Music Themes in American Art
Introduction
This section of the Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) catalogue Topics in American Art
is devoted to the topic "Music Themes in American Artt." Articles
and 
essays specific to this topic published in TFAO's Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking
on titles takes readers directly to these articles and essays. The date
at the end of each title is the Resource Library publication date.
Following online resources is information about offline resources including museums, DVDs, and paper-printed books, journals and articles. We recommend that readers search within the TFAO website to find detailed information for any topic. Please see our page How to research topics not listed for more information.
Articles and essays from Resource Library in chronological order:
Ken Butler: Hybrid Visions (5/29/08)
San Francisco Psychedelic (2/21/07)
Striking the Right Notes: Music in American Art (11/3/05)
Community of Strings: Regionally Crafted Stringed Instruments; article by Joe LoMonaco (11/3/05)
Rock On! The Art of the Music Poster from the 60s and 70s (1/21/04)
Feelin' Groovy: Rock and Roll Graphics, 1966-1970 (5/20/03)
The Art of the Music Poster of the 60s and 70s (5/8/03)
High Society: Psychedelic Rock Posters of Haight-Ashbury (4/5/02)
Lyrical Visions: Music and Dance in American Art (9/14/00)
Aaron Copland's America (8/12/00)
Jazz: An American Muse (3/9/00)
William Sidney Mount: Music Is Contagious! (1/18/00)
From other websites:
Album Cover Art Gallery from the Tralfaz Archives Music Department. Accessed August, 2015.
"ART VIEW; Black Musicians in Art: Stereotypes and Beyond" by Michael Brenson, from New York Times, August 14, 1988. Accessed August, 2015.
Esther Williams, Art and Music by David Fienen and Donald Myers from Gustavus Quarterly, Hillstrom Museum of Art. Accessed August, 2015.
For the Record: Artists on Vinyl is a 2019 exhibit at the Cranbrook Art Museum which says: "For the Record: Artists on Vinyl mines a unique vein of creative expression, the design of the record album cover and the use of phonographic recordings by artists as a vehicle for creative expression." Accessed 1/20
Fredrick Brown:The Jazz Paintings was a 1997 exhibit at the Sheldon Museum of Art which says: "In addition to featuring a selection of recently completed paintings of jazz performers, Frederick Brown: The Jazz Paintings offers a broad cross section of the work of one of the most eclectic and aesthetically diverse African-American painters working today." Viewers may download the exhibition brochure. Accessed 1/17
"Hung Up: The State of Rock Poster Art" by Stacey Brook, November 10, 2008, popmatters.com. Accessed August, 2015.
Jason Moran is a 2019 exhibit at Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University which says: "World-renowned jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran is also a visual artist whose fascinating work explores the interplay between objects and sound, sculpture and stagecraft." Accessed 6/19
Morrison Hotel Gallery, a major brand in fine art music photography. Accessed August, 2015.
The Art of the Music Poster of the 60s and 70s, from Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art online catalogs page. [Link found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use by researchers.]
On Another Note: The Intersection of Art and Music is a 2017 exhibit at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum which says: "Through the artists' explorations, On Another Note: The Intersection of Art and Music hopes to broaden the viewer's perception of how music can inspire the making of art as well as to open them to the vast variety of ways in which it can be made visual. Also see press release Accessed 1/18
Perfect Harmony: The Musical Life and Art of William Sidney Mount is a 2018 exhibit at the Long Island Museum which says: "A new exhibition, Perfect Harmony, re-explores the confluence of Mount's music and art through nearly 25 oil paintings, pencil drawings, and fascinating objects, such as a trompe l'oeil music stand that the artist carefully painted the sheet music of early American folk tunes on." Accessed 7/18
Storied Strings: The Guitar in American Art is a 2022 exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts which says: "Strummed everywhere from parlors and front porches to protest rallies and rock arenas -- the guitar also appears far and wide in American art. Its depictions enable artists and their human subjects to address topics that otherwise go untold or under-told." Accessed 1/23
Tarek Atoui: The Whisperers is a 2022 exhibit at at the The Contemporary Austin which says: "On the second floor (of the building), Atoui presents The Wave, an accumulation of projects he developed throughout the last decade, including WITHIN (2012-16), The Reverse Sessions / The Reverse Collection (2014-16), and The Ground (2017-18). Each project generated a series of custom instruments, which Atoui designed with teams of collaborators to explore specific questions. Developed together with Deaf and hard of hearing communities worldwide, the WITHIN instruments explore the relationship between sound and deafness and engage listening through the whole body." Accessed 6/22
Timothy Duffy: Blue Muse is a 2019 exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art which says: "Timothy Duffy creates one-of-a-kind direct positive tintype portraits of American musicians using an American photography process that goes back to the nineteenth-century." Also see artist's website. Accessed 7/19
Visual Clave: The Expression of the Latino/a Experience through Album Cover Art: 1940-90 is a 2019 exhibit at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon which says: "Throughout the exhibition, individual album covers are juxtaposed with their original art, often made by New York-born and based designers from the "golden age of salsa" (late 1960s-'70s)." Accessed 9/19
Online videos
The WGBH/Boston
Forum Network is an audio and video streaming web site dedicated to
curating and serving live and on-demand lectures, including a number of
videos on Art and Architecture. Partners include a number of museums, colleges,
universities and other cultural organizations. See listings of related videos
in this catalogue indexed by partner name. Palmer
Museum of Art partnered with the WGBH Forum Network for Banjo-Wielding
Women, (57 minutes) a lecture by Leo G. Mazow, curator, American Art, Palmer
Museum of Art in which he discusses the many female banjoists that appear
in myriad American paintings, photographs, illustrations, and advertisements
through history. [September 19, 2006] Accessed May, 2015.
Sympathy
for the Devil [4:45] video from Chicago Tribune, October 11,
2007. Chicago Tribune says: "Chicago"s Museum of Contemporary
Art's new exhibit, "Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since
1967 is debated by Tribune's music critic Greg kot and art critic
Allen G. Artner." Accessed August, 2015.
DVD/VHS videos:
Frame After Frame: The Images of Herman Leonard. (1998) Documentary profile of photographer Herman Leonard. This documentary was produced and directed by Tika Laudun for Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Louisiana PTV, 7733 Perkins Road. Baton Rouge, LA 70810.
Books:
Cassidy, Donna M. Painting the Musical City: Jazz & Cultural Identity in American Art, 1910-1940. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997
Farren, Mick. Get on Down: A Decade of Rock & Roll Posters. London: Big O Publishing, 1976.
Grushkin, Paul D. Art of Rock: Posters from Presley to Punk. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996.
Medieros, Walter. San Francisco Rock Poster Art. Exhibition catalogue. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1976.
Off the Wall: Psychedelic Rock Posters From San Francisco. Amelie Gastaut, Jean-Pierre Criqui editors. Thames & Hudson, 2005.
Molon, Dominic et al. Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967. Chicago: Yale University Press, 2007.
Return to Topics in American Representational Art
TFAO catalogues:
American Representational Art links to dozens of topics in American Representational Art
Audio Online a catalogue of online streaming audio recordings
Collections of Historic American Art notable private collections
Distinguished Artists a national registry of historic artists
Geographic Tour of American Representational Art History a catalogue of articles and essays that describe the evolution of American art from the inception of the United States to WWII.
Illustrated Audio Online streaming online narrated slide shows
Articles and Essays Online substantive texts published outside of Resource Library
Videos Online a comprehensive catalogue of online full motion videos streamed free to viewers
Videos an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format
Books general reference books published on paper
Interactive media media in CD-ROM format
Magazines paper-published magazines and journals
Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. TFAO neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.
Search Resource Library
Copyright 2023 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.