The Rise of Romanticism in American Art

In this paper, the focus of the discussion is paintings. Although Europe was the dominant artistic influence during the century, the artists in America were recreating their own style of art based on the distinctive qualities of the American landscape and the democratic processes.

During the early nineteenth century, the wealthy and leisured class was the major patrons of the "Hudson River School" of artists. Luman Reed patronized the arts because he felt that the American artists were beginning to create art that was distinctively American. For the first time, American painters were confronting the unk

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e painting can be seen the Walnut Street Jail, where Lyon was jailed as a young man on a groundless charge of robbing the bank of Pennsylvania. Therefore, this painting celebrated the democratic process in which a poor person could defy the persecution of the upper-classes to become a successful hydraulic engineer and a distinguished citizen (Gowanss 206). The harsh and bleak setting of the smithy represented a new subject matter that became acceptable after the Industrial Revolution. George Caleb Bingham's "Watching the Cargo" is also a celebration of the American Dream. In this painting, three men sit in different poses guarding cargo that is being removed from a grounded steamboat. Looking confidently towards the painter, these figures represent the creation of a new life realized by American democracy (Gowans 216). In the distance on the river is another steamboat. The Industrial Revolution led to the increase of markets and economic expansion. Thus, the river symbolizes the unlimited vistas of growth. The steamboat is an instrument by which these men are able to carve their new existence. One of the greatest effects of Industrial Revolution on American art is the democratization of the subject matter in art. During the
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Approximate Word count = 1230
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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