National History Day 2016: Arts and Religion Topic Ideas

The theme for 2016 NHD is Exploration, Encounter, and Exchange History.

Art topics tend to be underrepresented in NHD, so here are some arts topic suggestions for this year's theme! I also included religion topics because this year's theme is particularly good for them; so much of religion is about encounter. The theme book encourages pulling in elements of all three parts of the theme, but it's not required, and it's natural for a project to focus much more on one than the others. This post might be updated occasionally throughout the year.

Religion
--John Wesley and the Moravians. Wesley was the founder of Methodism, and his theology was heavily influenced by a group of Moravians he met on a ship to Georgia.
--Methodist Circuit Riders in the early United States.
--The establishment of the San Antonio Missions. You could do similar things throughout much of the southwest US (as well as Mexico and Central and South America), these are just the missions I'm most familiar with. They're Spanish missions that were established to spread Christianity (and as part of colonization).

Visual Art and Architecture
--Paul Durand-Ruel and Impressionism. Durand-Ruel was an art dealer and one of the first supporters of the Impressionists. See this National Gallery exhibition for more information.
--Frank Lloyd Wright. This is more on the exploration side. Wright was known for incredible innovation in his work.
--Picasso. Again on the exploration, but he also drew from a lot of different influences as he explored different styles. He was one of the earliest Cubists and Neo-Expressionists.
--Matisse or Duchamp. Along with Picasso, really helped shape 20th century art across a variety of media. Matisse helped lead Fauvism but also did great work in classical painting, collages, and sculpture.

Dance
--1956 Bolshoi performances in London. There hadn't been touring between the East and the West in decades, and ballet had gone in very different directions on the two sides of the Iron Curtain. The Bolshoi's tour to London in 1956 created exchange that led to the modern story ballet in the West and choreographic symphonism in the Soviet Union. Read Swans of the Kremlin and Apollo's Angels.
--Ballet defections from the Soviet Union. There are three famous/major ones: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, and Rudolf Nureyev.
--Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Ballet truly came to the US through the Ballet Russes, and their travels brought Russian technique out of Russia. Also, this is how Balanchine ended up in the West, which even without the rest would be significant. Again, read Apollo's Angels.
--Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. This was a touring company formed by members of the Ballet Russes, and they primarily toured in the US. While the Ballet Russes was responsible for exposing Americans in large cities to ballet between 1910 and 1930, from 1940 or so on the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo brought ballet to cities throughout the US, and their dancers established companies and schools. (Look for a local example!) And yes, read Apollo's Angels. (Seriously, for any ballet ideas: read Apollo's Angels.)
--Vernon and Irene Castle. This pair helped expose large audiences in the early 1900s to a variety of popular dances and music styles, popularizing them and making them "respectable."
--Martha Graham. This definitely falls most into exploration; Graham made modern dance what it is. Read Agnes de Mille's Martha.
--Lester Horton. Horton was another leader of modern dance, as much in his role as teacher as in his role as choreographer. He developed a technique still widely studied today, drew from a variety of styles for inspiration, and he was the greatest influence on Alvin Ailey. Alternately, talk about Ailey (the person or the company).

Music
--Stravinsky. Stravinsky pushed music to new places just as Martha Graham did for dance. It was strange and revolutionary and provocative and very controversial.