"This book examines the process by which the American arts expanded, over the course of more than a century, to include not just "classical" arts like opera and portraiture, but forms of folk, vernacular, and popular culture"--.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 The Invention of American Art, 1825–1945
  • Museums and Symphony Orchestras
  • Rationalizing Governance
  • The Second Wave: Ballet, Modern Dance, Theater, and Opera
  • Early Life Exposure
  • What Is an “American Art”?
  • Heading into the Great Depression
• 2 The WPA and the Opening of the American Arts
  • The WPA’s Impact
  • A Cultural Democracy
  • The Long Arm of WPA Influence: Artists, Organizations, Administrators
  • Conclusion
• 3 The Museum of Primitive Art, 1940–1982
  • Nelson Rockefeller, Art Collector
  • Primitive and Modern: Frontiers of Legitimacy in the Midcentury
  • Inventing the Field of Primitive Art
  • Influencing the Postcolonial Art World
  • Move to the Met
  • Primitive Art and Artistic Legitimation
  • Conclusion
• 4 Opportunity Structures
  • Economic, Political, and Technological Change
  • Changes to Regulations
  • Changes within Arts Nonprofits
  • Changes to Funding
  • Conclusion
• 5 Expansion: 1900–2000
  • Building a Model of Aesthetic Legitimation
  • Conclusion
• 6 Cultural Appropriation
  • Cosmopolitanism
  • Slumming
  • Monet’s Kimono
  • Chinatown Plaid
  • Conclusion
• 7 Conclusion
  • Twentieth-Century American Artistic Legitimation, in Brief
  • Trajectories
  • Aesthetic Continuities across Legitimizing Fields
  • Alliances with Legitimate Fields
  • People Power
  • Appropriation from Outside
  • Never Art: Kitsch
  • Partial Legitimation: Designer Toys
• Appendix: Methodological Appendix
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index