20.

AMERICAN CULTURE
Architecture
Colonial architecture
When the Europeans settled in North America, they brought their architectural traditions and
construction techniques for building. Construction was dependent upon the available resources:
wood and brick are the common elements of English buildings in New England. Excavations at the
first permanent English speaking settlement Jamestown in Virginia have unearthed part of the James
Fort. These settlers often came to the New World for economic purposes, therefore revealing why
most early homes reflect the influences of modest village homes and small farms. The appearance of
structures was very plain and made with little imported material. Windows, for example, were
extremely small. The glass that was used was imported from England and was incredibly expensive.
Naturally many houses were made of wood. As for decorative elements, there were very few notable
efforts made to show creativity with the early colonial homes. The prize architectural aspect of the
house was the chimney. Large and usually made of brick or stone, the chimney was very fashionable.
The oldest remaining building of Plymouth in Massachusetts is the Harlow House built 1677 and
now a museum. Typical colonial architecture is House of the Seven Gables in Salem.

Georgian architecture
Georgian style appeared during the 18th century took hold in the Colony of Virginia. The Governor's
Palace there, built in 1706, respects the principle of symmetry and uses of red brick and white
painted wood. This style is used to build the houses for prosperous plantation owners in the country
and wealthy merchants in town. In religious architecture, the common design features were brick,
stone-like stucco and a single tower that tops the entrance like Saint Paul's Church in New York
build in 1761.

Neoclassical architecture or Federal style

In the 1780s after Revolutionary War, the Federal style began to diverge bit by bit from the Georgian
style and became a uniquely American genre. Federal style was popular along the Atlantic coast from
1780 to 1830. Characteristics of the federal style include neoclassical elements, bright interiors with
large windows and white walls and ceilings. Bostonian architect Charles Bulfinch gave Massachusetts
State House original gilded dome.
United States Capitol in Washington D.C. , meeting place of Congress, is an example of ideal of the
monumental city and neoclassicism, designed by William Thornton. Statue of Freedom was placed
later on the dome. The White House, official residence and workplace of President, was designed by
an Irish-American architect James Hoban between 1792-1800 and Thomas Jefferson expanded two
colonnades.

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Thomas Jefferson was a scholar in many domains, including architecture. Having journeyed several
times in Europe, he hoped to apply the rules of antiquity in public and private architecture, adapting
Neoclassical architecture to American democracy. He contributed to the plans for the University of
Virginia, which began construction in 1817. The university library is situated under a rotunda covered
by a dome inspired by the Pantheon of Rome.
The Washington Monument is an Obelisk memorial erected in honour of George Washington, the
first American President. It was Robert Mills who had designed it originally in 1838. There is a
perceivable colour difference towards the bottom of the monument, which is because its
construction was put on hiatus for lack of money and Civil War. 169 m high, it was completed in
1884.

Greek revival
Greek revival style attracted American architects working in the first half of the 19th century. The
young nation, free from Britannic protection, was persuaded to be the new Athens, a predecessor for
democracy. Capitol buildings that adopted the Greek Revival style are Capitol in North Carolina,
Capitol in Indianapolis and Capitol in Columbus, Ohio, designed by Henry Walters and completed in
1861. The simple façade and the absence of a dome give clear impression of greatness of the
building.

Gothic revival
From the 1840s on, the Gothic Revival style became popular in the United States, under the influence
of Andrew Jackson Downing. His work is characterized by a return to Medieval decor: chimneys,
gables (štít), towers, gargoyles, stained glass and severely sloped (svažující) roofs. New York City is
home to James Renwick's Saint Patrick Cathedral, inspired by Notre Dame in Paris. The Gothic
Revival style was also used in the construction of universities Yale and Harvard.

Late Victorian architecture during the Gilded Age

Following the American Civil War, a number of related styles, trends, and movements emerged, are
loosely and broadly categorized as "Victorian", due to their correspondence with similar movements
of the time in the British Empire during the later reign of Queen Victoria.
After the war, the uniquely-American Stick Style developed that uses wooden rod to hold the
construction, the origin of its name. The style was commonly used in houses, hotels, railway depots,
and other structures primarily of wood. The buildings are topped by high roofs with slopes and rich
decoration of the gables. Carson Mansion by Samuel Newsom was built by a group of 100 craftsmen
in California.

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First skyscrapers
The most notable United States architectural innovation has been the skyscraper. Several technical
advances made this possible when in 1853 Elisha Otis invented the first safety elevator. Elevators
allowed buildings to rise above the four or five stories that people were willing to climb by stairs for
normal occupancy. Some of the most graceful early towers were designed by Louis Sullivan,
America's first great modern architect, such as Auditorium Building in Chicago in 1885 that adopted
Italian design and for decades American skyscrapers blended conservative decorative elements with
technical innovation. His most talented student was Frank Lloyd Wright, who spent much of his
career designing private residences.
Soon skyscrapers encountered a new technological challenge. Load-bearing stone walls become
impractical as a structure gains height, reaching a technical limit at about 20 stories. Professional
engineer William Jenney solved the problem with a steel support frame in Chicago's 10-story Home
Insurance Building in 1885. This is the first true skyscraper.

Beaux-Arts and the American Renaissance

Frederick Law Olmsted was a landscape architect who had designed the layout of the National Zoo in
Washington, D.C., involved in City Beautiful movement, which, as its name suggests, sought to
aesthetically transformed cities. As the century progressed, the Beaux-Arts influence would become
somewhat more restrained, returning to its more Neoclassical roots.
Lincoln Memorial (1915–1922), made out of marble and white limestone (vápenec), takes its form
from Greek temples. Jefferson memorial is also neoclassical, although its construction was
completed in 1943 by Russel Pope. Inside is a bronze status of Jefferson, added 1947, surrounded by
inscription from the Declaration.

Art Deco
Art Deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished
internationally into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including
architecture and interior design. Although many design movements have political or philosophical
beginnings or intentions, art deco was purely decorative. Art deco was popular during the later years
of the movie palace era of large decorated movie theatres. Excellent examples of art deco theatres,
such as the Fargo Theatre in North Dakota.
Empire State Building (symbol of NY, 381 m, 1931) and Chrysler Building (NY, 319 m, headquarters
of automaker company, 1930) are representatives of Art Deco which represents elegance, glamour,
functionality and modernity. The tallest building in the United States is the Sears (Willis) Tower in
Chicago with 527 m in 1973.
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers
in Manhattan, New York. The complex opened in 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 in the September
11 attacks. The site is being rebuilt with five new skyscrapers and a memorial to the casualties of the
attacks.

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 Art
Sculpture - Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbour was a gift from the French
government for the 100th birthday of America's Independence (46 meters high, with pedestal 93
meters. The crown of the statue has seven spikes that symbolize seven seas. The statue holds a
tablet with the Declaration of Independence in the left hand and in the right hand a torch,
symbolizing Enlightenment. The seated figure of Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Memorial in
Washington by Chester French.
Most of early art consists of history painting and portraits like Gilbert Stuart: George Washington
portrait and John Trumbull´s paintings of large battle scenes of the Revolutionary War. Hudson River
School were romantic landscape painters working from 1825-1875, particularly attracted by Niagara
Falls and the scenery of the Hudson River Valley, representative Thomas Cole.
Luminism - landscape painting style of the 1850s -1870s, effects of light in landscapes. American
realism - creating new and more urban works that reflected city, Ashcan School was portraying
scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods (Robert Henri). Modernism - exploration of
different techniques and ways of artistic expressiveness. In photography the Photo-Secession
movement led by Alfred Steiglitz made pathways for photography as an emerging art.
Abstract expressionism - use of abstract art to express feelings, decided to try instinctual, intuitive,
spontaneous arrangements of space, line, shape and color (Jackson Pollock). Minimalism - 1960s,
rejects all references to the artist‘s personality or feelings, the work of art has no meaning, painters
stress the basic physical nature of painting-color, Frank Stella.
Pop art - movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, usage of mass-produced artefacts of urban culture,
emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements, most often through the use of irony Andy Warhol ( Roy
Lichtenstein). Op Art - Optical Art giving an illusion of movement. Cartoons - two-dimensional
illustrated visual art (Walt Dysney: Mickey Mouse, Carl Barks: Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Matt
Groening: The Simpsons).
National Gallery of Art (Washington), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), Metropolitan Museum of
Modern Art (NY)

Theatre
The first actual theatres were those built at Williamsburg in 1716, none of them remaining in use for
more than a few seasons. Professional theatre begin with the arrival of a complete company of
professional English players Colly Cibbers version of Richard III in March. Later, the English
actor/manager William Hallam formed a company in America, but was forced to leave the colonies
when the Revolution broke out and most of the theatres were taken over by the British Military and
used to present shows for the garrisons.
The Walnut is the oldest theater in America, founded in 1809 with the first play The Rivals. In
attendance were President Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette. The 19th century
theateres often lacked the proper equipment and heating, and so it was more convenient for the
companies to travel from town to town.

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 In 1821 William Henry Brown established the African Grove Theatre. Throughout the 19th century,
theatre culture was associated with hedonism and female actors were looked upon only little better
than prostitutes. Farce began to be popular, mocking the politics and culture of the day. Criticized for
its sexuality and outspokenness, this form of entertainment was transfered in saloons. In 1896 the
Theatrical Syndicate was formed.
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance is made
up of a series of separate, unrelated acts, such as opular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians,
trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators. Non-vaudeville theatre of this era
became more sophisticated and the star acotrs (Ethel Barrymore, John Drew) were often seen as
even more important than the show itself. During Great Depresseion, plays took on social roles,
identifying with immigrants and the unemployed. After World War II, American playwrights Arthur
Miller and Tennessee Williams, became world-renowned.

Film
Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood
cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period. In 1894, the world's first commercial motion
picture exhibition was given in New York City, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. Film industry has
largely been based in and around Hollywood (Los Angeles – California) for its mild climate. Citizen
Kane (1941) is frequently cited as the greatest film of all time. American screen actors like Marilyn
Monroe have become iconic figures.
The Jazz Singer was the first film with synchronized voices in 1927. Short films were called
nickelodeons named after price of a nickel. Ambitious men like Samuel Goldwyn, William Fox and
the Warner Brothers made business of film-making. Other moviemakers arrived from Europe after
WW1 like Alfred Hitchcock and actors like Rudolph Valentino and Marlene Dietrich.
During the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era to the
early 1960s, thousands of movies were issued from the Hollywood studios. One could usually guess
which studio made which film, largely because of the actors who appeared in it plus each studio had
its own style and characteristic touches - trait that does not exist today.
New Hollywood is a term used to describe the emergence of a new generation of film school-trained
directors who had absorbed the techniques developed in Europe in the 1960s - film Bonnie and Clyde
filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Roman Polanski. The enormous success by Spielberg and
George Lucas with The Exorcist, Jaws, and Star Wars helped to give rise to the modern blockbuster.
20th century Fox

Music
African American music includes blues and gospel. Spirituals were primarily expressions of religious
faith, sung by slaves on southern plantations. Fisk University became home to the Jubilee Singers, a
pioneering group that popularized spirituals across the country. Gospel quartets arose, singing
preachers, from whence came the popular style of gospel music. Blues is a combination of African
work songs, developed in the rural South in the first decade of the 20th century.

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 American Anthem
The Star Spangled Banner composed in 1814 by Francis Scott Key.
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The Pledge of Allegiance

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."