The Centennial decade was an era of ambivalence; the United States still unresolved about the incomprehensible damage it had wrought over four years of Civil War; and why. Philadelphiarsquo;s 1876 Centennial Exhibition -- a spectacular international event celebrating one hundred years of American strength; unity; and freedom -- took place in the immediate wake of this trauma of war and the failures of Reconstruction as a means to restore power and patriotism in the nationrsquo;s struggle to rebuild itself. The Unfinished Exhibition; the first comprehensive examination of American art at the Centennial; explains the critical role of visual culture in negotiating memories of the nationrsquo;s past that conflicted with the optimism that Exhibition officials promoted. Supporting novel iconographical interpretations with myriad primary source material; author Susanna W. Gold demonstrates how the art galleries and the audiences who visited them addressed the lingering traumas of battle; the uneasy re-unification of North and South; and the persisting racial tensions in the post-Emancipation era. This careful consideration of the visual record exposes the complexities of the warrsquo;s impact on Americans and clarifies how the Centennial art exhibition affected a nation still finding its direction at a critical moment in its history.
2016-08-23 2016-08-23File Name: B01MY0HZ1A
Review
