Museums & Attractions

Taking Art off the walls – The American Scene
The turn of the twentieth century in American history transcend all art forms, whilst simultaneously influencing each fraction. The combination of workshops, performances, demonstrations and lectures take The American Scene exhibition at the British Museum into another dimension. The attempt to cater for all, which most public spaces try but fail, is wonderfully achieved – not just in the ability to offer events for all ages and demographics, but in the marriage of visual art, music and dance from a key time and place in history.
Gallery Room 90, an unimposingly titled room, played host to 150 prints and lithographs from the most prominent American artists of the early twentieth century. Historians have covered these years time upon time, but through these well chosen pictures an insight into some of America’s social, political and artistic mindsets can be observed.
The welcoming notes of Chattanooga chu chu floated out of the main doors on the Wednesday (28th May) as London’s Swing Dance Society entertained the visitors and taught some inquisitive children a few moves. The dance of choice, the Lindy Hop, is so closely linked to the age of jazz that the two art forms are jointed at the jiving hip. This introduction to the dance style of the 1920’s was echoed in Adolf Dehn’s Swinging at the Savoy (1941), one of the most famous dance halls in Harlem. In this unification of art forms the darker history of the Lindy Hop (also know as the Jitterbug) was not featured – maybe a possible lecture for the future.
The Lindy Hop was not the only dance form to be depicted in this exhibition. The influence of jazz, both music and dance, inspired Jon Matulka’s untitled work (c1929). The image of a woman dancing with a parasol was not the only salute to this musical genre, but the syncopated lines used by the artist.
Reginald Marsh’s Star Burlesque (1933) illustrated a different side to dance in American. The social dances were certainly left at the door in Marsh’s visit to the Burlesque clubs – yet these two dance styles were often seen side by side at vaudeville performances throughout New York. The image of the female in this painting showed the oversized nature of these performances through the costume and poise of the dancer. Marsh also captured the grandeur of the theatre, showing that this was not an underground dance form more commonly connected the stripping, but a gentleman’s art form that they observed from plush boxes in decedent theatres.
Both rural and city life is shown in this exhibition. Louis Lozowick’s New York (c1925), the press image shown on much of the events publicity, shows his Cubist vision of the city, where as Thomas Hart Benton’s romanticized interpretation of the Midwest struck an entirely different note – highlighting the vastness of this country by the contrasting daily lives of it’s citizens.
The topics and artistic movements covered by this exhibition portrayed the rate at which art evolved during these turbulent times. The changes in racial laws, capital punishment, both World Wars and the fear of communism are all given space on the British Museums walls. This is more than a brief history of a nation or a range of artistic offerings from key individuals – more like a very successful combination of the two. An excellently composed exhibition offering viewers a chance to explore the themes further via lectures or bask in the brilliance of international jazz performances.