Chris Ashmus

History

11-27-06

Discussion of American Art in the Early 19th Century

From humble wilderness beginnings, great social and

psychological change advanced the course of the small colonies

to the stalwart United States we know today. Because of the

correspondence between art and history we are able to explore

American arts and their relationship to America's history and

its identity.

The earliest known artists of the colonies were known as

“Limners” which is Latin for “Line Makers.” Although they were

not officially called artists during their time, they are

recognized today as important contributers to American art.

These limners were self-taught artists who painted house

decorations, furniture accents and most notably tavern signs.

Because of their lack of education, limners were unable to

appropriately mix colors, accurately portray the human anatomy,

or capture subtle light and dark hues. This style of art could

not net a profitable income in a single locale during most of

this era, so limners were forced to move from settlement to

settlement doing odd jobs for whomever would hire them. Even

though the art of the limner was often lifeless and monotonous,

it was very simple and sincere and in essence spoke to the

identity of the American colonist. (Yale, 2)

As America grew in wealth, the tastes of the American

colonists grew more sophisticated and expensive. The wealthy

desired a way to feel affluent in all areas including their art.

In Europe, the 'sophisticated' art of the time was known as

Neoclassicism, which means 'new classicism'. Neoclassicism is

characterized by the introduction and widespread use of Greek

orders and decorative motifs, the subordination of detail to

simple, strongly geometric overall compositions, the presence of

light colors or shades, frequent shallowness of relief in

ornamental treatment of façades, and the absence of textural

effects. (Heritage 569).

In the 18th century, the discovery and excavation of Roman

cities such as Herculaneum (1709) and Pompeii (1711) helped fuel

renewed interest in the classical world of the Greeks and Romans

as a source of inspiration for artists, scholars and

philosophers. (Columbia 19). Neoclassicism had an appreciation

for the human form. It also applied its focus to details of

material things such as clothing, jewelry, and even extravagant

furniture. It is clear why this art form would command the

interests of the newly wealthy colonists.

In America, Neoclassical art and philosophy would dominate

well into the nineteenth century. However, during the late

1700's and early 1800s, an additional tradition, that of

portrait painting, would emerge because of America's emphasis on

the importance of creating its legacy. Benjamin West, a painter

from Boston, was commissioned by wealthy Boston philanthropists

to study Neoclassical portraiture in Europe. West became quite

famous and with his money, opened a school in London where

painters could study under his tutelage and the school became a

mecca for young American artists.

The first famous painter to graduate from Benjamin West's

school of art was Gilbert Stuart. Stuart, a loyal neoclassical

painter, was the perfect choice for a presidential portrait

painter because of his prominent masculine style. Stuart painted

portraits of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,

James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. All these

presidents, including the Democratic-Republicans Jefferson and

Madison, were conservative and rooted in Classical philosophy so

their choice to commission Stuart was fully appropriate. Stuart

started the tradition of presidential portraits that continues

today.

The next president to take office after John Quincy Adams

was Andrew Jackson of the Democratic party. He was a much more

outgoing president, one who identified with the needs of the

common man. Adams, the president before him, was basically a

federalist except on paper and Jackson could not be any more

dissimilar. Naturally, Jackson would want his portrait painter

to be one who spoke to his own character instead of the elites

before him, so he hired Thomas Sully. Although Sully was also a

student from Benjamin West's school just as Gilbert Stuart had

been, Sully's art was much more flowing and less intense. Still

officially categorized as Neoclassicism, his art under

examination would show that this classification was a stretch.

Sully painted his subjects in common garb instead of the gaudy

outfits of his predecessors, and the poses were seductive and

real instead of the cold postures of Stuart.

During the later years of Neoclassicism, a growing America

would demand the work of sculptors trained in 'sophisticated'

(neoclassical) style. What Henry James called “The White

Marmorean Flock” streamed into Italy in the 1820s and 1830s. The

most prominent of these was Boston's Horatio Greenough, who was

commissioned by Congress to create a heroic sculpture of George

Washington. The statue, half-clad in marble draperies, was

greeted with ridicule when it was installed in the rotunda of

the Capitol. “Will it not be worth thirty thousand dollars,”

Greenough argued, “to be able to point to the figure and say,

'there was the first struggle of our infant art.'” (Sculpture

1) The people did not listen to his cries, however, and the

sculpture was removed from the capital and placed in the

Smithsonian where it remains (but is rarely visited) to this

day. The Marmorean Flock, however, became very successful. Not

only was sculpture profitable, but came to be astonishingly

progressive. One student, Edmonia Lewis, was one of the many

women let in to the art circle; even more remarkably, she was

the daughter of a freed slave father and a Chippewa Indian

mother. (Sculpture)

Although Neoclassicism was the main art movement of its

time, other art forms arose from the American experience. Many
in America were conflicted about the assimilation or destruction

of the Native American culture by westward expansion. One of the

opponents of this cultural abolition was a young aspiring

painter from Pennsylvania named George Catlin. Catlin had tried

his hand at portrait painting but soon realized he was not

suited to be a portraitist. Instead, as a fall-back, he was sent

to law school by his parents. In 1824 a group of Far-western

Indians came to his campus to show off their various ceremonial

dress and dance. Catlin, sketching the Indians, soon realized

that his drawings of them were the best he had ever made.

Because of this, Catlin believed there was a spiritual calling

for him to record every detail of the Indians in their 'natural

state' before they were eradicated; Catlin, as did many others,

believed that the Natives were doomed to destruction. “The

history and customs of such a people, preserved by pictorial

illustrations, are themes worthy of the life time of one man,

and nothing short of loss of my life shall prevent me from

visiting their country, and of becoming their historian.”

(Catlin)

Catlin then visited every known, and some unknown, Indian

camps of his time. The Natives also saw Catlin as a man

respectful of their culture and allowed him many opportunities

to stay for weeks in their villages. From 1830 to 1837 he

produced an incredible amount of work and assembled it into an

exhibit. He traveled the world with it, showing the dangers of

the American governmental policies to the captivating culture of

the Natives. (Yale)

 As America expanded westward, a new breed of artist,

inspired by the works of Romanticist Thomas Cole, emerged. These

artists were interested in capturing the vast American

landscape, which was harsh but also of great beauty. They called

themselves Luminists because of the way they were able to

capture light on the canvas and are known today as “American

Romantics”.

“American Romanticism grew out of the broader

Romantic style of the early 1800s. Romanticism

was a reaction to the Neoclassical ideal of

order and civilization. Romantics created

individualistic art that seeks truth and deep

emotion in the beauty of nature. They sought out

nature for its own sake, not as a setting for

human endeavor. And instead of portraying wild

nature from an objective distance, American

Romantics created paintings that involved the

viewer as a participant in nature. American

Romantics looked to the American wilderness as

the roots of a unique American character. This

perspective helped artists like Albert

Bierstadt, Frederic Church and Thomas Moran free

themselves of conventional European art styles

and experiment with new subject matter and brush

techniques to capture the glorious American

Landscape.” (Sanford)

These painters formed a school called the Hudson River School,

which was the first indigenous school of American painting. The

art was not restricted just to the Hudson Valley; they painted

the Smokey Mountains, the Adirondacks, the Berkshires and even

the Rocky Mountains.

When one thinks of the American dream, one doesn't

necessarily think of extremely wealthy men in top-hats. They

think more so of common people living an average endearing life

of hard work and modest success. In the 1830s and 1840s a new

breed of artists made it their goal to play to those dreams.

Genre artists – artists depicting everyday life - had been

around in the Flemish art scene for a hundred years, but perhaps

nowhere was it more appreciated than in American culture. From

Long Island there was William Sidney Mount, who painted his

neighbors farming and working the tills. Even more famous was

the Missouri native George Caleb Bingham who painted small town

and river scenes. Although Bingham's works would be considered

low-brow by contemporary art sophisticates, they were incredibly

popular with the common man. It was not until the early

twentieth century, long after his death, that Bingham would be

considered a master of art covering the time of Mark Twain and

riverboats. The style of Genre is still carried out today in the

same way it was over one hundred years ago with masters

including Norman Rockwell.

By the middle of the 19th century, the time of the early

American art boom was nearing a close, mostly because of growing

sectional strife that would culminate in the Civil War and the

invention of photography. The deep depression and loss of the

Civil War produced bleak art forms and the photograph was able

to show the devastation and senselessness of the hostility

unlike any other form before it. Possibly because of the

apparent fruitlessness of life, the tradition of portraiture was

no longer needed and the realistic photography was infused. The

time of Greek influence on art was all but extinct as people

desired a more concrete examination of life. (Mathew)

There truly are parallels between art and history, in this

case mirroring the events of a new nation. In the beginning, the

new settlers could not go beyond strictly utilitarian elements

of art, brought by unschooled itinerant craftspersons. As

resources of the colonies grew, the level of art increased. Like

commerce and culture, art then mimicked established European

themes. Even after the colonies threw off the yoke of British

rule, they remained linked with the old world, especially France

and Great Britain. Before long, however, the internal concerns

of America became primary, and America developed its own unique

art as it devolved its own political, economic, and social

culture. Slowly but surely, the nation and its art were able to

move away from the past and begin their own traditions, which we

may rightly call American.