American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity

Reviewed by Sarah Kleinman, Affiliate Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 3/26/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Through the concept of encounter, the textbook explores a driving force of much artistic and cultural formation in America. This thematic approach allows the authors to achieve commendable breadth and depth in a subject that has been largely circumscribed by chronology, geography, culture, materials, style, and artist-as-genius. The book covers well before conquest and colonization and extends to the present (circa 2007). The portion of text that focuses on conquest and colonization is substantive and readily is part of the narrative, rather than framed as asides or tokenized acknowledgment. The text employs multiple lenses to analyze the selection of artworks, all of which are cast as a product of encounter: the intermingling of technologies, materials, utility, aesthetics, and ideological, social, and material exchange. Examples are thoughtfully selected and are accompanied by excellent descriptions, visual analysis, and sociocultural interpretation.

For a survey-level textbook, the glossary of American Encounters fulfills its function by providing an extensive list of relevant terms with explanations. As a specialist in modern and contemporary art, I attended to field-specific terminology, including modernism, avant-garde, and postmodernism. Delimited to painting and sculpture, Modernism is framed as the practices emerging in France that “depart[ed] from the naturalism and illusionism that defined academic art in the later 19th century,” signaling the book’s slightly outdated conception of modernism in the arts (659). Similar to Art Since 1900, vols. 1 and 2 (Foster et al.), the glossary does not contain the term avant-garde. The definition of postmodernism, “a movement in art, architecture, culture and theory, flourishing in the 1970s and 1980s [that] challenged the cornerstones of originality, progress, essence, and rationality that had been exemplified many forms of Modernism in the 19th and 20th centuries,” while sufficient for a survey-level course, would benefit from more nuance as a mode of thinking as well as an artistic strategy (659).

A bibliography of chapter-specific sources follows the glossary. The texts seem highly relevant and representative of the subject matter, providing a valuable resource for further research.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

To my knowledge, the entire book is accurate and error-free. It broaches the impossibility of reaching a wholly unbiased account, which is important in the study of art history.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

By employing a thematic approach, the book expands the traditional boundaries of the historical narrative of American art. The decision to employ a thematic approach (rather than strictly chronological, medium-specific, or identity- or culture-centric) reflects a broader tendency in art historical scholarship to narrate the history of the arts while acknowledging and dispensing of conventional categorizations and divisions.

While American Encounters offers a useful and compelling narrative, recontextualizing and retelling the history of the arts in America, the book's language and terminology show their age. Appearing in the Preface and Chapter 1, terms like “aboriginal Americans,” “Indian peoples,” and “slaves” need to be revised, updated, and clarified to better reflect current understandings of the human condition. For instance, the term “slaves” has been widely replaced by “enslaved peoples” to give humanity to the peoples who were forced into and suffered under this violent, exploitative, and unjust institution. The term “slavery” is no longer used as neutral concept; instead, a better practice is to use the phrase “the institution of slavery” to foster awareness that it was an institution used to perpetuate exploitation and structural inequities with that have had irrevocable consequences.

As-is, the book could be useful for fostering an awareness around the ongoing efforts to nuance conceptions of the human experience. Setting aside its dated language and terminology, the book nonetheless provides fresh insights that are thought-provoking and relevant to budding and advanced art history students.

Clarity rating: 4

The majority of the text is written in lucid, accessible prose. The authors employ what they call the “box program” to clarify methods, theories, and complex concepts (xvi–xvii). Throughout the text, sections entitled “Framing the Discourse,” “Myths & Legends,” “Fast-Forward,” “Methods & Techniques,” and “Cultural Context” address critical issues in art history without detracting from the body text.

At times, however, the authors use quotation marks for affect, emphasis, or an implied meaning. In the Preface, for instance, the authors write: “Three hundred years ago ‘America’ was a country comprised of hundreds of Native groups speaking a wide range of languages […]” (xii). This stylistic decision creates unnecessary vagueness and signals to students that such a practice makes for strong writing. (As my MA and PhD advisors would have said: define your terms!) Best practice: either eliminate the quotes or elaborate on words or phrases that they use. This would be easily accomplished by including a dependent clause such as “the geographic region now known as….” Although the authors problematize their conception of American art and culture in subsequent paragraphs, they never clearly explain the geographic, ideological, and sociocultural constructs surrounding the term America.

Consistency rating: 4

For this criterion, I traced the consistency with which the authors employed the idea of encounter. The authors use this term, in their words, “to discuss a variety of productive ways the diverse peoples met, interacted, and made art objects that were both meaningful and beautiful” (1). Further, they employ the term encounter while acknowledging the “staggering inequalities of different sides of these encounters” (1). At some points in the text, the idea of encounter seems to be abandoned in favor of a more conventional art historical narrative structured around individual artists and key dates, particularly in the second half of the book (Part 3, “From Reconstruction to Turn-of-Century, 1865–1900;” Part 4, “The New Century, 1900–1960;” and Part 5, “The Sixties to the Present.”)

Appearing at the end of each chapter, discussions of design and architecture seem like afterthoughts that are not wholly incorporated into the overall narrative. Aside from being contemporaneous with the larger chapter topics, these additions seem disjointed but could also be used for architecture- and design-specific modes of inquiry.

Modularity rating: 5

The text seems easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections to correspond with the assigned topic, particularly in courses that follow a chronological narrative of art history.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is organized in chronological order. Part 1 follows a geographic and region-related order. Thereafter, the text is organized thematically, suggesting (the widely accepted narrative) that art history is not circumscribed by chronology or geographic borders. It makes for a multiply centered narrative that includes the East Coast as well as regions that constitute starting points for various diaspora (Africa, Mexico, etc.)

Several meanings are implied through the idea of the encounter: the inter- and intracultural encounter; phenomena such as migration, immigration, trade, exile, and human trafficking; dialogues with past and present; concepts of “high” and “low” art; history and memory; and function and form.

Interface rating: 2

For this review, I was provided access to what is essentially a PDF of a textbook. The navigation and pagination need the most work. In the navigation pane, the page numbers (e.g., Miller_00xx) do not correspond with the PDF page number or the pagination in the textbook itself. The PDF has a different pagination system than the navigation pane. In other words, there are three separate pagination systems in this OER.

To be ADA accessible for screen-readers, the text needs to be divided by titles, headings, sub-headings, and body text (not merely page numbers). Currently, the page numbers do not correspond with PDF page numbers, which does not provide much utility and might create more confusion when assigning selections of the textbook.

Hyperlinks could be added in the Table of Contents and throughout the text to enhance navigation and to explore related topics.

Maps need to be optimized for screen readers and online viewing. For instance, the font demarcating tribes in I.2, Map of the Americas on page 4 seems misplaced and blurred with the geographic rendering, hampering legibility.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

To my knowledge, there are no grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

As I describe above, the book’s language and terminology show their age. Terms like Indian peoples” and “slaves,” while in parlance up until the early aughts, might be inadvertently interpreted today as lacking cultural sensitivity. The book needs to be thoroughly revised and clarified so that such terms better reflect current understandings of the human condition. Throughout the book, the authors make a strong effort to incorporate art that has been historically underrepresented or neglected in conventional narratives of American art. The volume touches on understandings of canonical American art without pigeonholing or sidelining BIPOC makers. However, sometimes the thematic organization runs askew, leaning towards conventional narratives of mainstays in American art and design. For instance, the Table of Contents lists a largely white, male roster of artists: George Catlin, Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Eakins, Alexander Calder, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, among others.

Comments

Writing a survey textbook from ancient times to the present is a formidable task. The authors of American Encounters offer a novel and bold approach to their survey of the art and visual culture of the geographic region now known as the United States. By focusing on the concept of encounter, American Encounters offers an approachable, insightful narrative around cross-cultural exchanges and the art produced in the continental United States. Rather than a rigid chronology, it offers thematically and chronologically overlapping narratives while situating America at the crossroads of cultural encounters with Asia, Africa, Europe, and the so-called New World from ancient times to present. By emphasizing the range and nature of encounters between diverse peoples in America, it demonstrates the plurality of visual and conceptual languages in American art and how there is no one canonical art—America is a melting pot that is indeed a product of cultural encounters.

Reviewed by Bianca Rawlings, Adjunct, Tidewater Community College on 2/1/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Quite comprehensive! A good look at American interactions and historical context.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

This book seems very accurate. Perhaps more could be included from outside (international) perspectives to give a more nuanced understanding.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Definitely relevant, though again, more in terms of intersectionality would be preferable.

Clarity rating: 5

Easy to read and follow.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is quite consistent in its framework. The foundations are good.

Modularity rating: 5

This could certainly be split into assigned readings for groups.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Clear and organized. A good flow.

Interface rating: 5

Straight forward navigation.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Solid grammar and spelling.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

As per previous comments, more intersectionality.

Reviewed by Ellie Leonhardt, Art History Adjunct, Rogue Community College on 5/26/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text covers Ancient times to contemporary times in American Art with inclusion of various perspectives such as post-nationalism, post-colonialism, and feminist theory in combination with a “visual studies” approach to art history in the United States. There are many aspects in which the text frames various topics in such a way that both the topic of the art and context of the America's controversial history are explored in synergy.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The material is accurate and fluent in its content. I appreciate the attention to the complex issues of history that can have more than one "truth". The facts and images are well supported and researched.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This text appears to have a full scope of academic perspectives to view American historical art which will continue to be important in the study of art and culture in America for the next generation of students. As such, it seems as to have substantial longevity the text will need to be updated with the new issues that artists have faced over the past few years. There is no doubt that the American art world has changed because of Covid and the impact will be important to document in the context of the “cultural traditions and boundaries” presented in this text.

Clarity rating: 5

The material in the text is very clear and straight forward. What helps with this is how the images are used within the content as well as all examples are defined within a context of other cultural elements. For the most part, the art is presented chronologically which helps the reader follow the progression of the cultural traditions. When there could be some confusion, like the way in which the definition of feminism changed from the 1970s to the 1980s, there are direct explanations in the text explaining how this type of cultural shift is represented by the artists and their concepts.

Consistency rating: 5

This text is consistent across each chapter and section. The way in which new rhetorical concepts are introduced are clearly indicated in bold. The general organization introduces a concept and then offers specific examples of artists that fall within the theoretical modalities described within the concept. The conclusions are consistent and helpful: At the end of each chapter these sections help to rephrase key terms from that section within the context of the whole book.

Modularity rating: 5

The modularity of this text seems positive in that each chapter could be used independently though the flow of the entire text is well integrated. This text covers 19 substantial chapters and, as such, I would imagine some instructors would need to edit out some chapters for schools that teach on a term schedule. Because there is significant substance on the cultural aspects of the art within the rhetoric, these chapters could also be used in courses as supplements beyond art history based classes.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I appreciate the flow and the depth in which the cultural significance is illuminated. There is a nice balance of information between the culture, the art, the theory, and the artists. There is good analysis of how and why these aspects interacted with each other. The way the material is organized shows that this is a textbook that could be used for someone who wants to teach more than a list of names and dates in history.

Interface rating: 5

This book displays as a PDF download and I do not see any issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I do not see any errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The cultural relevance is the highlight of this text. It integrated indigenous primary source material, a variety of political and theoretical perspectives, images from folk arts and crafts, high art, installation art, and architecture. Although these genera can often be seen in a limited and factual ideation, this text adds the depth of a multicultural context, geography, and a global understanding to how artists in America evolved their values, conflicts, and struggles as represented by meaningful artifacts and images.

Comments

If I was teaching a course in American Art History I would use this textbook.