American Art

Hudson River Valley 1825 – 1870’s 1 st truly American style of art According to the founder, Thomas Cole, “if nature were untouched by the hand of man--as was much of the primeval American landscape in the early 19th century--then man could become more easily acquainted with the hand of God.”

The Oxbow Thomas Cole 1836 Met, NY The struggle between wilderness & civilization Diagonal trees on left direct attention downward

View on the Catskill, early autumn Thomas Cole 1837 Met, NY

Asher B. Durand ( ) A painting which has become a virtual emblem for the Hudson River School is the dramatic 46" x 36" canvas by Asher B. Durand, KINDRED SPIRITS, which hangs in New York City's Public Library. In it Durand depicts himself, together with Cole, on a rocky promontory in serene contemplation of the scene before them: the gorge with its running stream, the gossamer Catskill mists shimmering in a palette of subtle colors, framed by foliage. In the foreground stands one of the school's famous symbols--a broken tree stump-- what Cole called a "memento mori" or reminder that life is fragile and impermanent; only Nature and the Divine within the Human Soul are eternal. Tiny as the human beings are in this composition, they are nevertheless elevated by the grandeur of the landscape in which they are in harmony. As Cole and Durand firmly believed, if the American landscape was a new Garden of Eden, then it was they, as artists, who kept the keys of entry.

Kindred Spirits Asher B. Durand

The Beeches Asher B. Durand 1845

Jasper Francis Cropsey (American, ), Lake Wawayanda, Sussex County, New Jersey, 1870, oil on canvas, New Britain Museum of Art, CT. Lake Wawayanda, Sussex County, New Jerseyoilcanvas Jasper Francis Cropsey, Sailing (The Hudson at Tappan Zee), 1883, oil on canvas, 14 x 24 inches (35.56 x cm), Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH.Sailing (The Hudson at Tappan Zee)oilcanvas

Sailing (The Hudson at Tappan Zee) Jasper Francis Cropsey, 1883, oil on canvas, 14 x 24 inches (35.56 x cm), Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH. oilcanvas

The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak Albert Bierstadt 1863 Met, NY

Luminism Mid 19 th century experiments with the effects of light on water and sky 1850’s-1870’s Tried to achieve sublime or poetic atmosphere, usually through aerial perspective

Fitz Hugh Lane

Stage Rocks and Western Shore of Gloucester Outer Harbor Fitz Hugh Lane 1857

Lumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot BayLumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot Bay, Fitz Hugh Lane 1863 Nat’l Gallery

Fur Traders Descending the Missouri George Caleb Bingham 1845

John Frederick Kensett 1859 Sunrise among the Rocks of Paradise, Newport,

John Frederick Kensett 1869 Lake George

Frederick Edwin Church 1857 Falls of Niagara

Frederick Edwin Church 1878 In the Andes

Harlem Renaissance An African American literary and art movement in the uptown Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in the mid- and late-1920s. The community developed greatly from post-World War I emigration from the South, to become the economic, political, and cultural center of black America. The writers, painters, and sculptors of the Harlem Renaissance celebrated the cultural traditions of African-Americans.African Americanartmovementculturalsculptors African The Harlem Renaissance has also been called the "New Negro Movement" after the title of art historian Alain Locke’s book The New Negro, which urged black artists to reclaim their ancestral heritage as a means of strengthening their own expression.expression

The Banjo Lesson Henry Ossawa Tanner 1893 Hampton Museum

Mending Socks Archibald J. Motley 1924 UNC- Ackland

Blues Archibald J. Motley 1929

Nightlife Archibald J. Motley 1943 Art Inst.

Pool Parlor Jacob Lawrence 1942 Met, NY

Self Portrait Jacob Lawrence 1977 Nat’l Academy of Design

Art Deco An art movement involving a mix of modern decorative art styles, largely of the 1920s and 1930s, whose main characteristics were derived from various avant-garde painting styles of the early twentieth century. Art deco works exhibit aspects of Cubism, Russian Constructivism and Italian Futurism — with abstraction, distortion, and simplification, particularly geometric shapes and highly intense colors — celebrating the rise of commerce, technology, and speed.art movementmoderndecorative artstylesavant-gardepaintingCubismConstructivismFuturismabstraction distortionsimplificationgeometricshapesintensecolors technology The growing impact of the machine can be seen in repeating and overlapping images from 1925; and in the 1930s, in streamlined forms derived from the principles of aerodynamics. The name came from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, held in Paris, which celebrated living in the modern world. It was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication in architecture and applied arts which range from luxurious objects made from exotic material to mass produced, streamlined items available to a growing middle class.elegantarchitectureapplied artsobjectsmaterial

American Gothic Grant Wood 1930 Art Inst.

The Ride of Paul Revere Grant Wood 1931 Met, NY

New York City (Brooklyn Bridge) Louis Lozowick 1923

Brooklyn Bridge Louis Lozowick 1930 Brooklyn Museum

Detroit Louis Lozowick 1927

Ashcan School A group of early twentieth-century American artists who often painted pictures of New York city life. Although they are sometimes called the New York realists, because a critic who did not appreciate their choice of subject matter — alleys, tenements, and slum dwellers — gave the artists involved in this art movement a more colorful name that's more popularly used: the "Ashcan School." Confusingly, another label that is used for them is that of another more clearly defined group — "The Eight." The Ashcan School included these six members of The Eight: Arthur B. Davies ( ), Robert Henri ( ), George Luks ( ), William Glackens ( ), John Sloan ( ), and Everett Shinn ( ). Others who are considered in the Ashcan school: Alfred Maurer ( ), George Wesley Bellows ( ), Edward Hopper ( ), and Guy Pène Du Bois ( ).artistspaintedpicturescritic subjectart movementThe EightEdward Hopper

Night Windows John Sloan 1910

Stag at Sharkey’s George Wesley Bellows 1909 Cleveland Museum of Art

Cliff Dwellers George Wesley Bellows 1914 Los Angeles Cty Museum

Early Sunday Morning Edward Hopper 1930 Whitney Museum of American Art

Nighthawks Edward Hopper 1942 The Art Institute

Cape Cod Morning Edward Hopper 1950 Smithsonian American Art

American Impressionism

The Cup of Tea Mary Cassatt

Mother About to Wash her Sleepy Child Mary Cassatt 1880 LA County

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose John Singer Sargent Tate Gallery, London

The Garden Parasol Frederick Carle Frieseke 1910 NC Art Museum