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Introduction

An American Idyll

19th-Century Paintings and Decorative Arts
April 6, 2007 - January 6, 2008

Paintings of American life in the 19th century convey an overwhelming sense of optimism. We are drawn to these idyllic views, to their dense forests and clear streams, children with fishing poles, and young girls in white summer dresses. They suggest to us a simpler time, when art was created with a specific set of skills and was judged by truthfulness to nature.

In fact, even seemingly benign scenes embody layers of cultural meaning. Landscapes represent wildernesses to be experienced with religious zeal or perceived as economic resources ripe for speculation. Portraits reveal the increasing complexity of American life at a time when personal freedom was being weighed against the impact of the abolition of slavery on trade and when less than half of the adult population had the right to vote.

The works of art on view in these galleries also form an autobiography of this museum in which new concepts of art-making confront time-honored traditions of process and design. Embedded in the works on view are some of the stories that define the evolution of American art and the American scene. Close viewers will be rewarded with further insights about an emerging American culture.

Selected Objects

Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company

Tumbler, ca. 1910-20

Louis Comfort Tiffany, designer

Bowl, 1925

Gorham Manufacturing Company, manufacturer

Martelé Writing Table and Chair, 1903

Childe Hassam

The Messenger Boy, 1903

John Singer Sargent

Portrait of Manuel García, 1904-1905

Thomas Cole

Genesee Scenery (Mountain Landscape with Waterfall), 1847

Winslow Homer

On a Lee Shore, 1900

Alonzo Chappel

The Landing of Roger Williams in 1636, 1857

John Henry Twachtman

Spring, ca. 1890-1900

John Singer Sargent

A Boating Party, ca. 1889

Alexander Stirling Calder

Sioux Brave, Our American Stoic, 1912

William Morris Hunt

Portrait of Ellen M. Brown (Mrs. Ellen Berry), 1874

Martin Johnson Heade

Brazilian Forest, 1864

Henry Ossawa Tanner

The Wailing Wall, ca. 1898

Mary Cassatt

Simone in a Blue Bonnet, ca. 1903

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Harmony in Blue: The Duet, ca. 1874

Frank Weston Benson

Summer, 1909

Quezal Art Glass and Decorating Company

Tumbler, ca. 1910-20

A. Wighe

Trial by Jury, 1849

Abbott Handerson Thayer

Mother and Child, 1886

Hiram Powers

Eve Disconsolate, ca. 1850

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Lady in Gray, ca. 1910

William Merritt Chase

Portrait of a Lady in Pink, ca. 1888–1889

Thomas Cole

Landscape (Landscape with Tree Trunks), 1828

Sanford Robinson Gifford

Lake Geneva, 1875

John La Farge

The Great Pali, 1890

Fitz Henry Lane

View from Kettle Cove, Manchester-by-the-Sea, 1847

William Holbrook Beard

Santa Claus, ca. 1862

Jasper Francis Cropsey

Landscape, Panorama, ca. 1865-1875

English or European

Native American Sachem, ca. 1700

Eastman Johnson

Sugaring Off, ca. 1864-1865

Randolph Rogers

Nydia, the Blind Girl of Pompeii, ca. 1860

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Amor Caritas (Angel of Love), 1898
No Image Available

William Bradford

Arctic Sunset, 1874

John White Alexander

The Blue Bowl, 1898

William Sidney Mount

Portrait of Hannah Muncy Smith, 1852

Asher Brown Durand

Chocorua Peak, 1855

John Frederick Kensett

Lake George, Black Mountain, ca. 1869

Theodore Robinson

Afternoon Shadows, 1891

George Inness

In the Berkshire Hills, ca. 1877-1878

Maurice Brazil Prendergast

On the Beach, ca. 1914-1918

Winslow Homer

Fishin', 1879

Willard LeRoy Metcalf

The White Veil, 1909

Louis Comfort Tiffany, designer

Vase, ca. 1900

Attributed to James Martin

Portrait of a Gentleman, ca. 1820

William Trost Richards

Purgatory, Near Newport, ca. 1890

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

An American Idyll : 19th-Century Paintings and Decorative Arts

April 6, 2007 - January 6, 2008
View Checklist PDF

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