Great changes took place in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many traditional, agrarian-based communities were giving way to urban centers largely controlled by industrial corporations. Captains of industry, including John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Andrew Carnegie, amassed fortunes through their interests in steel production, shipping and railroads, and banking. The new, ultra-wealthy strata of society that developed in these decades had money to spend and social positions to establish and maintain. This workshop investigates how artists and designers created the visual identity of the rich and famous in this era that Mark Twain dubbed the “Gilded Age.”
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