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Period 4: 1800-1848 Videos 17 videos

AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 4: 1800-1848
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AP U.S. History 1.1 Period 4: 1800-1848. The "separation" that the American Colonization Society advocates for is...what?

AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 4: 1800-1848
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AP U.S. History 1.2 Period 4: 1800-1848. A growing trend among slaveholders in the South was to argue that slavery was...what?

AP U.S. History 1.3 Period 4: 1800-1848
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AP US History: Politics in Antebellum America Drill 1, Problem 1. Expanding government and regulation into the Louisiana territory proved chal...

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AP U.S. History 2.4 Period 4: 1800-1848 255 Views


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Description:

The painting in this video reflects what growing aesthetic trend among Americans in the early 19th century? We really hope it's that painting of the dogs playing poker. That's a masterpiece. 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by the Hudson River School,

00:07

voted the number one party school by Trout Monthly.

00:13

All right, the painting pictured above reflects what growing

00:16

aesthetic trend among Americans in the early 19th century?

00:19

And here are your potential answers.

00:21

[ buzz ]

00:23

[ mumbles ]

00:26

[ mumbling continues ]

00:28

All right. Well, how can we describe the aesthetic of this painting?

00:32

Well, it's a very detailed landscape, that's for sure.

00:34

And we see a man in the bottom left corner taking in the beauty of the outdoors.

00:39

Is that Al Gore? All right.

00:41

If you look in the middle there, we see that there are some buildings,

00:44

which could represent man starting to make his

00:47

mark on the world around him.

00:49

All right, let's keep all those in the back of our heads as we look at the answers.

00:53

So does the painting reflect the trend of

00:56

B - a shifting focus toward pessimism and disillusionment?

01:02

Well, all those gentle colors make the painting feel

01:05

pretty rosy and idyllic.

01:06

In fact, these painters were often referred to as "Romantics."

01:10

No, not Romeo and Juliet romantics, but Romantics

01:13

with the idealized belief that humans and nature could

01:17

peacefully coexist.

01:19

So that knocks out B and D.

01:21

Could this aesthetic trend have reflected

01:23

C - a refutation of religious subjects and piety?

01:27

Well, take a look at the painting again.

01:29

That man in the corner? The painters usually put

01:31

a white settler in their landscapes to signify that

01:34

God had created the land specifically for them.

01:38

Which is also why you see those buildings in the distance.

01:40

Obviously, much of this land already had inhabitants.

01:43

But that wasn't really a concern for the artists.

01:46

So it's not C, either.

01:47

That means that these landscape paintings emphasized

01:50

A - a combination of European forms and American ideas.

01:55

This epic, sweeping form of landscape painting was originally developed in Europe,

01:59

where every artist meticulously captured every detail.

02:02

But the overwhelming grandeur of the landscape

02:04

and that explorer in the foreground?

02:06

Well, ready to take it on?

02:08

Those were American ideas implanted on top of

02:11

a traditionally European form. So the answer is A.

02:14

Eventually, critics referred to American landscapes as

02:17

relatively paint-by-numbers.

02:19

Uh, but at least they were very patriotic numbers.

02:22

[ roaring ]

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