American Art

Colonial America Early 1900s

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

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.

Joseph Blackburn, Elizabeth Browne Rogers,

1761, Oil on canvas, 50 x 40"

The sitter, Elizabeth

Browne, was the
daughter of the
Anglican rector of
Portsmouth, New
Hampshire.
Most likely painted on
the occasion of her
marriage.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

The Gilded Age: 1878 -1900

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

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

La Toilette, oil on canvas, 1891

Portrait of a Little Girl, oil on canvas, 1878

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

Daughters of Edward D. Boit, oil on canvas, 1882

Madame X, oil on canvas, 1884

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

Mending the Nets, watercolor and gouache over

graphite , 1882
Life Line, oil on canvas, 1884

America: 1900-1920

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.

1900-1920

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

Frank Lloyd Wright

Imperial Hotel, 19121923

Guggenheim, 1936

Thomas Eakins, The Chess Players

1876

Oil on Wood

Robert Henri, The Masquerade

Dress: Portrait of Mrs. Henri 1911

Oil on canvas
76 x 36

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.

Works Cited

Americas Library
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgibin/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

Works Cited

PBS : Frank Lloyd Wright

www.pbs.org
Marcel Duchamp
www.understandingduchamp.com
www.paraethos.com/occulturelbride.htm
Robert Henri
www.butlerart.com
The Ashcan School
www.pbs.org
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/eapa/ho_81.14.ht
m

Works Cited

Museumsatstonybrook.org
Atrlex.com/ArtLex/kl/luminism.html
Tfaoi.com
American Art, Brown, Hunter, Jacobus,
Rosenblum and Sokol, 1979, Pentice-Hall
Inc. NJ