American Artists and Art
In the first half of the 18th cent. a growing demand for portrait painting attracted such artists as John Smibert, Peter Pelham, and Joseph Blackburn from England, Gustavus Hesselius from Sweden, Jeremiah Theus from Switzerland, and Pieter Vanderlyn from Holland. In the early work of John Singleton Copley all these artists' vigor is combined with a great native talent. Gilbert Stuart, emerged as a superb portrait painter and, after gaining success in England, returned to USA, where he executed a long series of famous and charming portraits and set a standard rarely surpassed in the United States.
The first half of the 19th cent. witnessed development of the first school of American landscape painting. Thomas Doughty and Thomas Cole led the Hudson River school, which was continued by the american artists Asher B. Durand, John F. Kensett, and Frederick E. Church. The land and peoples west of the Mississippi were described in paintings by George Catlin, Charles M. Russell, and Seth Eastman, and in panoramic landscape views by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran. The work of these artists showed a direct response to nature that has never ceased to be an important factor in USA fine art.
Among the many outstanding american artists of the period after the Civil War were James McNeill Whistler, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Thomas Eakins, and Winslow Homer who created works that rank among the finest achievements in USA fine art. This period also saw the further development of the romantic landscape in the works of George Inness, Alexander H. Wyant, Homer D. Martin, and Ralph Blakelock. In Inness, and perhaps even more in William Morris Hunt, the influence of the Barbizon school was brought to USA.
John Singer Sargent, working chiefly in England, excelled in society portraiture, and Elihu Vedder and Edwin Abbey in illustration.
The first half of the 19th cent. witnessed development of the first school of American landscape painting. Thomas Doughty and Thomas Cole led the Hudson River school, which was continued by the american artists Asher B. Durand, John F. Kensett, and Frederick E. Church. The land and peoples west of the Mississippi were described in paintings by George Catlin, Charles M. Russell, and Seth Eastman, and in panoramic landscape views by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran. The work of these artists showed a direct response to nature that has never ceased to be an important factor in USA fine art.
Among the many outstanding american artists of the period after the Civil War were James McNeill Whistler, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Thomas Eakins, and Winslow Homer who created works that rank among the finest achievements in USA fine art. This period also saw the further development of the romantic landscape in the works of George Inness, Alexander H. Wyant, Homer D. Martin, and Ralph Blakelock. In Inness, and perhaps even more in William Morris Hunt, the influence of the Barbizon school was brought to USA.
John Singer Sargent, working chiefly in England, excelled in society portraiture, and Elihu Vedder and Edwin Abbey in illustration.