The Velvet Underground & Nico (album)

1960''s New York

because it distilled a particular cultural moment (which later became a sea-change, in art & music & fashion) in a single collaborative effort that continues to influence and inspire artists to this day.

Patricia

no

One: Number 31, Jackson Pollock

New York, N.Y.

Fred

M*A*S*H

Korea

American doctors in Korea making wise-cracks in the face of the daily tragedies of war. Trying to do the best they can -- using American ingenuity or breaking the rules if necessary -- to help others in need. Putting humanity before country sometimes; always fighting against the military industrial complex but recognizing humor to be a better defense mechanism.

Michael

@michaelnorwick

Brandywine School

Chadds Ford,, PA

Founded by Howard Pyle, the movement went on to profoundly influence an age of illustration that defined how Americans saw our myths, history and ourselves. The Brandywine School of Art went on to influence Maxfield Parish, N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Elenore Abbott, Elizabeth Green and Norman Rockwell. The essence of the Brandywine lived on through the paintings of Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.

William

Graceland by Paul Simon

Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee

This is such an iconic American album. It's like listening to a road-trip, as Paul "travels down the highway through the cradle of the civil war". It's as much about his exploration of America, as it is about his journey into himself and his family, something we can all relate to.

Tarah

tarah_J

That Thing You Do

Erie, PA

From the music to the time period to the nostalgia to the appliances store to the Dream Fulfilled, That Thing You Do is the embodiment of all the things Americans hold dear, especially the favorite American emotion of nostalgia. I'm currently studying in Scotland and watched it with a British friend, who proclaimed it the "most American movie he had ever seen in his life."

Hannah

The Great Gatsby

Tampa, Fl

The shows that focus on a single work of fiction (i.e. Native Son and One Flew Over the Cuckhoos Nest) are the some of the strongest. I advise you to do one on The Great Gatsby.

Amahl

nope

Jimmy Hendrix's rendition of "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock

Woodstock, NY

This iconoclastic rendition of the Star Spangled Banner has become an American Icon in its own right. I believe it was the first time an artist "violated" (desacralized) the iconic anthem, thus paving the way for others (e.g., Rosie O'Donnell) to sing the anthem "in their own way," as an interpretative act of identifying as an American. For Hendrix, this rendition spoke directly to the socio-political issues of the day: the war in Vietnam; the civil rights movement; the counterculture. It still sends chills up the listener's spine, even for those too young to remember Woodstock. The fact that it was "captured" and disseminated via film/recording deepens its iconic aspects, and ties it to that other very American icon: Woodstock.

Eric

Charlie on the MTA

Boston, MA.

Charlie on the MTA is emblematic of a period in america where progressive politics seemed to be on the verge of really changing things. It is also emblematic of the co-opting of "dangerous" political concepts into the mainstream culture. It's a song that everyone recognizes but very few know what it represents. My father, Sam Berman, is one of the co-authors.

Mark

One dollar bill

My wallet

Their is no icon more American than the green back

Andy

Statue of Liberty

New York City, NY

Definitely one of, if not THE, most important symbols of America.

Stosh

Freedom From Want (aka The Thanksgiving Picture)

ubiquitous

Unlike the written word, a certain piece of music or movie genre, Everyone knows of this painting & understands it's meaning.

Teaaria

Louis Armstrong House Museum

Queens, NY

The Louis Armstrong House Museum tells the story of the meteoric ride of one of the greatest musicians of our time. All of its furnishings are original and have been preserved, giving visitors the feeling that Louis just stepped out for a minute. The museum conducts guided tours led by trained docents. Thanks to Louis's home-recorded tapes, you hear Louis at home; it’s an intimate visit as if you can sit down and have a cup of coffee with Satchmo himself. The museum owns the largest collection devoted to a jazz musician. It’s a National Historic Landmark and NYC Landmark.

Jennifer

@ArmstrongHouse

Woodstock Festival (1969)

Woodstock, NY

Culturally pivotal.

Nyima

12 Angry Men

New York, NY

I saw this film on a hot 4th of July weekend in New York City and I thought, "this is it. This is better than hot dogs and fireworks. This is America."

Mark

@doyle_dcvertigo

Edgar Leeteg

Little Rock Arkansa

Writer James Michener celebrated “Leeteg the Legend” in a 1957 book, “Rascals in Paradise,” a title borrowed for the just-closed Huntington Beach exhibit: “A Rascal in Paradise: The Velvet Paintings of Edgar Leeteg.”

The painter’s favorite subjects: naked or bare-chested island beauties, smiling alluringly or coyly sipping from coconut shells. His buyers: South Sea tourists and tiki-themed restaurants marketing escapist island fantasies the world over.
Known to many as the American Gauguin, Leeteg (1904-1953) led a Jack Kerouac life, ghost-written by William Burroughs. An adventurer by nature, he fled civilization to lead a wild life in Tahiti. Even in a culture not known for its puritanism, he stood out, drinking, fighting, and wenching more than any six men…

David

"The Bed" by James Broughton

Sausalito, CA

America was tired of being repressed. The times asked for a walks-between movie that would reconcile the Hippie movement with the Beat Movement, Mormons, Bible thumpers, Vaudeville, and other American traditions. A Belgian who loved Broughton's American visions asked him to make a film after 15 years of making no films following his 5 successful experimental films of the 1940s and 50s. The Bed was it; it later was used in hospital trainings to get people more comfortable with healthy sexuality and nudity. "Everything important in life occurs upon a bed..."

Stephen

M*A*S*H

Korea: South Korea

M*A*S*H springs from some of the best America impulses: generosity, creativity and more than a little subversiveness and quirky individuality. Mark Twin would've saluted it and so would Walt Whitman (who also served his country by working in wartime hospitals). As for the TV show itself, the sheer craft of its writers, actors and directors still stands up, even now, when we want TV shows to dazzle us and move 100 miles an hour.

Tom

The Chrysler Building

42nd & Lex, Manhattan

(Photo by David Shankbone, CC-BY-SA 3.0)

More than a symbol of the wealth and power of the American industrialist who commissioned it from architect William Van Alen, the Chrysler Building is -- more than any other building still standing -- the most recognizable symbol of New York's characteristic form of architecture. It is arguably the greatest of all the Art Deco skyscrapers, and some would say it is the greatest Art Deco building of any type.

Garrett

High Noon/ Gary Cooper

Movie Screens and DVDs

The wild west is genuinely and uniquely American. The movie westerns told wonderful stories and cast wonderful actors and actresses to portray our western heritage. Of these movies, the best was HIGH NOON (1952). The movie won four Academy Awards: Gary Cooper (Icon) won for Best Actor; Best Song "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin' sung by Tex Ritter (Icon); Best Music Score; Best Film Editing. The editing in this picture could not be more perfectly done. Gary Cooper is magnificent in his role as Marshall Will Kane...one of those times when no one else could have done it any better.

Sally