Reviews
"...a long overdue reevaluation of the American Regionalist triumvirate of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry. Featuring a mix of lush color reproductions, black-and-white documentary photographs, and preliminary sketches, and drawing on a wealth of primary sources. . . .Cultivating Citizens offers readers a compelling reexamination of the controversies surrounding the art and professional lives of these formidable personalities."—Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art
“Cultivating Citizens is a richly illustrated and enlightening account of the institutions and educational theories that shaped the public personae of Wood, Benton, and Curry. As a history of ideas rather than an analysis of objects, the book poses numerous questions that inflect the conversation around regional art with critical nuance… [it] is a welcome contribution for its thoughtful and thought-provoking reconsideration of American Regionalism.”—The Annals of Iowa Journal
"A model of stylistic clarity and scholarly research, Lauren Kroiz's book is an in-depth, riveting analysis of the intersection of art, pedagogy, and the careers of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood. The new information and fresh perspectives she provides make her book a required text for any serious student of Regionalism."— Barbara Haskell, curator, Whitney Museum of American Art
"How do we teach citizenship in America, and what role does art play? In her persuasive reevaluation of Regionalism, Kroiz considers how pedagogy, a fundamental yet largely overlooked dynamic in modern cultural production and consumption, challenged views of art as elite indulgence and fostered, instead, its democratization. Original, timely, and highly recommended."—Erika Doss, Professor of American Studies, University of Notre Dame
"By expanding art historical interpretation to include what is often dismissed as culturally irrelevant, Kroiz represents a new generation of scholars avidly exploring the dark and missing mass of the art world and in the process developing new and necessary research tools, while generating a string of critical methodological questions along the way."—Gregory Sholette, artist, activist, and author of Delirium and Resistance: Activist Art and the Crisis of Capitalism
"As we reckon with the meaning of citizenship in a fraught national landscape, Kroiz reminds us of the artists and artistic leaders who once built bridges amongst and within political cultures of all kinds. Her focus on artistic 'regionalism' provides a counterpoint to the bicoastal frames of a contemporary US art world. And Kroiz's focus on 'teaching' reminds us of the long-term importance of this mode of artistic practice, long before the so-called pedagogical turn. The histories shared in Cultivating Citizens could not be more timely. Read, remember, and work toward repair."—Shannon Jackson, author of Social Works and coeditor of Public Servants
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