Modern Art in America 1908-68

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This work offers a radical re-evaluation of American modernism, highlighting the significant contributions of American artists to modern art history, from Jackson Pollock to Andy Warhol. It emphasizes that their work did not emerge in isolation after World War II or merely as a European transplant. Instead, it traces a longer, nuanced history of modernism involving American artists, teachers, patrons, and collectors throughout the first half of the twentieth century. William C. Agee analyzes early twentieth-century artists like Arthur Dove, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keeffe, and John Marin, establishing connections to later internationally recognized figures such as Arshile Gorky, Edward Hopper, Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning, Morris Louis, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Donald Judd. Additionally, Agee integrates the influence of key European artists—Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Piet Mondrian, Josef Albers, and Hans Hofmann—who became pivotal teachers in the American art scene, impacting artists like Stuart Davis. This comprehensive account reconsiders art history from the early twentieth century to the late 1960s, making it essential reading for art students, scholars, and anyone interested in modernism and its broader cultural implications.