James R Swensen
Biographic Data
| ID | 1473411 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James R Swensen |
| GIVEN NAMES | James R |
| FAMILY NAME | Swensen |
| SIGNATURE | SWENSEN J R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Brigham Young University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4808-4744 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Camera vs. the Brush
In 1947 Fortune magazine commissioned four painters and one photographer to depict some of America’s most iconic national parks. To their credit the art editors of the business magazine hired a diverse group of artists, including Dong Kingman, a Chinese American watercolorist, Jane Berlandia, a French American modernist, and David Fredenthal, an emotionally scarred war correspondent, to document Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, and Grant Teton Na…
Returning to the river
Is it, as Heraclitus once pondered, possible to step in the same river twice? For the ancient Greek philosopher this was impossible for, as he proposed, “the water into which you first stepped has flowed on.” In his well-known query Heraclitus questioned the ephemerality of existence and the changing perceptions of time and space; for even if one perceives that a river and its surroundings are the same, in reality it is profoundly different. Not …
Two Danish Artists—Two Not So Divergent Paths
Since its founding, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has tried (and continues to try) to find a balance between introversion and extroversion, seeking, at times, to reach out to the world or finding comfort and protection in bunkering down in the mountain valleys of the West, “our desert home.” Put another way, it has struggled to know if it should stand out or stand in.1 Moreover, while embracing its status as peculiar, it has als…
Uncommon Ground
JAMES R. SWENSEN examines how photographer Russell Lee's work in Depression-era Iowa drew inspiration from and directly challenged the most prominent Iowa artist of the era, Grant Wood. In a dramatic catalog of photographs captured in December of 1936, Lee's unflinching depiction of the trials of rural life starkly contrasted Wood's bucolic Regionalist paintings
New cartographics
This article examines the work of a diverse group of photographers who in the late 1960s and 1970s employed mapping techniques and devices as a means of artistic creation. Products of photography’s unprecedented growth, photographers John Pfahl, Michael Bishop, Kenneth Josephson and the participants of the Rephotographic Survey Project employed cartographic and topographic strategies as part of their exploration of the history of their medium and…
A Strategy of Truth
In 1942 photographer Andreas Feininger travelled across the United States documenting war industries for the Office of War Information, a New Deal agency. In the midst of world war, Feininger’s straightforward photographs of plane production, copper mining, and other key industries were carefully crafted propaganda designed to combat German rhetoric and bolster public support and confidence in the war effort. Feininger’s style, an admixture of mo…
Bound for the Fair
The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition was a demonstration of America’s newly minted might both abroad and at home. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the display of the Native American, who, through a variety of means, was exhibited, paraded, and exploited. One of the most important but largely unexplored aspects of this display was the Native American celebrity. Of particular importance were Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, Comanche Chief Qua…
New cartographics
This article examines the work of a diverse group of photographers who in the late 1960s and 1970s employed mapping techniques and devices as a means of artistic creation. Products of photography’s unprecedented growth, photographers John Pfahl, Michael Bishop, Kenneth Josephson and the participants of the Rephotographic Survey Project employed cartographic and topographic strategies as part of their exploration of the history of their medium and…
A Strategy of Truth
In 1942 photographer Andreas Feininger travelled across the United States documenting war industries for the Office of War Information, a New Deal agency. In the midst of world war, Feininger’s straightforward photographs of plane production, copper mining, and other key industries were carefully crafted propaganda designed to combat German rhetoric and bolster public support and confidence in the war effort. Feininger’s style, an admixture of mo…
Bound for the Fair
The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition was a demonstration of America’s newly minted might both abroad and at home. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the display of the Native American, who, through a variety of means, was exhibited, paraded, and exploited. One of the most important but largely unexplored aspects of this display was the Native American celebrity. Of particular importance were Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, Comanche Chief Qua…
New cartographics
This article examines the work of a diverse group of photographers who in the late 1960s and 1970s employed mapping techniques and devices as a means of artistic creation. Products of photography’s unprecedented growth, photographers John Pfahl, Michael Bishop, Kenneth Josephson and the participants of the Rephotographic Survey Project employed cartographic and topographic strategies as part of their exploration of the history of their medium and…
Uncommon Ground
JAMES R. SWENSEN examines how photographer Russell Lee's work in Depression-era Iowa drew inspiration from and directly challenged the most prominent Iowa artist of the era, Grant Wood. In a dramatic catalog of photographs captured in December of 1936, Lee's unflinching depiction of the trials of rural life starkly contrasted Wood's bucolic Regionalist paintings
Two Danish Artists—Two Not So Divergent Paths
Since its founding, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has tried (and continues to try) to find a balance between introversion and extroversion, seeking, at times, to reach out to the world or finding comfort and protection in bunkering down in the mountain valleys of the West, “our desert home.” Put another way, it has struggled to know if it should stand out or stand in.1 Moreover, while embracing its status as peculiar, it has als…
The Camera vs. the Brush
In 1947 Fortune magazine commissioned four painters and one photographer to depict some of America’s most iconic national parks. To their credit the art editors of the business magazine hired a diverse group of artists, including Dong Kingman, a Chinese American watercolorist, Jane Berlandia, a French American modernist, and David Fredenthal, an emotionally scarred war correspondent, to document Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, and Grant Teton Na…
Returning to the river
Is it, as Heraclitus once pondered, possible to step in the same river twice? For the ancient Greek philosopher this was impossible for, as he proposed, “the water into which you first stepped has flowed on.” In his well-known query Heraclitus questioned the ephemerality of existence and the changing perceptions of time and space; for even if one perceives that a river and its surroundings are the same, in reality it is profoundly different. Not …
History (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Art history (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Photography and Visual Culture (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · History (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Sociology (3 works)