Visual arts of the United States

Eighteenth century				widely different styles, contemporary critics found
After the Declaration of Independence in 1776,				several common points between them.
which marked the official beginning of the				Many first generation abstract expressionists
American national identity, the new nation needed				were influenced both by the Cubists' works (black
a history, and part of that history would be				& white copies in art reviews and the works
expressed visually. Most of early American art				themselves at the 291 Gallery or the Armory
(from the late 18th century through the early				Show), and by the European Surrealists, most of
19th century) consists of history painting and				them abandoned formal composition and
portraits. Painters such as Gilbert Stuart made				representation of real objects; and by Pablo
portraits of the newly elected government				Picasso and Henri Matisse. Often the abstract
officials, while John Singleton Copley was painting				expressionists decided to try instinctual, intuitive,
emblematic portraits for the increasingly				spontaneous arrangements of space, line, shape
prosperous merchant class, and painters such as				and color. Abstract Expressionism can be
John Trumbull were making large battle scenes of				characterized by two major elements - the large
the Revolutionary War.				size of the canvases used, (partially inspired by
Nineteenth century				Mexican frescoes and the works they made for
Main articles: Hudson River School, Luminism				the WPA in the 1930s), and the strong and
(American art style), and American Impressionism				unusual use of brushstrokes and experimental
James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Grey and				paint application with a new understanding of
Black: The Artist's Mother (1871) popularly known				process.
as Whistler's Mother, Muse d'Orsay, Paris				The emphasis and intensification of color and large
America's first well-known school of paintinghe				open expanses of surface were two of the
Hudson River Schoolppeared in 1820. As with				principles applied to the movement called Color
music and literature, this development was				field Painting. Ad Reinhardt, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark
delayed until artists perceived that the New World				Rothko, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman were
offered subjects unique to itself; in this case the				categorized as such. Another movement was
westward expansion of settlement brought the				called Action Painting, characterized by
transcendent beauty of frontier landscapes to				spontaneous reaction, powerful brushstrokes,
painters' attention.				dripped and splashed paint and the strong physical
The Hudson River painters' directness and				movements used in the production of a painting.
simplicity of vision influenced such later artists as				Jackson Pollock is an example of an Action
Winslow Homer (1836-1910), who depicted rural				Painter: his creative process, incorporating thrown
Americahe sea, the mountains, and the people				and dripped paint from a stick or poured directly
who lived near them. Middle-class city life found its				from the can; he revolutionized painting methods.
painter in Thomas Eakins (1844-1916), an				Willem de Kooning famously said about Pollock "he
uncompromising realist whose unflinching honesty				broke the ice for the rest of us." Ironically
undercut the genteel preference for romantic				Pollock's large repetitious expanses of linear fields
sentimentalism. Henry Ossawa Tanner who				are also characteristic of Color Field painting as
studied with Thomas Eakins was one of the first				well, and art critic Michael Fried pointed that out in
important African American painters.				his essay for the catalog of Three American
Paintings of the Great West, particularly the act				painters: Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Frank Stella
of conveying the sheer size of the land and the				at the Fogg Art Museum in 1965. Despite the
cultures of the native people living on it, were				disagreements between art critics, Abstract
starting to emerge as well. Artists such as				Expressionism marks a turning-point in the history
George Catlin broke from traditional styles of				of American art: the 1940s and 1950s saw
showing land, most often done to show how				international attention shift from European
much a subject owned, to show the West and its				-Parisian- art, to American -New York- art.
people as honestly as possible.				Color field painting went on as a movement:
Many painters who are considered American				artists in the 1950s, such as Clyfford Still, Barnett
spent some time in Europe and met other				Newman, Robert Motherwell, and in the 1960s,
European artists in Paris and London, such as Mary				Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland, and Helen
Cassatt and Whistler.				Frankenthaler, sought to make paintings which
Twentieth Century				would eliminate superfluous rhetoric with large, flat
Main articles: American realism and American				areas of color.
modernism				After Abstract Expressionism
Mary Cassatt, The Bath 1891-1892, Art Institute				During the 1950s abstract painting in America
of Chicago, while painted in Europe, Cassatt is				evolved into movements such as Neo-Dada, Post
considered an American painter				painterly abstraction, Op Art, hard-edge painting,
Controversy soon became a way of life for				Minimal art, Shaped canvas painting, Lyrical
American artists. In fact, much of American				Abstraction, and the continuation of Abstract
painting and sculpture since 1900 has been a				expressionism. As a response to the tendency
series of revolts against tradition. "To hell with the				toward abstraction imagery emerged through
artistic values," announced Robert Henri				various new movements like Pop Art, the Bay
(1865-1929). He was the leader of what critics				Area Figurative Movement and later in the 1970s
called the Ashcan school of painting, after the				Neo-expressionism.
group's portrayals of the squalid aspects of city				Lyrical Abstraction along with the Fluxus
life. American realism became the new direction				movement and Postminimalism (a term first
for American visual artists at the turn of the				coined by Robert Pincus-Witten in the pages of
century. In photography the Photo-Secession				Artforum in 1969) sought to expand the
movement led by Alfred Steiglitz made pathways				boundaries of abstract painting and Minimalism by
for photography as an emerging art form. Soon				focusing on process, new materials and new
the Ashcan school artists gave way to				ways of expression. Postminimalism often
modernists arriving from Europehe cubists and				incorporating industrial materials, raw materials,
abstract painters promoted by the photographer				fabrications, found objects, installation, serial
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) at his 291 Gallery in				repetition, and often with references to Dada and
New York City. John Marin, Marsden Hartley,				Surrealism is best exemplified in the sculptures of
Alfred Henry Maurer, Arthur Dove, Henrietta				Eva Hesse. Lyrical Abstraction, Conceptual Art,
Shore, Stuart Davis, Stanton MacDonald-Wright,				Postminimalism, Earth Art, Video, Performance
Morgan Russell, Patrick Henry Bruce, and Gerald				art, Installation art, along with the continuation of
Murphy were some important early American				Fluxus, Abstract Expressionism, Color Field
modernist painters.				Painting, Hard-edge painting, Minimal Art, Op art,
After World War I many American artists also				Pop Art, Photorealism and New Realism extended
rejected the modern trends emanating from the				the boundaries of Contemporary Art in the
Armory Show and European influences such as				mid-1960s through the 1970s.
those from the School of Paris. Instead they				Lyrical Abstraction shares similarities with Color
chose to adopt academic realism in depicting				Field Painting and Abstract Expressionism especially
American urban and rural scenes. Charles Sheeler,				in the freewheeling usage of paint - texture and
and Charles Demuth were referred to as				surface. Direct drawing, calligraphic use of line, the
Precisionists and the artists from the Ashcan				effects of brushed, splattered, stained,
school or American realism: notably George				squeegeed, poured, and splashed paint superficially
Bellows, Everett Shinn, George Benjamin Luks,				resemble the effects seen in Abstract
William Glackens, and John Sloan and others				Expressionism and Color Field Painting. However
developed socially conscious imagery in their				the styles are markedly different.
works.				During the 1960s and 1970s painters as powerful
The American Southwest				and influential as Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston, Lee
Georgia O'Keeffe, Ram's Head White Hollyhock				Krasner, Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg,
and Little Hills, 1935, the Brooklyn Museum				Jasper Johns, Richard Diebenkorn, Josef Albers,
Following the first World War, the completion of				Elmer Bischoff, Agnes Martin, Al Held, Sam
the Santa Fe Railroad enabled American settlers				Francis, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, Gene Davis,
to travel across the west, as far as the California				Frank Stella, Joan Mitchell, Friedel Dzubas, and
coast. New artists colonies started growing up				younger artists like Brice Marden, Robert Mangold,
around Santa Fe and Taos, the artists primary				Sam Gilliam, Sean Scully, Elizabeth Murray, Walter
subject matter being the native people and				Darby Bannard, Larry Zox, Ronnie Landfield,
landscapes of the Southwest. Images of the				Ronald Davis, Dan Christensen, Susan Rothenberg,
Southwest became a popular form of advertising,				Ross Bleckner, Richard Tuttle, Julian Schnabel, and
used most significantly by the Santa Fe Railroad				dozens of others produced vital and influential
to entice settlers to come west and enjoy the				paintings.
nsullied landscapes. Walter Ufer, Bert Greer Phillips,				Other Modern American Movements
E. Irving Couse, William Henry Jackson, and				Main articles: Pop Art, Hard-edge painting,
Georgia O'Keeffe are some of the more prolific				Happenings, Fluxus, Chicago Imagists, Postminimal,
artists of the Southwest.				Neo-expressionism, and Conceptual Art
Harlem Renaissance				Nighthawks (1942) by Edward Hopper is one of
The Harlem Renaissance was another significant				his best known works, Art Institute of Chicago
development in American art. In the 1920s and				Members of the next artistic generation favored
30s a new generation of educated and politically				a different form of abstraction: works of mixed
astute African-American men and women				media. Among them were Robert Rauschenberg
emerged who sponsored literary societies and art				(1925-2008) and Jasper Johns (1930- ), who used
and industrial exhibitions to combat racist				photos, newsprint, and discarded objects in their
stereotypes. The movement showcases the				compositions. Pop artists, such as Andy Warhol
range of talents within African-American				(1930-1987), Larry Rivers (1923-2002), and Roy
communities. Though the movement included				Lichtenstein (1923-1997), reproduced, with satiric
artists from across America, it was centered in				care, everyday objects and images of American
Harlem, and work from Harlem graphic artist				popular cultureoca-Cola bottles, soup cans, comic
Aaron Douglas and photographer James				strips. Realism has also been popular in the United
VanDerZee became emblematic of the				States, despite modernist tendencies, such as the
movement. Some of the artists include Romare				city scenes by Edward Hopper and the illustrations
Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Charles Alston,				of Norman Rockwell. In certain places, for
Augusta Savage, Archibald Motley, Lois Mailou				example Chicago, Abstract Expressionism never
Jones, Palmer Hayden and Sargent Johnson.				caught on; in Chicago, the dominant art style was
New Deal Art				grotesque, symbolic realism, as exemplified by the
Thomas Hart Benton, People of Chilmark (Figure				Chicago Imagists Cosmo Campoli (1923-1997), Jim
Composition), 1920, Hirshhorn Museum and				Nutt (1938- ), Ed Paschke (1939-2004), and Nancy
Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC.				Spero (1926- ).
When the Great Depression hit, president				Notable figures
Roosevelt New Deal created several public arts				A few American artists of note include: Ansel
programs. The purpose of the programs was to				Adams, John James Audubon, Thomas Hart
give work to artists and decorate public buildings,				Benton, Albert Bierstadt, Alexander Calder, Mary
usually with a national theme. The first of these				Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole,
projects, the Public Works of Art Project				Edward S. Curtis, Richard Diebenkorn, Thomas
(PWAP), was created after successful lobbying by				Eakins, Jules Feiffer, Helen Frankenthaler, Arshile
the unemployed artists of the Artists' Union. The				Gorky, Marsden Hartley, Al Hirschfeld, Hans
PWAP lasted less than one year, and produced				Hofmann, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe, Lee
nearly 15,000 works of art. It was followed by				Krasner, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Dorothea
the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress				Lange, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, John Marin,
Administration (FAP/WPA) in 1935, which funded				Agnes Martin, Jackson Pollock, Man Ray, Robert
some of the most well-known American artists.				Rauschenberg, Frederic Remington, Norman
Several separate and related movements began				Rockwell, Mark Rothko, Albert Pinkham Ryder,
and developed during the Great Depression				Cindy Sherman, David Smith, Frank Stella, Gilbert
including American scene painting, Regionalism, and				Stuart, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Andy Warhol,
Social Realism. Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart				Frank Lloyd Wright, Andrew Wyeth, N.C. Wyeth
Curry, Grant Wood, Ben Shahn, Joseph Stella,				See also
Reginald Marsh, Isaac Soyer, Raphael Soyer, and				Abstract Expressionism
Jack Levine were some of the best known				Aesthetics
artists.				American Impressionism
Abstract Expressionism				American modernism
Main articles: Abstract expressionism, Action				American realism
Painting, Color Field, and Lyrical Abstraction				American scene painting
Franz Kline, Painting Number 2, 1954, The Museum				Art education in the United States
of Modern Art				Colorfield painting
In the years after World War II, a group of New				History of painting
York artists formed the first American				Late Modernism
movement to exert major influence internationally:				List of American artists
abstract expressionism. This term, which had first				Lyrical Abstraction
been used in 1919 in Berlin, was used again in				Modernism
1946 by Robert Coates in The New York Times,				Native American art
and was taken up by the two major art critics of				Regionalism
that time, Harold Rosenberg and Clement				Sculpture of the United States
Greenberg. It has always been criticized as too				Social Realism
large and paradoxical, yet the common definition				Synchromism
implies the use of abstract art to express				Visual arts of Chicago
feelings, emotions, what is within the artist, and				Western painting
not what stands without.				References
The first generation of abstract expressionists				^ a b Movers and Shakers, New York, "Leaving
was composed of artists such as Jackson Pollock,				C&M", by Sarah Douglas, Art+Auction, March
Willem De Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline,				2007, V.XXXNo7.
Arshile Gorky, Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still,				^ Martin, Ann Ray, and Howard Junker. The New
Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, Phillip Guston,				Art: It's Way, Way Out, Newsweek July 29, 1968:
Ad Reinhardt, Hans Hofmann, James Brooks,				pp.3,55-63.
Richard Pousette-Dart, William Baziotes, Mark				Sources
Tobey, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Theodoros				Pohl, Frances K. Framing America. A Social History
Stamos, Jack Tworkov and others. Though the				of American Art.
numerous artists encompassed by this label had

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Visual arts of the United States

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