Supernatural America The paranormal in American art

Book - 2021

"Simply put, the history of American manifest destiny is written in blood and paved with ghosts: those of Native Americans, slaves, war casualties, and countless others caught in the crosshairs of our nation's "progress." Between the trauma, bloody wars, everyday violence, and the threat (always) of nuclear annihilation, a culture of the supernatural has long been part of our heritage. This quirky book is the exhibition catalogue for "the first major assessment of the supernatural in American art." As such, it studies works from the nineteenth century to the present day, works by artists exploring all manner of things spooky from séances to UFO sightings to possession to the ghosts that stalk our battlefields,... lynching sites, and the space of other unhappy adventures. The exhibition itself promises to be strong-minded and colorful. Many of the artworks on the walls and in the pages of the catalogue are captivating, creepy, or occasionally just plain silly as they explore contacts between the living and the uncanny"--

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Subjects
Genres
Exhibition catalogs
Published
Chicago ; London : Minneapolis Institute of Art 2021.
Language
English
Other Authors
Wendy Bellion (contributor)
Item Description
Issued in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Physical Description
343 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 29 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-316) and index.
ISBN
9780226786827
  • Foreword / Katie Luber
  • Introduction : America is haunted / Robert Cozzolino
  • Destinies manifest / John Jota Leaños
  • Hauntology / Maria del Pilar Blanco
  • Uncanny spaces / Sarah Burns
  • Phantasmagoria / Wendy Bellion
  • "Things not tangible" : portraits, sitters and the supernatural / Rachael Z. DeLue
  • Ghosts in the machines / Brandon Hodge
  • How to paint a ghost around 1900 / Adam M. Thomas
  • These unseen beings / Robert Cozzolino
  • Dust / Tony Oursler
  • Magic's deconstruction of art, science, and religion / George P. Hansen
  • Wilson Bentley's army of souls / Alexander Nemerov
  • Bringing the invisible to light : aura and psychic photography / Michelle Donnelly
  • Black black magic / Bridget R. Cooks
  • The rootworker's worktable / Renée Stout
  • Contemporary witch culture / Lacey Prpić Hedtke
  • Goddess, body, and earth : feminist spirits in the 1970s / Rachel Middleman
  • Popular culture and the paranormal/supernatural / Jeffrey A. Weinstock
  • Appendix: Octopus series.
Review by Library Journal Review

In this exhibition catalogue, Cozzolino (Minneapolis Inst. of Art) and contributors examine more than three centuries of U.S. art that depicts contact with the spirit world, including works by Kerry James Marshall, Betye Saar, Alma Thomas, Bill Viola, Benjamin West, Grant Wood, and Andrew Wyeth. Its thoroughly researched and illustrated essays by scholars and artists (including John Jota Leaños and Renée Stout) alternate with accounts by practitioners, including an astrologer and a witch; all of the contributions are treated seriously and respectfully. Cozzolino aims to offer new ways of seeing, and new entry points for comprehending how artists have given physical form to intangible visitations or experiences (spanning the realms of UFOs, séances, and spirits of Indigenous or enslaved peoples). The very readable entries range from one to 14 pages, and the longer entries have endnotes. The back matter is almost complete, but a list of plates would have been helpful. This review is based on a prepublication PDF, so it's unclear how sturdy this extensive catalogue will be, but its many color plates appear to be vibrant. VERDICT Whether or not readers believe in the supernatural, they'll be impressed by the erudition of these texts and the wide range of beautifully presented artworks.--Nancy J. Mactague, formerly Aurora Univ. Lib., IL

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