American Art 1776-1876

The success of the American Revolution meant that the former colonists had to take on the difficult job of building a new kind of nation, with a new style of government, based on ideas about freedoms and rights that had never been tried before. The young country wanted to draw on what was best from its European heritage, but also to distinguish itself from Britain's culture which had been the principal cultural model. In the first century, therefore, the United States formally and informally used painting, architecture, and sculpture to carry important messages about the nature of American society and to develop styles that were distinctively American. Examples of two works from each of these branches of the arts will demonstrate the variety of ways in which the country's art presented American ideals, promoted American self-confidence, and developed an American character.

Almost as soon as the Revolution ended painters and engravers began to meet an overwhelming demand for portraits of George Washington and other leaders. In addition to being a major symbol of independence, Washington was also painted as the embodiment of "American virtue, restraint, courage, and strength--in short, of American republicanism" (Baigell 27). Gilbert Stuart, an American who trained in England, produced some of the finest and most popular versions in such paintings as George Washington or the Vaughan Portrait (1795). Stuart showed a rather "patrician and remote" Washington, partly becau

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t go to Britain, France or Italy found it difficult to develop a style that was grand and sophisticated enough for the new nation's pride. William Rush, for example, trained as a carver of figureheads for ships. Around 1800 he changed direction from "an artisan working in the vernacular tradition to a sculptor aware of international styles" (Baigell 65). He produced numerous statues for public buildings such as his Justice (1824), which was carved for a monument honoring the visit of the French general Lafayette, a hero of the War of Independence. The statue was a local product intended to support the government's effort to impress visiting Europeans. It was not terribly poor work, but Rush's art "never lost its artisanal stiffness" and it is clear from the sharpness of the lines that it was based on observation of linear depictions of statues in books rather than the real thing (Baigell 65). It "would take another generation of sculptors" to produce genuinely American work that could compete with Europe (Baigell 65). The transition to a more elegant sculptural style was largely made, however, by sculptors, such as Hiram Powers, who trained in Italy. Powers was the best of the Neoclassical sculptors who saw it as their ro

Category: Arts - A