Jazz Age. As seen through the Eyes of Ralph Barton, Miguel Covarrubias and John Held jr.

Gutes Ex.; Einband gering berieben. - Englisch. // THIS exhibition of the Jazz Age in Caricature is the work of Richard Merkin, a contemporary painter whose knowledge of the 1920's and 1930's is almost encyclopedic. Museum visitors should know that to a large extent, painters, not critics or historians, really determine the fashions of scholarship in art history and exhibitions in museums. Artists perform this curious sub-function by conditioning the eyes of critics to the fascinations of some period in the past which suddenly seems manifest in the present. The process is very complex, of course, but in Merkin's case tantalizing obvious. In Rhode Island we know Merkin and his art very well, and with this exhibition, we shall know both better. But the purpose of the Jazz Age is not that; rather, it is to present the exhilarating and once enormously popular work of a period with the realization that the relationship between popular illustration and Fine Art works two ways. This exhibition owes something to Carl Wein-hardt of the John Herron Museum of Art, of Indianapolis, who last year organized an important retrospective of the work of John Held, Jr. It also owes a great deal to Miss Elizabeth L. Broad, curatorial assistant, Museum of Art, Rhode Island Scho.ol of Design, who coordinated the exhibition at every stage. I would also like to express our gratitude to Mr. Marvin Garner and Mr. Benedict Goldsmith of the State University of New York, College at Potsdam, New York, with the Museum of Art, co-organizers of the show. DANIEL ROBBINS (Vorwort) // (Jos�Miguel Covarrubias (* 22. November 1904 in Mexiko-Stadt; � 4. Februar 1957 ebenda), auch genannt �El Chamaco� (span. f�r �Der Junge�), war ein mexikanischer Maler, Karikaturist, Ethnologe und Kunsthistoriker. // Ralph Barton (August 14, 1891 � May 19, 1931) was an American artist best known for his cartoons and caricatures of actors and other celebrities. Though his work was heavily in demand through the 1920s and is often considered to epitomize the era, his personal life was troubled by mental illness, and he was nearly forgotten soon after his suicide, shortly before his fortieth birthday. // John Held Jr. (January 10, 1889 � March 2, 1958) was an American cartoonist, printmaker, and illustrator. One of the best-known magazine illustrators of the 1920s, Held created cheerful art showing his characters dancing, motoring and engaging in fun-filled activities. The drawings depicted the flapper era in a way that both satirized and influenced the styles and mores of the time, and his images have continued to define the jazz age for subsequent generations. He also produced linocuts that depicted a Victorian era that was dark with violence and abuse.