Albert Bierstadt, Emigrants Crossing the Plains, 1867
 

1. MYTH AND SYMBOL SCHOOL

E. Leutze,  Washington Crossing the Delaware
 Democracy in America is just the tool with which the old master of Europe, the European spirit, is undermined. Europe destroyed, potentially, American demo- cracy will evaporate. America will begin.
American consciousness has so far been a false dawn. The negative ideal of democracy. But underneath, and contrary to this open ideal, the first hints and revelations of IT. IT, the American whole soul.
D.H. Lawrence, STUDIES IN CLASSIC AMERICAN LITERATURE

MYTH AND SYMBOL SCHOOL DEFINITION
A very influential group of writers in American Studies who have examined the recurring myths, symbols and motifs in works of the imagination produced in American culture.

COMPREHENSIVE LINK:  American Studies at Washington State University 

THEORY

Myth and Symbol Theory link
 
Frederick Remington, Self-portrait on a Horse, 1890/Frederick Jackson Turner
  The frontier hypothesis' interpretation of the West in terms of nature isolated the region from both the urban East and Europe, while the idea of civilizationas a reproduction of the cultural accomplishments of Europe imposed on the West a social and cultural inferiority which hindered any acknowledgement of its own novelty in world history.
 Henry Nash Smith, VIRGIN LAND

Myth and Symbol Theory link

Charles M. Russell, The Scout, 1907
 ...the painting is a striking physical example of the image or symbol in the artist's mind. As (Leo) Marx writes, the symbolic landscape existed on many planes of consciousness, on the canvas, in books and in the minds of those familiar with art and literature.
Bruce Kuklick ,  "Myth and Symbol in American Studies"

Myth and Symbol Theory link

 Frederick Jackson Turner's own notion of "progress" and stages of  civilization, as indeed of the "gift" of the wilderness to white America, implies a simple passing over the inert body of Indian culture on America's way to the future.
Alan Trachtenberg, THE INCORPORATION OF AMERICA

Myth and Symbol Theory link
 
The Brooklyn Bridge
 For most Americans, progress means accepting what is new because it is new, and discarding what is old because it is old.
 Lewis Mumford

PRACTICE:

Myth and Symbol Practice link

The  purpose of this project is to examine Eakins' work in order to place certain parameters on Eakins' perception of  himself as an artist and to relate that perception to a larger understanding of realism. The project is divided thematically based on the variety of topics engaged by Eakins' art.
"Thomas Eakins: The Artist-Physician in the Clinic of the Real "(a hypertextion extension to Trachtenberg's THE INCORPORATION OF AMERICA)

Myth and Symbol Practice link

Poster, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Congress, An American
Creators of art, literature, theater, film, television, and advertising have developed and popularized a tremendous amount of stereotypical imagey on the subject. That process of creating a popular culture where images like feathered headdresses and tomahawks tend to erase the individual and cultural identities of Native Americans assure everyone that all Native Americans are alike.
Museums West's "Powerful Images: Portrayals of Native Americans" (on-line exhibit temporarily unavailable)

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