American Art

1. American Art Colonial America – Early 1900s Rachel Linhart, Ashley Porter, Jenny Sherman, Lillian Zabel

2. Colonial Era 1600-1800 • In the beginning focus was on navigation and exploration. • Jamestown, 1607 English trying to catch up with Spain and France. Was known as the first English success. • John Smith • Plymouth, 1620 • Mayflower Compact • Mass Bay, 1630 • The Enlightenment, 1695 • The Great Awakening, 1739 • George Washington • 1st Congress • Bill of Rights

3. Jeremiah Theus, Mrs. Thomas Lynch,1755, Oil • Portrait painting • Dressed in upper class gown, with pined flower. • Swiss immigrant made a thriving thirty-year career as a portrait painter in cosmopolitan Charleston, South Carolina. 

4. Joseph Blackburn, Elizabeth Browne Rogers, 1761, Oil on canvas, 50 x 40" • The artist's treatment of fabric was an improvement over earlier painters. • The sitter, Elizabeth Browne, was the daughter of the Anglican rector of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  • She appears in a pose and dress typical of fashionable English mezzotints or engravings of the period.  • Most likely painted on the occasion of her marriage.

5. John Singleton Copley, John Spooner,1763 Oil on canvas • The rise of the Americana movement after World War I secured Copley's reputation as the premier colonial portrait painter • Traditional Portrait for 1763

6. Charles Willson Peale, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Robinson, 1795, Oil • As the paterfamilias of the most important family of painters in American history, Peale guaranteed his reputation through his progeny as well as in his contributions to the natural sciences and the founding of the first public museum in the United States.  • The sitters are the artist's daughter and her husband. 

7. Jacksonian Era 1800-1875 • At the beginning of this era the nation was only 25 years old • Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-06) – they went to learn about natural life, map the area negotiate with native Americans, and find a North West Passage. • The war of 1812 happened during this era • Market Revolution (1815-40) • Second Great Awakening (1825-40) • Trail of Tears (1832-38) • Move to the Civil War – tension growing between North and South

8. Romantic Landscape and Hudson River School • Hudson River school- a group of landscape painters of the Hudson River Valley • Sublime Tradition- the wild landscapes, seeking to show the vastness of nature and to be awed by its beauty. To make humans feel small when confronted with the powerful landscape. • Lyrical Tradition- more domestic landscapes

9. Thomas Doughty, In Natures Wonderland, 1835, oil • Example of the sublime tradition • A small person in this vast and beautiful landscape. • Doughty was born in Philadelphia, a self-taught artist, and one of the earliest American career Landscape artists.

10. John Frederick Kensett, Niagara Falls, 1855, oil • Example of Luminism, a style of art indigenous to America where landscapes were rendered through saturated light • Kensett started as an engraver, then he worked 8 years in Europe which influenced his style. Kensett paints thinly with a muted palette.

11. Frederic E. Church, Cotopax, 1862, oil • Example of Epic Landscape, a movement that expanded the sublime tradition to include the idea of Manifest Destiny. • Church was one of the most successful painters in American history, the new world was a great place for him to paint scenic art

12. George Inness, Coming Storm, 1878, oil • New Landscape Style was not just vast expanses of wilderness, but instead showed settle and cultivated landscapes • See how the farms are nestled in the landscape, the smoke from the chimneys mixing with the clouds

13. William Sidney Mount, Farmers, 1836, oil • Genre Painting, shows everyday life of average working class. • Genre became popular because of publication and illustrations in magazines.

14. George Catlin, Buffalo Chase with bows and lances, 1832-1833, oil • Paintings from the west, show not only the terrain and landscape, but also the Indian life • George Catlin painted mostly Indian portraits and showed the native American culture

15. Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851, oil • Historical paintings • During the Jacksonian era historical paintings had strong government support • Leutze style was a more contemporary kind of historical painting, which strove to show individual points in history that had national significance

16. The Gilded Age: 1878 -1889 • This period was marked by a growth in industry and natural resources • A higher demand for transportation arose, hence the construction of railroads • The name Gilded Age came about because of the prosperity of many business men during the time such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller

17. Mary Cassatt • Mary Cassatt was one of the most famous Gilded Age painters • She was influenced by artists such as Degas and other Impressionists • Her subject matters leaned towards domestic genre scenes • More intimate, sweet, gentle looking figures • Emphasis on the form of figures, incorporation of colors, shades, highlights, and compositional arrangements

18. La Toilette, oil on canvas, 1891Portrait of a Little Girl, oil on canvas, 1878

19. John Singer Sargent • Another Gilded Age painter living from 1856 -1925 • Most famous for his portraits • He was also influenced by the Impressionist movement particularly artists such as Velasquez and Frans Hals • Sargent also depicted every day scenes in his paintings, however, he seemed to have a greater focus on the upper class • His portraits were characteristic of the wealth of the Gilded Age

20. Daughters of Edward D. Boit, oil on canvas, 1882Madame X, oil on canvas, 1884

21. Winslow Homer • Watercolor artists who depicted outdoor scenes of people at work, landscapes, etc. • He had more masculine scenes and figures • He created his subjects in their purest form (not idealized) • He used common citizens for his inspiration and subject matter, particularly fishermen and scenes of the ocean • With watercolor he had to work from light to dark in a very delicate manner

22. Mending the Nets, watercolor and gouache over graphite , 1882Life Line, oil on canvas, 1884

23. America: 1916-1920 • Major Movements During this time period: • Progressivism: A broad based reform movement that sought governmental action in solving problems in many areas of American Life including: Education, public health, the economy, the environment, labor, transportation, and politics. • Fundamentalist Movement: Anti-modernist Protestant Movement started in the early twentieth century that proclaimed the literal truth of the bible the name came from the Fundamentals, published by the conservative leaders.

24. 1916-1920 • Feminism: Movement that entered life in the early twentieth century. The movement emphasized full equality for women in political, social, and personal life. • Americanization of Society: • Sought to convert immigrants to the “American Way of Life” (Anglo-Saxon Culture) • Melting Pot Phenomenon

25. Frank Lloyd Wright • Imperial Hotel, 1912-1923 • Guggenheim, 1936

26. Marcel Duchamp, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, 1915-1923 • 272.5 x 175.8 cm • Oil paint, varnish, lead foil, lead wire, and dust on two cracked glass plates, each mounted between 2 glass panels, in steel and wood frame.

27. Robert Henri, The Masquerade Dress: Portrait of Mrs. Henri 1911 • Oil on canvas • 76 ½ x 36 ¼”

28. Works Cited • America’s Library http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/gilded • WebMuseum, Paris http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cassatt/ • Artchive http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/cassatt.html • John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery http://www.jssgallery.org/index.htm • “Uncanny Spectacle The Public Career of the Young John Singer Sargent”, Marc Simpson • Artchive http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/homer.html • Son of the South http://www.sonofthesouth.net/Winslow_Homer.htm