How Did The Museum Of Modern Art Affect The United States

Improved Essays
Art is one of the most basic forms of expression there is. It has stood the test of time for thousands and thousands of years. Why? With every passing generation, we see new, creative minds emerging, full of new ideas and concepts. The human brain will never stop developing original thoughts and new, inventive ways to do old tasks. As time passes and society begins to progress and develop new styles, so do artists. Thus, the opening of the Museum of Modern Art affected the United States by making modern art accessible to the general public, by creating a place exclusively devoted to showcasing modern art, and as a result, inspiring and influencing American modern artists.
Primarily, the Museum of Modern Art was important to the U.S. because it stood as a place where the American masses could view modern art. This was the very first modern art museum to open in the United States—it was truly an abstract concept to most
…show more content…
Although, many people were confused and angry, even, about its opening. Most thought it was a waste of money, and the public was confused as to what “modern” truly meant, as the museum was exhibiting art from an array of time periods. Many Americans opposed the favor towards European modern artists that the museum displayed; eventually, in 1940, an artist group in New York called the American Abstract Artists protested the favor by handing out papers, “emblazoned with the heading ‘HOW MODERN is THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART?’” (The Art Story 1). The papers asked questions concerning the validity of the art shown at the MoMA—was the museum really exhibiting modern art? Why would it feature the old masters, when it was supposed to showcase new and inventive art styles and artists? One quote from the paper sarcastically exclaims, “Why not day-before-yesterday? Why not Resurrections, Adorations and Madonnas? Why not build

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Art Analysis: You Go Girl

    • 1270 Words
    • 5 Pages

    History of Art During my visit at Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, I came across several modern and contemporary artists. At the time of my visit the museum displayed different pieces created by women artists, they called this, “You Go Girl!” exhibit. While viewing these works I viewed different artists with different pieces but similar themes. Each artist used their art to convey issues or their feelings using different techniques.…

    • 1270 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Houston Area Museum Essay

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Visitors can have an exclusive look into the life and works of an artist. Therefore, they can have a better understanding of the art pieces and have an examination of the artist's life and how he reflects his life into his art. The HMFA cannot obtain and display classical works of a famous artist in the past like Van Gogh or Leonardo da Vinci because their paintings are too valuable for the museums displaying them to give up. Therefore, the museum should focus on the contemporary arts of the 21st Century. The modern arts are still very unpopular considering to classical arts.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Elbert Hubbard once said “Art is not a thing; it is a way.” Art is all around us; from the floor we walk on, to the color of the walls around us, to the music we listen to on the radio. Many kids have taken on a lot of different forms that did not exist many years ago. Today, we fill our world with street art not exactly thought about to be art like mimes, circus acts, puppetry, mask theater, vaudeville, and storytelling through movement (Rapp 4). Art is an essential part of our society today and has been for many years.…

    • 1588 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Art has played an important role in human culture for ages; even before the term “art” exists. In the essay “The Trouble with (the Term) Art”, Carolyn Dean questions about the universal definition of “art”, and examines “the consequences of identifying art in societies where such a concept did or does not exist” (p. 26). As the title of the article suggests, the term “art” provokes many discussions and questions. Although we have known the term “art” probably since we are in kindergarten, many of us neglect the profoundness of this simple term. Dean starts off by pointing out that “art” is an ambiguous term because of the differences in people’s aesthetic.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Art has been around since the dawn of time (1). In some cultures, art is the only thing that has survived throughout the civilizations (1). Furthermore, art is a part of life, therefore it has developed over the years. So what is art anyway? Art is an incredible purpose or terrible nightmare.…

    • 2070 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each separate piece of artwork from different places around the world told their own stories each set with a different mood and a different message at the hands of its artist. When you first initially walk into the Museum, all you can focus on is the red lines that create bent pathways along the white walls in which their shape and curve create the illusion that they’re three dimensional. Walking into the room immediately to the left was a room colored in grey walls to match the somber atmosphere, for the entire room was dedicated to the story of the Black Panthers in the summer of 1968 and their fight for equality. No one picture or piece stood out, but it still held a historical presence and respect. Walking into the next room was…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Art was the part of the life of people from all centuries. It let people express themselves, to communicate with others, to share messages or ideas and to make life more beautiful. But art exists across history. Art has been transcending through artists until our days. It is important not only to respect world famous artists from previous centuries but also to support modern ones.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This exquisite museum has many things to offer, as well as many facts about American history. This museum opened in January 1964, as National Museum of History and Technology. Then in October of 1980, it was renamed as the National Museum of American History. In this museum, there are also 3 million objects from American history. There are some permanemt exhibits like the Star-Spangled Banner and the First Ladies.…

    • 69 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1940 Art Research Paper

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Peggy Guggenheim opens the gallery art of the century in New York. ”(Campbell) The museum was filled with surrealist and abstract. Throughout many years, art and artists have brought about the enormous growth of popularity in the…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Minneapolis Institute of Arts Museum Visit Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum that has at least 3 000 different works of art from different parts of the world. The museum started in 1883, initially; it was, identified as Minneapolis Institute of Arts before changing to its current name. MIA is, situated on an eight acres piece of land at Whitter in Minnesota on a campus. The museum is government funded institute and does not charge an entrance fee for patrons. Researchers and scholars can photograph the different works of art without any form of restrictions as long as their purpose for the photographs academic-oriented.…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hickory Museum Of Art

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages

    For this assignment, I visited the Hickory Museum of Art (HMA) in Hickory, North Carolina. Their major exhibition was “Unexpected Beauty,” a collection of photographs by photojournalist Steve McCurry. I observed several ways in which the HMA replicated historic museums practices, especially in regards to the museum effect, princely galleries, and above all, reinforcing an emphasis on the visual. By visiting the HMA I gained a firsthand experience of what these practices look like and the impacts they can have on viewers. The “museum effect” certainly came into play (Alpers 1991).…

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American Indian Museum

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the Merriam Webster dictionary, the literal definition of the word museum is “an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; also : a place where objects are exhibited”. So what exactly do exhibitions represent and how do they do so? Exhibitions are put into museums that differ by age, target audiences, content, national and regional orientations and just simply by ambition. The type or genre of a museum might be the significant difference that divides through all of the other variables: art museums, cultural history museums, and natural history museums have different explanations for their motives and completely different conceptions of how to use and present having different…

    • 1092 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Tampa Museum

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages

    My visit to the Tampa Museum of Art took place on the 4th of February 2017. The Tampa Museum of Art is located at the heart of downtown Tampa and is home to some of the most widely acclaimed creative works of art in the United States. I had never been to a museum prior to my visit. My visit to the Tampa museum was very informative and a rare occasion to learn about the beauty of art. I was pretty anxious from the beginning because I didn’t know where to start, but after speaking with a security personnel who gave me an overview of the sections, I sank right into this new world.…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This was definitely the most simple of the displays put here because all of the paintings were lifelike and easy to decipher because they were also more straightforward and seldom open to interpretation unlike the photos in Concentrations 60. Overall, visiting the Dallas Museum of Art was a new and exciting experience because its exhibits really opens one’s eyes as to how art alone reflects different periods of time, cultures, and places around the world and evolves as does humanity. Moreover, it shows how art does not come from culture, but creates it and often evinces the psyche of its…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Metropolitan Museum

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I chose to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art with my mother because it is one of the largest museums of the world and one of New York’s most visited attractions. It’s famous for its exhibitions and art collections. It’s so huge that a person could spend a whole week exploring the galleries. In order to get to the Metropolitan Museum first we took the 10 number bus to Journal Square via JFK Boulevard. Then we took the World Trade Center train form Journal Square path station to WTC station in Manhattan, NY.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays