Art and U.S. History, 1929–1960 with Doug Sheer
ONLINE ENROLLMENT HAS ENDED. Email spark@umkc.edu or call (816) 235-2870. Calls will be returned the next business day after 9:30am.
January 12 – February 16 | 10 am–Noon (CST) | No class on January 19
Our instructor joins us from Long Island, NY via ZOOM – participate via Zoom only at home or at SPARK | $40
This course explores the dynamic relationship between art and U.S. history from the Great Depression through the early Cold War era (1929–1960). Students will examine how artists responded to and helped shape public understanding of major historical events, including the economic and social upheavals of the 1930s, World War II, postwar prosperity, and the rise of modern consumer culture.
Through the study of painting, photography, film, architecture, and emerging modernist movements, the course investigates how visual culture reflected national identity, social struggles, and political ideologies. Key topics include the New Deal art programs, Regionalism and Social Realism, Abstract Expressionism, the Harlem Renaissance’s later phase, wartime propaganda, and the beginnings of Pop Art.
By the end of the course, students will understand how American art both documented and challenged the nation’s evolving ideals of democracy, freedom, and progress during a period of rapid transformation.
Doug Sheer – Educator, State University of New York, New Paltz
