Things of the Spirit

Speer (art history, Northern Arizona U.) explores the entanglement of material struggle and activist art during the Great Depression, which he observes as a noteworthy juxtaposition of American pragmatism and idealism. Artists were employed by governments and other institutions to give meaning to the emerging brave new world. These artists and their subjects were the topic of heated debates over the destiny of the United States, if not humanity, as totalitarian movements swept across Europe and Asia. Speer explores themes of fascist contagion, economic health, horticulture and regionalism, propaganda, working-class masculinity, socialist politics, representations of mass industry, muralism, modernist and avant-garde aesthetics, and the sociality of art. Every chapter is packed with gorgeous color and monochrome plates of paintings, murals, magazine drawings, photos and architecture. Each chapter contains its own set of copious endnotes. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

George Van Cleve Speer received his doctoral degree from Washington University in St. Louis. After serving as Curator of the Luce Foundation Center for American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Dr. Speer came to Northern Arizona University, where he is Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies and Director of the NAU Art Museum.