June 28, 2004

Bram Dijkstra’s Groundbreaking Book On
American Expressionism Wins California Book Award

By Patricia Quill

Since 1931, the California Book Awards, presented by The Commonwealth Club of California, have honored the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers such as T.C. Boyle, Ray Bradbury, Harriett Doerr, Richard Rodriguez, Wallace Stegner and John Steinbeck. University of California, San Diego professor emeritus of literature, Bram Dijkstra’s American Expressionism: Art and Social Change 1920-1950 (Harry N. Abrams, 2003) was awarded the 2003 Silver Medal for Non-Fiction at the 73rd annual California Book Awards ceremony on June 10, 2003.

In his landmark book, Dijkstra sheds new light on the American art that existed before Abstract Expressionism burst onto the scene in the late 1940s. American Expressionism: Art and Social Change 1920-1950 argues that a generation of important left-wing artists, many of them Jewish, were the victims of intellectual, political and corporate interests bent on portraying a brighter, shinier United States.

In these paintings, often controversial, depicting the raw emotion and intense strife felt by the people of the period, Dijkstra finds a rich and undervalued tradition and a deep concern for the dispossessed and working people. The book examines the emphasis these socially conscious artists brought to the pursuit of the American ideals of equality, dignity, and justice for all. American Expressionism is lavishly illustrated with works of art seldom seen today.

One of the most prestigious literary awards in the state of California, the Commonwealth Club's Annual Book Awards fosters literature within the state and illuminates the wealth and diversity of California literature. To date, the Club has recognized over 450 California authors for their outstanding contributions to the art of the written word in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, juvenile literature, first work of fiction, Californiana, and notable contributions to publishing.

Born in Indonesia, Dijkstra came to the United States in 1959 to study journalism at Ohio State University. After earning his B.A. and M.A. at OSU he headed west to Berkeley, where he worked as Gary Snyder’s teaching assistant and published his first book, Faces in Skin. His doctoral dissertation, Cubism, Stieglitz and the Early Poetry of William Carlos Williams, has been in print with Princeton University Press since 1969, and is considered one of the most important analyses of early American modernism.

Dijkstra joined the UCSD Department of Literature in the mid-1960s and is currently a professor emeritus of American and Comparative Literature. Dijkstra has also published Georgia O'Keeffe and the Eros of Place, Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture, and Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality and the Cult of Manhood.

American Expressionism: Art and Social Change, 1920 to 1950 (Harry Abrams) was released in 2003. The book inspired a museum exhibit, which toured nationally through May 2004.

Media Contact: Patricia Quill, (858)822-0661