Preface:
In various instances, time and place have come together to create a cultural nexus. In such moments, political, economic, and geographic forces have brought creative minds together to birth new ideas in visual art, music, and literature. Although there have been many such “art scenes” throughout history, this seminar will focus on a few key examples, both in the United States and abroad.
First, we looked at the original “Bohemia”- Paris in the mid-19th Century, which was home to such figures as Manet, Zola, and Baudelaire. Next we will move to Harlem in the mid-twentieth century, which was the backdrop for the development of avant-garde jazz (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, etc) as well as innovations in painting by Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. Finally, we examined the East Village in New York in the 1980s, which saw a flowering of many kinds of creative expression: a range of” isms” in visual art; punk, new wave, and rap music; and a variety of other forms, including video and performance art.
The seminar was geared toward teachers in a wide range of subjects, and thus with each situation we explored not only the art created but the social and political factors that contributed to it. As participants developed their own curricula, they were encouraged to look at examples around the world, and also to consider whether Philadelphia played host to an “art scene” at any time.