Overview

A vivid and engaging exploration of California's debt to the ancient worldDiscussing the influence of the classics on America is nothing new; indeed, classical antiquity could be considered second only to Christianity as a force in modeling America's national identity. What has never been explored until now is how, from the beginning, Californians in particular chose to visually and culturally craft their new world using the rhetoric of classical antiquity. Through a lively exploration of material culture, literature, and architecture, American Arcadia offers a tour through California's development as a Mediterranean haven from the late nineteenth century to the present. In its earliest days, California was touted as the last opportunity for alienated Yankees to establish the refined gentleman-farmer culture envisioned by Jefferson and build new cities free of the filth and corruption of those they left back East. Through architecture and landscape design Californians fashioned an Arcadian setting evocative of ancient Greece and Rome.Later, as Arcadia gave way to urban sprawl, entire city plans were drafted to conjure classical antiquity, self-styled villas dotted the hills, and utopian communities began to shape the state's social atmosphere. Art historian Peter J. Holliday traces the classical influence primarily through the evidence of material culture, yet the book emphasizes the stories and people, famous and forgotten, behind the works, such as Florence Yoch, the renowned landscape designer and set designer for Gone with the Wind, and ""Sister Aimee"" Semple McPherson, the most publicized Christian evangelist of her day, whose sermons filled the Pantheon-like Angelus Temple. Telling stories from the creation of the famed aqueducts that turned the semi-arid landscape to a cornucopia of almonds, alfalfa, and oranges to the birth of the body-sculpting movement, American Arcadia offers readers a new way of seeing our past and ourselves.

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9780190256517

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What a wonderful contribution American Arcadia is to the cultural history of California. All around us, for all this time, California has been teeming with reference to the classical cultures of Greece and Rome - from place names like Pomona and Arcadia, to the Roman goddess of wisdom and war alongside the grizzly on our state seal, to that funny old state motto, 'Eureka, I've found it!' And yet nobody before the indefatigable Peter J. Holliday has had the scholarly acumen to sleuth out all the cultural sources and meanings of our classically-inspired architecture, public art, and city planning to shed new light on our collective Californian past, present, and future. A gift to the scholarship of our state! * Daniel Duane, author of Lighting Out: A Golden Year in Yosemite and the West, and Caught Inside: A Surfers Year on the California Coast * Many works have considered classicism in America, but American Arcadia is the first to explore its manifestation in the Golden State. Peter Holliday details how Californian dreams were filled with Corinthian columns and temple pediments as well as palm trees and surf boards. This well-researched study is enriched by Holliday's deep knowledge of the classical world, extensive research, and a wonderful eye (and ear) for details and engaging stories. * Diane Favro, University of California, Los Angeles * Imbued with Classical learning, nineteenth-century settlers in California envisioned their new home as an earthly paradise - a new Arcadia. In this scholarly yet lively analysis of California's art and culture Peter Holliday shows how, in spite of a host of obstacles, this Arcadian sensibility has persisted to the present day. * J. J. Pollitt, Yale University * For nearly 150 years Americans have envisioned California as the Mediterranean shores of North America. This intriguing study celebrates how consistently and effectively the classical tradition has served this compelling metaphor. * Kevin Starr, author of the Americans and the California Dream series * Beyond L.A.'s cinemas and emporia with their exuberant, Hollywood-inspired Egyptian, Maya, and Assyrian decor, American Arcadia reveals the surprisingly pervasive presence of Greek and Roman antiquity in California. Both model and metaphor, the 'new Hellas' that Peter Holliday portrays is a culturally ambitious Golden State, where classicism inspired art, architecture, landscapes, and the body. * Claire Lyons, J. Paul Getty Museum *

"""Many works have considered classicism in America, but American Arcadia is the first to explore its manifestation in the Golden State. Peter Holliday details how Californian dreams were filled with Corinthian columns and temple pediments as well as palm trees and surf boards. This well-researched study is enriched by Holliday's deep knowledge of the classical world, extensive research, and a wonderful eye (and ear) for details and engaging stories."" -- Diane Favro, University of California, Los Angeles ""What a wonderful contribution American Arcadia is to the cultural history of California. All around us, for all this time, California has been teeming with reference to the classical cultures of Greece and Rome--from place names like Pomona and Arcadia, to the Roman goddess of wisdom and war alongside the grizzly on our state seal, to that funny old state motto, 'Eureka, I've found it!' And yet nobody before the indefatigable Peter J. Holliday has had the scholarly acumen to sleuth out all the cultural sources and meanings of our classically-inspired architecture, public art, and city planning to shed new light on our collective Californian past, present, and future. A gift to the scholarship of our state!"" -- Daniel Duane, author of Lighting Out: A Golden Year in Yosemite and the West, and Caught Inside: A Surfer's Year on the California Coast ""An eminent and absorbing contribution to the literature of California."" -- Library Journal ""Well-researched and all-encompassing, this is a thoughtful analysis of how contemporary Californian culture came to be."" --Publishers Weekly ""Before (and after) Spanish Revival, there was a dream of our state as a Grecian Eden. Holliday makes his case surprisingly well, starting with the state seal's declaration ""Eureka"" before moving on to movie star homes, civic centers and the over-the-top classicism of Hearst Castle and Getty Villa. Academic but picturesque, with a Southern California focus and no freeway gridlock in sight.""--San Francisco Chronicle"

Beyond L.A.'s cinemas and emporia with their exuberant, Hollywood-inspired Egyptian, Maya, and Assyrian decor, American Arcadia reveals the surprisingly pervasive presence of Greek and Roman antiquity in California. Both model and metaphor, the 'new Hellas' that Peter Holliday portrays is a culturally ambitious Golden State, where classicism inspired art, architecture, landscapes, and the body. Claire Lyons, J. Paul Getty Museum For nearly 150 years Americans have envisioned California as the Mediterranean shores of North America. This intriguing study celebrates how consistently and effectively the classical tradition has served this compelling metaphor. Kevin Starr, author of the Americans and the California Dream series Imbued with Classical learning, nineteenth-century settlers in California envisioned their new home as an earthly paradise - a new Arcadia. In this scholarly yet lively analysis of California's art and culture Peter Holliday shows how, in spite of a host of obstacles, this Arcadian sensibility has persisted to the present day. J. J. Pollitt, Yale University Many works have considered classicism in America, but American Arcadia is the first to explore its manifestation in the Golden State. Peter Holliday details how Californian dreams were filled with Corinthian columns and temple pediments as well as palm trees and surf boards. This well-researched study is enriched by Holliday's deep knowledge of the classical world, extensive research, and a wonderful eye (and ear) for details and engaging stories. Diane Favro, University of California, Los Angeles

Author Information

Peter J. Holliday is Professor of the History of Art and Classical Archaeology, California State University, Long Beach. Trained as an historian of classical art and archaeology, Holliday has received awards for his research and writing from the American Academy in Rome, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, and National Endowment for the Humanities.

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