American art

American art
Gilbert Stuart · Public domain · source
Name	American art
Caption	Grant Wood, American Gothic (1930)
Period	17th century–present
Countries	United States

American art is the visual and material culture produced within the present-day United States and its predecessor colonies, encompassing painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation, and new media. It reflects interactions among Indigenous nations, European colonists, enslaved Africans, immigrant communities, and transatlantic and transpacific exchanges, responding to events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Key artists include Native leaders and makers like Kenojuak Ashevak, colonial practitioners like John Singleton Copley, landscape painters of the Hudson River School such as Thomas Cole, modernists like Georgia O'Keeffe, Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock, and contemporary figures such as Jeff Koons and Kara Walker.

Overview and Definitions

Definitions and boundaries of the field have been shaped by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, by critics including Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg, and by collectors like Peggy Guggenheim and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Periodization often follows political and social milestones: colonial eras linked to British Empire networks, the antebellum and postbellum moments tied to expansionist events like the Louisiana Purchase, and modern and contemporary phases connected to global exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and the World's Columbian Exposition. Scholarship from archives like the Library of Congress and university programs at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley situates artists' practices in relation to movements including Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, and Postmodernism.

Indigenous and Colonial Art (Pre-1776–Early 19th Century)

Indigenous artistic traditions — for example, Haida carvers associated with Haida Gwaii, Pueblo potters from Taos Pueblo, and the Wampum makers linked to the Iroquois Confederacy — predate European contact and intersect with materials and networks documented by explorers like John Smith. Colonial visual culture includes portraitists such as John Singleton Copley and Benjamin West, vernacular crafts produced in port cities like Boston and Philadelphia, and ecclesiastical commissions connected to congregations in New England and Virginia. Enslaved artisans contributed to decorative arts and architecture tied to plantations in Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans, while Indigenous-removal policies like the Indian Removal Act and frontier conflicts informed representational practices by itinerant painters and makers.

19th-Century Movements: Romanticism, Realism, and the Hudson River School

The nineteenth century saw the rise of landscape painting epitomized by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, and the Hudson River School whose works responded to westward expansion and debates over preservation that would lead to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Realist painters such as Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins focused on labor and urban life in cities like New York City and Philadelphia, while photographers including Mathew Brady and Timothy H. O'Sullivan recorded the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. The period also produced monumental sculpture commissions for civic spaces in Boston and Washington, D.C., and decorative arts linked to firms like Rookwood Pottery and the A. H. Davenport Company.

20th-Century Developments: Modernism, Abstract Expressionism, and Regionalism

Early twentieth-century modernists such as John Marin, Marsden Hartley, and Alfred Stieglitz connected U.S. practices to European currents exemplified by exhibitions at the Armory Show and galleries like Galerie Kahnweiler. The Great Depression prompted federal patronage through the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Art Project, supporting muralists including Diego Rivera's American collaborations and Regionalists like Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. Mid-century New York emerged as a center for Abstract Expressionism with figures such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and institutions like the Guggenheim Museum and Tate Modern's later acquisitions. Parallel developments included Harlem Renaissance artists such as Aaron Douglas and photographers like Gordon Parks.

Contemporary Art and Multicultural Practices (Late 20th Century–Present)

Contemporary practices reflect multiculturalism, diasporic exchanges, and critiques of institutional power from artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Betye Saar, Yayoi Kusama (international presence), and Ai Weiwei (collaborations). Movements include feminist interventions associated with Judy Chicago and Nancy Spero, queer art linked to David Wojnarowicz and Howard Ashman-adjacent communities, and Indigenous revivals by artists like Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Nicholas Galanin. Biennials in Venice and Whitney Biennial editions, alternative spaces such as The Kitchen and Judson Memorial Church, and artist-run initiatives in neighborhoods from SoHo to Bushwick foster experimentation across media from video by Bill Viola to installation by Robert Gober and social-practice projects tied to organizations like Creative Time.

Institutions, Markets, and Patronage in American Art

Museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Guggenheim Museum shape canons through acquisitions, exhibitions, and catalogues. Auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's mediate markets alongside dealers like Pace Gallery, Gagosian Gallery, and collectors such as Charles and Jayne Wrightsman and David Rockefeller. Federal and state programs, private foundations like the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and university museums at Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Art Gallery influence scholarship, provenance research, and repatriation debates involving institutions such as the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Legal and ethical disputes over authenticity, restitution, and cultural patrimony engage courts and frameworks including precedents set in cases involving collectors and museums.

Category:Art of the United States