For the Fall 2021 term, we're offering a mix of virtual and in-person classes. Although we are still primarily virtual, you will find a smaller selection of in-person seminars in the schedule. For more information about the Newberry’s virtual seminars, including a Zoom tutorial, please see our Virtual Seminars FAQ page. Registration opens on September 1st at 9am (Central time). Registration will take place through our online platform, Learning Stream.

Seminar Description

In this seminar, we will survey the history of American art and visual culture from the colonial period to the Civil War—decades of dramatic upheaval that witnessed the birth of the new nation, Western expansion, encounters with Indigenous peoples, and a rapidly changing society. During the late eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth, the visual arts played a significant role in the construction of self, national, and regional identities, as well as in the formation of gender, race, and class distinctions. While artists in the colonies and the newly formed United States drew upon Anglo and European styles and precedents, early painters, printmakers, and sculptors also strived to formulate an “American” art suited to the needs of the government and an increasingly diverse citizenry.

Three sessions. Registration – $125

Tricia Smith Scanlan is an independent art historian specializing in American art from 1700 to the present. In addition to teaching seminars at the Newberry, she is Adjunct Lecturer at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Materials List

Required:

• Instructor-Distributed Materials.

First Reading:

• There is no first reading assignment..