revere’s Boston Massacre lithograph
- Abolitionist slave ship illustrations
- Jacob Riis’s photographs
- Edward Curtis’s and Richard Throssel’s photographs of Native Americans
- The Haymarket monument
- The Masses
- National Women’s Party banners
- The Federal Arts Project
- Miné Okubo’s Japanese internment camp sketches
- Danny Lyon’s SNCC photographs
- The Guerilla Art Action Group
- Suzanne Lacy’s performance art
- ACT UP and Gran Fury
- The Yes Men