American Art History

As America has grown, different artists have told the story of the nation's people and countryside. Just as political movements, different art movements have come and gone. After a movement in portrait painting, landscapes became a prominent subject. Then realism followed, as well as the modern art and contemporary movements of the 20th century. From the lighthouses doting the shores of Maine and the plains of the Midwest to the majesty of Rocky Mountains in the West, artists living during various eras and different regions have captured America's beauty and diversity of cultures and landscapes on canvas.

With early American colonists struggling to make their marks in the new world, portrait painting was the main art form. Most early American portraitists were self-taught or even house painters. Traveling from town to town, they made extra money in commissions from merchants and land owners for their paintings. Portraits of colonial war heroes and leaders, such as the famous oil painting of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart in 1796, are on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

After America won its independence, landscapes depicting the new country's natural beauty emerged as prominent subjects. Artists as John Audubon and George Catlin explored the new nation's natural resources following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, doubling the size of America. Then, following the War of 1812, landscape painting grew as American artists continued to paint new territories. When photography surged in 1839, the new industry replaced an earlier interest in portraiture.

An emphasis on landscape painting developed in New England during the 1850s. Typical of this time period were the marine paintings of Fitz Hugh Land. The term "luminish" evolved as a 19th-century style of American painting as a result of the Hudson River School. Artists traveled far to capture scenes from nature, such as Frederic Church who went as far as the Arctic and then below the equator. Others explored America's Western lands, capturing the dream of America's manifest destiny.

Rather than idealizing subjects, realism in art takes a straightforward approach. The tone of art grew dismal with the Civil War in the mid-1800s, with artists such as Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins painting the realism of war. Realism in art grew in the late 19th century, continuing into the 20th century with realists such as John Singleton Copley. Realistic painters as John Sloan, Robert Henri, George Luks and others formed a group known as the "Ashcan School," which painted pictures from life, such as people at work. The group painted reality in everyday art. Realistic styles were also developed by artists as Ivan Albright, Peter Blume and Edwin Dickinson.

With the beginning of the 20th century came the Modern Art movement. Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso were artists who led the way. For example, Picasso and Kandinsky integrated all facets of their subjects including the profile, frontal view and the three-quarters views that were all superimposed. Jackson Pollock was known for dripping and throwing paint as abstract expressionism took center stage in American art.

Contemporary art, which began around the 1960s and continuing into the 21st century, focused largely on subjects of social awareness more than previous eras. For example, subjects as multiculturalism, feminism, globalization, AIDS and bioengineering have captured the attention of contemporary artists to raise community consciousness.