Synopses & Reviews
Most people outside of the art world view art as something that is foreign to their experiences and everyday lives.
A Peoples Art History of the United States places art history squarely in the roughandtumble of politics, social struggles, and the fight for justice from the colonial era through the present day.
Author and radical artist Nicolas Lampert combines historical sweep with detailed examinations of individual artists and works in a politically charged narrative that spans the conquest of the Americas, the American Revolution, slavery and abolition, western expansion, the suffragette movement and feminism, civil rights movements, environmental movements, LGBT movements, antiglobalization movements, contemporary antiwar movements, and beyond.
A Peoples Art History of the United States introduces us to key works of American radical art alongside dramatic retellings of the histories that inspired them. Stylishly illustrated with over two hundred images, this book is nothing less than an alternative education for anyone interested in the powerful role that art plays in our society.
Review
"When artists join social movements, they become agitators in the best sense of the word, and their art becomes less about the individual and more about the common vision and aspirations of many. Their art challenges power and becomes part of a culture of resistance."
—From A Peoples Art History of the United States
Review
"This latest addition to the New Press's People's History series, with a preface by Howard Zinn (A Peoples History of the United States), is both readable and instructive. Rather than writing a comprehensive history of social-justice-movement art, Lampert, an activist artist himself, focuses on 'examples that were complicated, where the decisions made by artists were controversial and confounding,' his premise being that 'analyzing histories that are deeply complicated helps us learn. . . . The book is a useful and thought-provoking text for history and art students."
Publishers Weekly
"A much welcome, fresh view of American political art."
Paul Buhle, editor of A Peoples History of American Empire
"This is an important first volley in what I hope is an ongoing fusillade of peoples art histories. There are many more stories to tell, here and abroad. Those relayed by Nicolas Lampert offer models for an art that actively engages in and helps change the course of history."
Lucy R. Lippard, author of Get the Message? A Decade of Art for Social Change
"This book is an excellent jumping-off point for anyone unfamiliar with the powerful social justice roots of American culture, offering wonderful examples illustrating historical points along the timeline of agitational American art. Lamperts credentials as an activist artist give him an insiders view of this important yet marginalized subject. Its an antidote to the conventional Art model where form dominates content and artistic creativity is reduced to marketable commodities."
Lincoln Cushing, author of All of Us or None: Social Justice Posters of the San Francisco Bay Area
"By introducing the significant role that artists have played throughout the history of the United States, Nicolas Lampert offers readers the delight of returning to a familiar narrative and discovering a fascinating reinterpretation. This well-wrought interdisciplinary text demonstrates that artists do not merely respond to and record the events transpiring in their lifetimes; they also shape these events by applying the tools of their profession to accomplish clearly articulated political agendas."
Linda Weintraub, author of Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Arts Meaning in Contemporary Society
"Inspired by the revisionist social histories of Howard Zinn, Nicolas Lamperts A Peoples Art History of the United States is an inspiration in itself. Looking beyond an art world framed by museums and markets, Lampert surveys American activist cultures from the colonial era to the present. His passion for social change and his optimism about creative and constructive resistance come on strong in this well-written and wonderfully illustrated book. Highly recommended."
Erika Doss, professor of American studies, University of Notre Dame
"Historical amnesia is rampant in U.S. politics today, no less so in the visual arts, where the current wave of social practice art often suffers from a lack of awareness of what came before. This is an original piece of research, pointing us toward a vast territory of reconnection."
Suzanne Lacy, artist and writer, Otis College of Art and Design
Synopsis
An exciting new entry in Howard Zinns New Press Peoples History Series,
A Peoples Art History of the United States places art history squarely in the rough and tumble ferment of politics, social struggles, and the fight for justice, from the colonial era through the present day—stylishly illustrated with over 100 examples of American political artwork.
Interweaving history and art history, author and radical artist Nicolas Lampert combines historical sweep with detailed examinations of individual artists and works, in a politically-charged narrative that spans the conquest of the Americas; the American Revolution; slavery and abolition; western expansion; the suffragette movement and feminism; civil rights movements; anti-war protests; environmental movements; GLBT movements; the anti-globalization movement; and the present antiwar movement.
About the Author
Nicolas Lampert is an interdisciplinary artist and author best known for his collage art—the machine-animal” series, the meatscape” series, and numerous images that address political and environmental issues. His art work has been included in the museum shows at the MASS MoCA; and is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (Los Angeles.) Lampert was co-editor of Peace Signs: the Anti-War Movement Illustrated (Gustavo Gili / Edition Olms 2004). As a curator, he co-organized the group art show, Drawing Resistance a traveling political art show. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts.