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Course: The Seeing America Project > Unit 6
Lesson 6: For teachers: learning resources1900-1960: learning resources
Monument Avenue and the Lost Cause
Key points
- Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, is the original site of six bronze sculptures honoring famous individuals from American history. Five of the sculptures represent high-ranking members of the Confederacy from the United States Civil War and, as of October of 2021, have all been removed from their pedestals. The sixth and most recent sculpture, of tennis legend and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe, remains on display.
- Considered in its entirety, the group of five Confederate monuments serves as a testament to the “lost cause” mythology, which emerged in the years following the end of the Civil War. The myth perpetuates the falsehood that the war was fought to defend the Southern states’ rights instead of the institution of slavery, heroizes the efforts of Confederate soldiers and leaders, and celebrates the white supremacist reversal of gains made by African Americans during Reconstruction (1865–77). The more recent removal of Confederate sculptures across the American South, including these five, is seen as a referendum on this “lost cause” narrative.
- The creation of Monument Avenue is an example of the City Beautiful Movement, which promoted a greater emphasis on aesthetics and order in the design of the built environment in cities across the United States beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Go deeper
The Lost Cause, entry from Encyclopedia Virginia
Sarah Beetham, Ph.D, “From Spray Cans to Minivans: Contesting the Legacy of Confederate Soldier Monuments in the Era of “Black Lives Matter,” Public Art Dialogue 6, no. 1 (2016): pp. 9–33
Confederate Monuments and the Black Lives Matter Movement: Interview with Sarah Beetham, Ph.D., Public Art Dialogue 7, no. 2 (2015)
Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War on Smarthistory
Confederate Monument Interpretation Guide (Atlanta History Center: 2016)
Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy (Southern Poverty Law Center: 2019)
“The Neutral Ground” (PBS POV documentary: July 2021)
More to think about
In the 1990s, when the Arthur Ashe sculpture was created, there was much debate about whether or not it belonged on Monument Avenue. What is your opinion and why?
Shrady and Casey, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial
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Public art, politics, and the banishing of Civic Virtue
Key points
- Commissioned in 1909 and completed in 1922, the marble sculpture Civic Virtue was produced in a time of transition artistically, socially, and politically. During this period, modern art and abstraction were introduced to viewers in the United States, shifting artistic interests and tastes; the 19th Amendment was passed, granting suffrage to women after years of protest and agitation; and urban beautification initiatives reflected broader progressive efforts to educate the masses as well as eradicate political corruption.
- These changes impacted both the immediate reception of the sculpture and the trajectory of its physical presence in the city of New York up to the present day. Initially, negative reaction to the gendered power dynamics—a triumphant male figure standing above female figures—and more traditional style of the sculpture prompted multiple relocations of Civic Virtue. The sculpture was allowed to decay and experienced damage to its surface due to prolonged exposure to industrial pollution.
Go deeper
City Beautiful Movement, New York Preservation Archive Project
The Progressive Era, Khan Academy
Leaving all to younger hands: Why the history of the women’s suffragist movement matters, Susan Ware, The Brookings Institute
Learn about the trajectory of public sculpture in the United States at the turn of the 19th century and the place of the Beaux-Arts style therein. From Model to Monument: American Public Sculpture, 1865–1915 Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Frederick William MacMonnies (1863–1937) Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Behind the Scenes: Public Sculpture in New York City, March 19, 2011, WNYC
Michele H. Bogart, The Politics of Urban Beauty: New York and its Art Commission, University of Chicago Press, 2006
More to think about
What does the concept of civic virtue mean to you? How might you represent it as a sculpture and why?
An artifact of racism, a Connecticut Klan robe
Key points
• The Ku Klux Klan was a significant presence throughout the United States in the early 20th century, and not, as is often assumed, in just the southern states. The KKK used terror to ensure white supremacy. Although African-Americans were their primary target, they also terrorized Catholics, Jews, and Eastern and Southern Europeans, all of whom they considered non-white.
• The Klan enforced white supremacy in southern states in the wake of the Civil War but largely consisted of local groups without a national profile or organization. D.W. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation was a major impetus for the growth and centralization of the KKK in the early 20th century. At the same time, backlash to the film propelled the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) and civil rights activists to fight against circulation of the film and its negative portrayal of African-Americans.
• This robe, and others like it, were mass-produced and widely available. This particular model was constructed of plain cotton and included minimal ornamentation. It sold for five dollars. The design of the robe and hood was intended to represent its wearer as a larger-than-life figure and hide the wearer’s identity.
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More to think about
How would you feel if you saw this object displayed in a museum? Do you think museums should, or should not, preserve and display artifacts with violent or racist histories? What are some arguments for and against doing so?
Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti
Go deeper
Alejandro Anreus, ed. Ben Shahn and The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (Jersey City, NJ: The Jersey City Museum and Rutgers University Press, 2001.)
Susan Chevlowe, Common Man, Mythic Vision: The Paintings of Ben Shahn *Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998).
Morse, John. “Ben Shahn: An Interview,” Magazine of Art 37, no. 4 (April 1944), pp. 138-139.
Ben Shahn, Ben and Forrest Selvig, “Interview: Ben Shahn Talks with Forrest Selvig,” Archives of American Art Journal 17, no. 3 (1977), pp. 14-21.
The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1967, mosaic, Syracuse University
Horace Pippin's Mr. Prejudice
Key points
- Racial discrimination continued to undermine the legal rights granted African Americans after the Civil War well into the 20th century. This injustice is especially apparent in light of the service, sacrifice, and patriotism of African Americans in the military during both World Wars.
- “V for Victory” was a popular slogan in the allied fight to end World War II that had been coined by Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of Britain). African American groups expanded its meaning to create the “Double V” campaign, promoting the dual hope that victory in war could be accompanied by an end to racial conflict and discrimination on the home front.
- Horace Pippin had served in the segregated 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I. This unit was known as the Harlem Hellfighters for their fierce bravery in battle. Despite the success of the regiment, which spent more time on the frontlines than any other, its soldiers faced such deep-seated racism that the U.S. Army placed them under French command. When they returned home after the war, they continued to face discrimination in daily life.
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More to think about
Consider the discrimination faced by African Americans in the military during World War I and II. What other groups have faced similar discrimination in the military and other public service? Why do you think individuals who have experienced discrimination might still choose to serve?
Diego Rivera, Man Controller of the Universe
Key points
- Man Controller of the Universe is a fresco in the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. Part of a tradition of art for the people begun in the wake of the Mexican Revolution, it is a recreation of a mural, Man at the Crossroads, commissioned John D. Rockefeller Jr. in New York City, which was begun and then destroyed.
- Diego Rivera was basking in the success of murals in San Francisco and Detroit, as well as a one-man exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Rivera’s design for Man at the Crossroads included a portrait of the Russian communist leader Lenin, which angered the capitalist Rockefeller. He insisted Rivera remove it, but Rivera refused. In the end, Rockefeller paid Rivera for the commission, but locked the artist out and had the work destroyed.
- The mural in Mexico City, retitled Man Controller of the Universe, depicts a world coming to grips with politically turbulent times as well as asking what the future holds for a humanity that had been able to peer deep into space as well as into the microscopic world.
- Rivera emphasizes the differences between the good and evil that mankind is capable of, as well as the differences between capitalist and communist societies. He placed many portraits in the painting, including communist leaders as well as a portrait of John D. Rockefeller Jr. as a wealthy capitalist indifferent to the suffering of the starving, unemployed lower classes.
- Throughout the painting, Rivera shows a hopeful vision of a world where people of all races and ethnicities are able to join together, be educated together, and work together towards the future. However, it is not certain that this is the world humanity will choose.
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More to think about
Diego Rivera’s vision of humanity in Man Controller of the Universe is meant to be inclusive in its representation of many different races and ethnicities, as well as men and women, capable of coming together and living in a better world. It also rejects the American capitalism of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the fascism of the Nazis. Why then do you think that the main “controller” figure of the mural is a blonde, blue-eyed man?