America Today And The Jazz Age

As public art,mural is an important part of environmental art,it carries more art forms and cultural connotations than simple easel painting,and it is built around social and spiritual life,so mural has a certain function of transmitting information to the public,in which narrative is of great significance.Thomas Hart Benton(hereinafter referred to as Benton)was a leading figure of the American localist school of painting and the teacher of abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock,whose artistic career left many large narrative murals,as a realist,his works have a specific social connotation,he focused on depicting the lives of ordinary and common people in a specific time environment and committed to an art that could be understood by the people and He was committed to an art that could be understood by the people and accurately portray them,reproducing the social and cultural landscape.He was a constant source of controversy and even criticism throughout his life,but even so,his contribution to the development of American modernist painting cannot be ignored.This paper analyzes the mural “ America Today ” from four aspects,firstly,the development of American realism and the artist’s own artistic philosophy,and explores the creative conception of the mural.Secondly,it takes the 1920 s as the starting point to briefly explain the content and expression of “America Today”.Again,the narrative technique of“America Today” is analyzed in detail in terms of its temporal and spatial construction,narrative plot arrangement and characterization.Finally,we explore the inspiration of Thomas Hart Benton’s mural narrative to art creation.The study of Benton’s narrative techniques will provide a further understanding of the narrative tradition and realistic realism of large-scale painting,and will be conducive to my own future exploration and practice in professional research.