Analysis

Modern art in America has been caught in a cyclical struggle from the minute it touched ground in the 1920’s. Its very birth was problematic for traditional art and theories. This “Ellis Island art” as it was deemed by Royal Cortissoz when comparing the surge of European modernism art to the similar surge in immigrants, was taking over the art scene of New York. It was names like Rockefeller or Goodyear, names that ran the city, who decided to make this artwork popular. And once word got out, it was a race towards success and acceptance into the esteemed, and thus, the consummation.
However, it wasn’t as easy as first come first serve. There were hordes of artists all seeking the “inevitable loft” as Tom Wolfe puts it, all of whom were silently competing against each other yet sitting side by side in the same cénacle. It was in these lofts which modern art began its ascent to progress. And what a vertical ascent it was, five flights of stairs going straight up. But ...