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Jun. 30 | 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies due
Jun. 30 | 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies Teaching, Advising, and Program Development due
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Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
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Smith, Jessica Todd. "Is Polite Society Polite?: The Genteel Tradition in the Figure Paintings of William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941)," Yale University, 2001.
At first glance, works of art by William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941) seem to exemplify genteel culture. The people Paxton represented in his portraits and genre scenes appear to be perfectly polite and very similar to those depicted in the figure paintings by other Boston School artists including Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, Philip Hale and Joseph DeCamp. However, a closer examination of Paxton’s imagery reveals an underlying sense of tension - something aside from the superficial trappings of gentility and distinct from the tacit acceptance of the social status quo evident in paintings by his colleagues. The subtle tensions apparent in Paxton’s images seem to acknowledge shifts in his social landscape and suggest that he was not entirely comfortable with those changes, though he did not rebel against them either. Instead, his work embodies the oppositions of his age. Paxton’s work serves as a useful tool for understanding certain aspects of early twentieth-century American life because of his place within that culture. Accordingly, each chapter of this dissertation addresses a different theme as it spans the course of the artist’s career. Chapter 1 grapples with some of the changing constructions of femininity that Paxton witnessed during his lifetime. Chapter 2 focuses on Paxton’s images of female nudes and discusses their relationship to both “high art” and mass culture. Looking back in time for technical precedents and stylistic models, Paxton worked in what one might call a nostalgic style. Chapter 3 examines how that style helped him negotiate between the seeming extremes of past and present, old and new. This theme continues in the first half of the fourth chapter, which looks at Paxton’s connection to various revival movements. The second half of the chapter turns the discussion to related concerns of class. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of Paxton’s last painting, which draws together the themes of gender, consumer culture, craftsmanship, nostalgia and modernity discussed throughout the project.
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