The nexus between art, culture and religion: Neopaganism in American art

Paganism has been known as the Oldest-Rooted religion dating back to Antiquity. It has always been the huge role in the every following period of the world civilizations containing the centuries. In addition to being a religion, Paganism has an intense cultural and artistic diversity being directly visible inside the Societies' daily routines. Pagan diversity especially based on Art style, has shown the differences according to the each century's reforms. The written sources directly show that Paganism has had the unique tone, that easily matches with the every epoch of nations. In this process, it should not be overlooked that Paganism continued to develop by incorporating innovations within itself, and emerged as Neo-Paganism, that is being defined as adapting PreChristian population's nature shipping and Polytheistic pagan religions into the Modern Societies, in the Modern period. Especially, After 1960's Neo-Paganism began to show itself in the United States of America with the huge background touching to the unique Artistic values, Cultural events, centered Religion itself. For this reason, the research would examine the socio-cultural dimension of Neopaganism in detail, by touching on the history of Paganism in detail. Furthermore, In American Art, this thesis presents the different development area, that is separated from the other projects having the same focus by giving examples of how the belief and culture of Neopaganism are processed and reflected in American art; moreover, briefly reflecting the evolution process of the concept and especially the stages of Paganism's development towards the Modern world. In more detail, This thesis provides the wide-spread development of Paganism in the each century by focusing on the deep historical researches, that have begun from 4th Century and end in Contemporary era, Although the main focus of the thesis is Neopaganism in America and American art, the thesis has become a long-term document that includes the entire Pagan process of Europe, European Pagan Art, America and American Neopagan Art. Apart from the Artistic context, it provides a broad frame from the Cultural, Religious and Historical perspectives. Key Words: Neopaganism, Paganism, American Art, Neopagan Art