ART
American Business
• Directions: Read the introductory texts & answer the following:
– Record President Coolidge’s quote & explain its meaning:
– Who is Owen Young? Henry Ford? How did these men change American
business in the 1920s?
– What economic conditions and government measures strengthened business?
• Now, continue on to “Fordisms”…
Fordisms
Directions: After reading the Fordisms, write a paragraph in the space below
responding to this quote: "Business is not the reason why the United States was
founded. . . . The United States—its land, people, government, and business—
are but methods by which the life of the people is made worthwhile.“ Henry
Ford, 1922.
Describe Ford’s perspective on business and prosperity in America. Use detail
and write in full sentences.
Though his workforce and target market closely mirrored each
other financially, Henry Ford's attitudes regarding their well-being
was widely known. This card handed out to Ford managers during
the thirties indicates his clear anti-union sentiments.
Sports
Directions: Using the 1920s and Sports website (http://www.1920-30.com/sports/) explore the histories of the following
sports. Note how the sport became popular and list famous athletes. (Hint: Be sure to click on the sub links for further information!)
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How did sports stars rise to fame? (2 reasons)
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Golf
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Baseball
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Boxing
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Football
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Swimming
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Why did college sports become popular in the 1920s?
Movies
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Directions: Read the introduction, then watch the La Boheme and Steamboat Willie film clips. Answer the questions
with detail and in full sentences.
Introduction: In just eight years, from 1922 to 1930, weekly U.S. movie attendance soared from about forty percent to
over ninety percent of the population. As movies came to center the mass-culture universe, two major questions came
to the fore: one cultural, one technological. How did movies influence modern youth, whose rush to adopt the
"modern" values and conduct showcased on the screen distressed many older Americans? And how would the
introduction of sound affect the long-established silent genre that was reaching, in the words of one producer,
"notable heights of beauty and power as pantomime only"?
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La Boheme http://www.wbshop.com/product/la+boheme+1926+1000179924.do (click trailers)
Steamboat Willie http://video.disney.com/watch/steamboat-willie-4ea9de5180b375f7476ada2c
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What were the likely effects of sound films on movie attendance, film production and quality, live theater, and the
careers of silent film actors?
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How is the plot in La Boheme conveyed without spoken dialogue?
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How is "sound" conveyed without sound?
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What is the primary focus of the sound in Steamboat Willie?
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Is there a clear plot in Steamboat Willie? Why or why not?
Machine Age
Directions: View the painting My Egypt by Charles Demuth on the wall. Answer the following questions.
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What was your first impression of My Egypt? What figures did you focus on first?
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What adjectives describe the painting (for instance mysterious, alive, forceful, immediate, enticing? – pick your own)
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Did you feel distanced from the image? If so, why?
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What is the connection between the image and the title?
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What overall impression of the Machine Age is conveyed in these works?
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What is the impression of man within the Machine Age?
Now, listen to the audio guide from the Whitney (http://whitney.org/Collection/CharlesDemuth/31172) .
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Did your previous answers share the curator’s perspective? Why or why not?
Automobile
Directions: Read the introduction and the humor column written by Will Rogers. Answer the following questions.
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Introduction: "Why on earth do you need to study what's changing this country?" exclaimed an Indiana resident during
an interview in 1929. "I can tell you what's happening in just four letters: A-U-T-O!"1 What more was there to say?
Plenty, it seemed, as the media of the day were saturated with commentary on the a-u-t-o and where it was taking
America at breakneck speed. Literally. Accident rates soared, road construction lagged, traffic congestion dominated
cities' woes, and the need for more parking space seemed like a national emergency. Yet the automobile did reduce
travel time, did reduce rural isolation, did increase life's pleasures, did a lion's share of boosting the economy. In the
1920s, as never before, the automobile became a must-have item for the successful American, and it was changing
everything.”
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How did Will Rogers use humor and hyperbole to underscore the severity of traffic fatalities?
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What take did Will Rogers, Frederick Lewis Allen, the U.S. Bureau of Roads, and other commentators have on the
equation AUTOMOBILE=PROGRESS?
Now, watch the Detroit News clip and answer the following questions. Detroit News: (http://www.lib.wayne.edu/resources/digital/vmc_newsreels/video.php?vid=11_16)
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How did the newsreels present the issue of brake safety as entertainment?
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What does this glimpse of auto safety innovations illustrate about the time?
Aviation
Directions: Watch the 1920s Newsreels (http://americainclass.org/sources/becomingmodern/machine/text4/text4.htm) . Answer the following
questions with detail.
• What overall impression of aviation innovation in the 1920s did you get from the newsreels? Did anything
surprise you?
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What do the innovations—and the newsreel reporting of them—reveal about the public's response to aviation,
its place in their lives, and its role in defining modern?
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Note the intertitle text of the silent newsreels. What does it reveal about the general perception of aviation at
the time?
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How was American innovation depicted by the British in the period after World War One?
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Select two or three newsreel clips of aviation innovations, feats, or accidents and weave them into one
newsreel with audio commentary. What aspect of aviation in the 1920s is most significant, in your opinion?
Consumer Culture
Directions: Read the Roger Benchley article “How to Sell Goods” and answer the following questions.
• What main points did Robert Benchley in his humorous essays?
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What unique modes of conveying a message does humor offer? Why would Benchley address mass sales
in this manner?
Then watch the silent theater commercials from the Library of Congress and answer the following questions.
(Electric refrigerator Flash hand cleaner Onward flour)
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How did the producers hope to motivate the viewers to buy their products? Is similar motivation used
today?
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What did they use as visual enticement? What information did they convey? Did they use persuasion,
repetition, humor, or other devices?
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Which commercial was most successful, in your opinion? Why?
Women
Directions: Read the introduction and articles about Flappers and Suffragettes. Answer the
following questions with detail and in full sentences.
• What event paved the way for women’s rights reforms?
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Why was the campaign for women’s rights tied to Prohibition?
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Explain the stereotype of the flapper. How was their behavior different from that of other
women?
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Were flappers the first “liberated women”? If not, explain.
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How did advertising promote and breakdown the image of the flapper?
Prohibition
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Directions: Watch the Al Capone & Prohibition video clip
(http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/people/#detail=2085881883-capone) and answer the following questions in detail
and full sentences.
What was the source of Al Capone’s power over Chicago?
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Why did Al Capone enter the bootlegging and racketeering worlds?
Then, either analyze The Bootleggers (http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/edward-hopper/the-bootleggers) or watch the British Pathe News. What is
happening in The Bootleggers? What is depicted on the canvas? What is suggested? How?
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What are the three men thinking at the moment? What
will occur in the next twenty minutes?
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What is Hopper's apparent comment on the situation
these men have placed themselves in?
(http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-dodgers-aprohibition-sidelight-from-buffalo/query/prohibition)
• How did British Pathé News present U.S. Prohibition to
its audience? Why?
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What is Hopper’s apparent comment on the
predicament the nation has placed itself in?
Is this portrayal accurate? What might an American say
about this during the 1920s?
Literature
Directions: Read the summaries of Babbitt by Sinclair
Lewis and the Bohemian literature of F. Scott
Fitzgerald. Answer the following questions in detail
and in full sentences.
• Compare and contrast the views of city and
country.
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Directions: Read the summaries of the Lost
Generation. Answer the following questions in detail
and in full sentences.
• Who are the Lost Generation?
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How are their views different from those of
previous generations?
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Who coined the term “Lost Generation”?
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What writers were part of the Lost Generation?
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What form of writing was eschewed by the Lost
Generation? What did they favor?
How did this dichotomy emerge?
Give a brief summary of Babbitt.
Outline the themes of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Directions: View the paintings Flower Abstraction and Pink and Blue No. 2 and answer the following
questions in detail and in full sentences.
• Describe the painting. What does it remind you of?
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What is abstract about this work?
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What sensory details (sight, touch, smell, taste, sound) seem to exist in the painting?
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Consider this quote: “The meaning of a word—to me—is not as exact as the meaning of a color. Colors
and shapes make a more definite statement than words.” Do you agree with O’Keeffe? Why or why not?
Now, listen to the curator’s discussion from the Whitney Museum. (http://whitney.org/WatchAndListen/AudioGuides?play_id=786)
Answer the following question:
• Do you agree with her assessment? Why or why not?