Art Essay
The 20 th century (World War 1) was going through changes in the fields of art. Painters now wanted to change the styles, and go from ordinary paintings to more modern complex paintings. Painters wanted a new abstract feeling in their art work. New types of art came at this time such as Surrealism, Futurists, Dada, and new Cubism. In the United States of America there were two great painters who worked with these new abstract paintings. Charles Demuth and Marsden Hartley were two great American painters, who influence the art in the U.S. in many great ways. They gathered meetings and galleries to promote America's modernism type of art along with Alfred Stieglitz (one of the greatest supporter).
Charles Demuth, started his art career at a very young age and came from a family who were mostly all influenced by the arts. He started to attend the Art Academy at Pennsylvania; afterwards he was encouraged to go to Europe to met new types of arts and people. There he started to influence his art work (since at the moment he still didn't have a particular style) he began to use water color arts. His paintings practically used up most of the space, and balanced his art. He mostly used bright lively colors to show great affection to the scenes he painted. His paintings at first were the very natural and calm peaceful scenes he liked, and then he changed to more abstract art.
Marsden Hartley also started his art career at a very young age. He often traveled to Europe to meet new people and art. He particularly liked Berlin more than any other place in Europe. 
As the war started to get more violent he had to leave. (World War 1) He had fallen in love with a man and soon he got news that his loved one died at war. That influenced greatly his art work and he began painting war just as he saw it. It affected his art because he now began to use darker colors where as the earlier paintings had appeared more lively. He felt guilty for what he was doing because he thought he was going against Germany, the country he loved, and at the same time he was expressing what he felt toward the war. By his art work we could see how he felt about war. He would paint flags from all the countries involved. Although we can't really see how he felt, his hate or bitterness about the war was evident.
During this era the music that was popular at the time was dancing music such as blues, jazz and other typical dancing music that it would be common to have a dance floor in restaurants and bars. 
Movies at this time were beginning to come up with new techniques and improving them one film that represents this is "The Great Train Robbery".
The 20 th century started to mark changes in time; now modern art was beginning to start. America was not being left behind. It adapted to this new art. Due to great painters such as Demuth and Hartley America was now liking this new modern art that at one point was not very accepted. During this time we got to see paintings from the war, being influential.
Sources
http://www2.polito.it/didattica/polymath/htmlS/Interventi/Articoli/OdifreddiNumerieForme/Img/OdifreddiNumerieForme.jpg
http://www.cartermuseum.org/Inspiring_Visions/Hartley/1999-8_HARTLEY_big.jpg
http://www.corcoran.org/collection/images/67.3.jpg
Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. Marsden Hartley. New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, c2002.
Alvord L. Charles Demuth. New York : Watson-Guptill, 1982.