Edward Hopper, Second Story Sunlight. 1960. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
The History of American Art in 6 Points
Before introducing you to the ten most celebrated painters in the history of American art, along with brief glimpses into their lives and references to their stylistic peculiarities, I would like to acquaint you with the context they belong to: America and its artistic tradition. To tackle this extensive and challenging topic, I have decided to use 'scissors and glue,' cutting and pasting the relevant material here and there, highlighting only the key moments. From this intention arises a topic summarized in 6 points, which are nonetheless essential to keep in mind:
- Tradition: It's important to consider how the artistic tradition of the USA actually originates from the arts practiced by indigenous cultures.
- The Europeans: It was only after the arrival of Europeans that the distinctly Western art we know today developed, initially taking shape in the genres of portraiture and landscape.
- 19th Century: It was in the 19th century that a cohesive American art movement emerged, namely the advent of the Hudson River School.
- 20th Century: In the 20th century, American creativity aimed not only to emulate Europe but also to showcase American urban centers, as well as rural regions.
- After World War II: The Abstract Expressionism of the post-war period caused the spotlight of art to shine directly on the American context. From this point onward, the artistic influence of the USA continued to spread globally, particularly through the worldwide success of Minimalism and Pop Art.
- Today: Contemporary globalization makes it difficult to understand trends in art specifically and exclusively tied to a particular context, to the extent that it's easier to identify individual personalities around the globe whose work has genuinely influenced the world of painting in an increasingly interconnected world."
Top 10
"Now we are finally ready for the top 10, so let's dive in!
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, 1796. Oil on canvas, 121.9×94 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, National Portrait Gallery, Boston.
1.Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
Biography: Gilbert Stuart was an American painter, best known for creating official portraits of the first five U.S. presidents, as well as many other prominent public figures of the time.
Style: Specializing in portraiture in London, where he was a pupil of Benjamin West, Stuart developed a neoclassical idealized style. He meticulously captured the character and status of his subjects by carefully studying their posture, clothing, colors, and surroundings.
Masterpiece: Stuart's undisputed masterpiece is undoubtedly "George Washington (The Athenaeum Portrait)" (1796). The work, depicting the statesman Washington against a brown background, intentionally remained unfinished because the artist did not want to give it up to the patrons, who were the subject's wife. Stuart wanted to create copies to leverage the fame of the portrayed model. However, this deliberate incompleteness made the artwork famous because it seems to have been carefully designed to emphasize the president's face, seen as a moral model exuding power and authority.
Mary Cassat, Little Girl in Blue Armchair, 1878. Oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay.
2.Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Biography: Mary Cassatt was an American painter who spent a significant period in France, studying under Degas and exhibiting with the Impressionists.
Style: Cassatt's unique style combined typical Impressionist brushwork with the use of light colors, often enriched by a constant influence from traditional Japanese art. With this brushwork, she often depicted women "trapped" in domestic settings, possibly alluding to the dimension in which she, as a woman, was often confined.
Masterpiece: One of the artist's most famous works is undoubtedly "Little Girl in Blue Armchair" (1878), portraying a young girl accompanied only by a small dog, perhaps a Yorkshire Terrier, imitating her by relaxing in a chair placed in an interior, possibly resembling a living room. This scene captures the carefree nature and relaxation of youth, as if it were meant to evoke memories of lost childhood for the viewer. Nevertheless, the prominence of the furniture in the painting might also suggest that the subject, at times, feels overwhelmed by the adult world."
John Singer Sargent, Portrait of Madame X, 1884. Oil on canvas, 2,35 m x 1,1 m. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan.
3.John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Biography: John Singer Sargent, an expatriate American artist, is considered one of the most significant portraitists of the 19th century. Through his travels worldwide, he also conducted documentary-style painting, capturing iconic places such as Venice.
Style: John Singer Sargent is known for his distinctive Impressionistic brushstrokes, which came to life within conventional compositions. His works immortalized both the character traits of his portrait subjects and the landscapes he painted en plein air. This was a result of his skillful reinterpretation of the teachings of masters such as Anthony Van Dyck and Diego Velázquez, enriched by Impressionistic nuances.
Masterpiece: It's impossible not to mention "Portrait of Madame X" (1884)! Perhaps the most famous work of the master, it depicts Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a high-society woman who did not commission the painting herself. In fact, the artist chose her as a model to capture a highly talked-about figure in Parisian society. Gossip had arisen due to certain physical and character traits of the subject, whose seductive abilities, combined with striking allure, were beautifully portrayed in the painting, showcasing her alabaster skin and an audacious décolletage. The artwork falls into the genre of modern portraiture due to these unique qualities, as it effectively communicates the subject's actual attitude.
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942. Oil on canvas, 84 cm x 1,52 m. School of the Art Institute of Chicago .
4. Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Biography: Wikipedia rightly states that Edward Hopper was "one of the most renowned artists in America, whose influence on art and popular culture was significant." He distinguished himself as a figure in American realism, providing an authentic portrayal of contemporary American society, permeated by a profound sense of solitude.
Style: The term "American realism" encompasses all those artists who favored depicting the daily activities of ordinary people, offering a faithful glimpse into real life between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries. However, Hopper's greatness went beyond this; he delved into and unveiled the darker side of human experience, revealing the psychology of his subjects. As a result, the people he portrayed, afflicted by the malaise of the era, often appeared isolated and disconnected from their surroundings, which were frequently characterized by the presence of recurring revealing lights.
Masterpiece: The above description serves as an interpretation of one of the master's most well-known works, "Nighthawks" (1942), set in a New York City diner late at night, when the streets are deserted, and the few figures gathered together, weary and almost mute, succumb to their thoughts, realizing their perpetual loneliness.
Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1924. Oil, 73.7 cm × 45.7 cm.
5. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986)
Biography: Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American painter whose work, largely independent of artistic movements, paid particular attention to representing natural forms. She often portrayed flowers and landscapes, some of which she had personally visited.
Style: Dubbed the "Mother of American Modernism," O'Keeffe directed her artistic exploration towards conveying emotions that often materialized in the abstraction of the natural world, primarily in the form of highly detailed close-ups of different floral species.
Masterpiece: One of the artist's most iconic works is "Red Canna" (1924), a painting that clearly demonstrates her stylistic uniqueness, although in this case, it is directed towards a flower frequently featured in her work: the canna lily. While O'Keeffe justified her interest by saying she wanted to show how she saw these plants, many critics interpreted them as a clear allusion to the intimate depiction of the female form, a viewpoint the artist herself later declared she did not share."
Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930. Oil on beaverboard, 78 cm × 65.3 cm. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
6. Grant Wood (1891–1942)
Biography: Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter known for his association with Regionalism, primarily recognized for his paintings depicting the rural areas of the American Midwest. He is particularly famous for the creation of the work "American Gothic" (1930).
Style: In accordance with the Regionalism movement, Wood dedicated his artistic career to the realistic representation of the aforementioned rural subjects, portraying them as witnesses of hard work in the fields. This was achieved by "quoting" two distinct styles: the clarity of Northern Renaissance art and the organic, curved lines of Art Deco design. Other features in Wood's work include the use of complex formal compositions and often peculiar perspectives, designed to captivate the viewer. However, behind all this lay a specific critical intent, ready to expose the ills of the Great Depression era.
Masterpiece: Let's return to the aforementioned "American Gothic," a work recognized as one of the quintessential symbols of 20th-century American painting. It falls within the genre of genre scenes, in this case evoking the example of the Flemish Renaissance by Jan Van Eyck. However, Wood borrows from the latter to depict, perhaps ironically, a pair of Puritans, symbolizing a provincial, unknown, isolated, and backward America, far removed from the more popular and exported images of the "American dream."
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950. Enamel on canvas, 266.7 × 525.8 cm. MET, New York.
7.Jackson Pollock (1912–1956)
Biography: American painter Paul Jackson Pollock was a fundamental figure in the Abstract Expressionism movement, leaving an indelible mark with his distinctive use of the dripping painting technique.
Style: It is precisely the aforementioned dripping technique, which the artist began using in the late 1940s, that made Pollock's work famous. Through this technique, Pollock would allow paint to drip directly from a tube or paint can onto a canvas placed on the ground. Following this method, one of the most radical abstract styles in the history of art emerged, revolutionarily separating line from color to redefine drawing, painting, and pictorial space. To reveal the connection between technique and instinct, it's worth noting that Pollock's dripping stemmed from the natural impulse of the physical act of painting, allowing the completed artwork to convey the emotional power of the gesture.
Masterpiece: "Autumn Rhythm: Number 30" (1950)! This work was created through the presence of a linear structure of black paint, onto which additional strips of paint in various colors were applied, forming thick, thin, light, dark, straight, curved lines, and more. As the title suggests, it evokes the atmosphere of autumn, particularly through earthy tones.
Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam!, 1963. Acrylic, Oil Color, Magna, 1,7 m x 4 m. Tate Modern.
8.Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997)
Biography: Roy Fox Lichtenstein was an American artist and a prominent figure in the Pop art movement, profoundly influencing its styles and subjects, alongside artists such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist.
Style: Roy Lichtenstein is primarily known for his mature style, which he developed starting in the 1960s, heavily inspired by the world of comics and realized through the fusion of mechanical reproduction and hand-drawn elements. In this context, his most distinctive stylistic feature shines through: the use of iconic Ben-Day dots, revealing how Pop art was ready to filter all aspects of the era, ranging from advertising to cinema and, notably, comics.
Masterpiece: "Whaam!" (1963), a painting that reproduces a comic book panel where an American fighter plane shoots down an enemy aircraft with a missile. In keeping with the unique comic book language, the artwork is enriched with a panel explicitly showcasing the victorious pilot's words, while the sound of the explosion is conveyed by the onomatopoeia "WHAAM!" What's described here, however, is not solely the product of Lichtenstein's imagination, as the 1963 masterpiece represents an artistic adaptation of the 1962 panel drawn by comic book artist Irv Novick, which appeared in issue #89 of "All-American Men of War."
Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962. Polimero sintetico su tela, 51×41 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
9.Andy Warhol (1928–1987)
Biography: Andy Warhol is the ultimate Pop master, as he expressed the styles and ideals of the movement not only through painting and silkscreening but also through photography, sculpture, film, and music (he created iconic record covers).
Style: Warhol's works, primarily exploring the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture, address these themes through the use of vibrant colors and compulsively repeated subjects. He aimed to transform the symbols of an era into timeless icons, akin to eternal deities chosen by consumer society.
Masterpiece: "Campbell's Soup Cans" (1962), an installation consisting of 32 paintings depicting the homonymous Campbell's soup cans. The artist conceived it to document the industrial seriality of supermarket products, to the extent that the arrangement of these subjects was specifically designed to replicate their display on shelves. The aforementioned seriality is not only present in the subject matter of the masterpiece but also in its execution, as "Campbell's Soup Cans" was created using a semi-mechanized silkscreen printing technique, highlighting the concept of the reproducibility of artwork.
Basquiat, Untitled, 1982. Acrylic, spray paint and oilstick on canvas, 183.2 cm × 173 cm.
10.Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88)
Biography: Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who began as a graffiti artist and later became one of the prominent figures of Neo-Expressionism, a movement through which he brought the language of graffiti from subways to art galleries. Why is Basquiat often associated with Andy Warhol? It is important to emphasize that it was his encounter with the latter that opened the doors of renowned New York galleries to the younger artist!
Style: Basquiat's art represents the meeting of two distinct worlds: that of the brush, and thus painting in a more traditional sense, and that of the spray can, a spokesperson for the distinctive language of graffiti, manifested mainly in stylized drawings and writings. This combination generates an expressive style, sometimes partly abstract, rich in references to the culture of the artist's time, as well as explicit condemnations of racism and social inequality. The rich and the poor, black and white, but also the continuous exploration that led the artist to juxtapose his inner world with the external one, which led to his affinity with expressionism, highly interested in the human figure and the ills of its existence.
Masterpiece: The aforementioned aspects can be found in "Untitled (Basquiat skull painting)" (1982), a painting depicting a skull, similar in subject to a work created by Basquiat just a year earlier, I'm referring to "Untitled (skull)" (1981). Both, giving us an idea of what lies beneath our skin, seem to be capable of conveying the interior and exterior aspects of life, allowing them to coexist on the canvas.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli