American Painting: 1820-1850
Beginning in the late 1700s, artists strove to become spokesmen for the new nation by memorializing key events, figures, and symbols of the American Revolution and creating unifying images of nationhood. Although portrait commissions remained most artists' primary source of income, the 19th century marked a growing demand for new subject matter, including dramatic still lifes, landscapes, and allegorical paintings. Benjamin West (1738-1820), Thomas Rossiter (1818-1871), and Washington Allston (1779-1843) produced works in a "grand manner" style of painting, an aesthetic derived from classical art, that resonated with the American public and that introduced allegorical elements into figurative scenes. Similarly, Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825) ad Severin Roesen (1815-1872) produced lush still life allegories that conveyed American abundance and prosperity.
Concurrent to the Industrial Revolution and Manifest Destiny, idealized landscape paintings revealed concerns regarding the loss of untouched wilderness and simultaneously romanticized a great western expansion. Renowned landscape artists George Inness (1825-1894) and Alvan Fisher (1792-1863) evoked these contrasting sentiments, conveying sentimentality and nostalgia, as well as excitement and the promise of adventure, in their majestic scenes.
Artists such as George Catlin (1796-1872) and John James Audubon (1785-1851) began to explore and depict what was to them a new and unique landscape and natural history of America. The flora, fauna, land, and native people all gave rise to a curiosity and pride that ran fervently throughout the nation.
Concurrent to the Industrial Revolution and Manifest Destiny, idealized landscape paintings revealed concerns regarding the loss of untouched wilderness and simultaneously romanticized a great western expansion. Renowned landscape artists George Inness (1825-1894) and Alvan Fisher (1792-1863) evoked these contrasting sentiments, conveying sentimentality and nostalgia, as well as excitement and the promise of adventure, in their majestic scenes.
Artists such as George Catlin (1796-1872) and John James Audubon (1785-1851) began to explore and depict what was to them a new and unique landscape and natural history of America. The flora, fauna, land, and native people all gave rise to a curiosity and pride that ran fervently throughout the nation.