American Art History of 19th Century Essay

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny existed throughout the whole history of America and it controlled the United State’s fate. They say, America would exist only with this phenomenon of Manifest Destiny. Expansionists used the philosophy of this manifest almost everywhere and expressed the idea of non-governmental interference in economic processes of country; they showed the feature of wildness that characterized that time. The examples of this period works are illustrated by such artists as Thomas Cole in his masterpiece “The Oxbow” and Albert Bierstadt in “The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak”.

The painting of Thomas Cole (1836) symbolizes and reflects the internal debates among Americans. The artist was eager to show the contradiction of wilderness and civilization describing the physical condition of America. The storm clouds are opposed to the landscape of civilization in order to show the absence of harmony between nature and people.

Albert Bierstadt, as well as Thomas Cole, in his painting “The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak” (1863) speaks about the time when people were devoted to the beliefs of Manifest Destiny. He demonstrated the American West exploration, the wilderness of the lands with his waterfalls and endless valleys. The artist tried to show the fascination of undeveloped lands of the United States.

The idea of abandoned lands was the basic one for expansionists in the 19^th century. Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt recognized common philosophy reflecting it in their works. They considered that the art is a center of spiritual and moral modification. Naturalistic style of painting unites them in a common idea to present the wilderness of America, though the work of Albert Bierstadt covers more features of Romanticism because of his manner of presentation. The artists transferred all the beauty of their art to our modern painting.

Race description in art

A great number of artists introduced their attitude to race in their works by special methods and approaches. Eastman Johnson and Winslow Homer are dominant artists of 19^th century American art. They reflected their attitude to the race providing their paintings with peculiar characteristics.

Eastman Johnson gained recognition by his outstanding work “Negro life in the South” (Kentucky Home), 1859. This picture introduces a marvelous panorama of slave scene consisting of six vignettes. The artists managed to describe the carelessness of the people of Afro-American origin who are dancing, playing and just sparing time. Children and adults painted seem to be the happiest in the world; this tells about the way the artist ponders the destiny of mulattos. The symbolism of typical cloudless life of slaves brought a great success to the painter.

According to Winslow Homer, who is known as Civil War artist, presented the reflection of race in his work “Prisoners from the front” (1866). It is a description of the life during the war which he observed on front lines; the picture is rather symbolic and living. It describes the row of prisoners who are questioned by their Union general. The state of war between North and South is vividly described through firmness of faces of uniformed people. This picture is unemotional and of strict character which shows about the wide war experience of its author.

Comparing these two pieces of art one can notice the differences of world-look and inborn attitude to the same point. The used their specific view on the task to show the way they deal with race. Both of them created individuality of character in two almost opposite kinds of work.

Realism and Impressionism

Realism in contradiction to impressionism is a direction of the 19^th century which depicts subjects as they appear in our life; sometimes it can be even characterized as the embodiment of ugly routine. If we consider impressionism it has the features of light changes and all its movement. The representatives of these art directions are Winslow Homer and James Abbott McNeill Whistler whose outstanding works reflects the reality of their styles.

Taking into consideration the work “Skirmish in the Wilderness” (1864) by Winslow Homer one would definitely notice the features of Realism with all its brutality and originality. The usual shape and typical embodiment of life with strict lines and omission of strange forms say about individual style of Winslow Homer. This artist always tried to avoid experiments and strictly follows the rules of Realism.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler with his work “Nocturne in Black and Gold” (The Falling Rocket) is a bright representative of impressionism who made experiments with lights in order to mirror the idea of form significance. He believed that correct light arrangement and abstract shape of the figures involved the deep sense and presented the superiority of thought.

Realism and Impressionism have their admirers among both skilled artists and amateurs. The way James Abbott McNeill Whistler presented his thought differs a lot from that of Winslow Homer, because his picture makes any person switch his imagination and provokes deep understanding of what the artist wanted to say. As for Winslow Homer who devoted his manner of creation to realism, his style can precisely explain the traits of the 19^th century American Art and even way of life.

The role of women in late 19^th century

The role of the women in the American Art of the 19^th century was based on the gender inequality of that time. They were completely limited in their rights and were to follow all the rules of the male society. The same situation was reflected on the art of the late 19^th century. The artists did not stress women as personalities but compared them with spirituality, with something insignificant. A lot of painters tried to show their individual view of women in that time. Lilly Martin Spencer and Cecilia Beaux were the recognized artists whose works explained the role of the women in the late 19^th century.

Cecilia Beaux is an aristocratic representative of 19^th century portraitists whose works were generally recognized by the society. She was an individualist and her works had special features of presentation. “Sita and Sarita” is one of her famous works where she depicted her cousin’s portrait. This work is characterized by natural women features and specific appearance. This picture was contributed to the collection of the artist.

Lilly Martin Spencer is one of the most popular portraitists of female gender of the 19^th century. Creating her works she addressed to the etiquette in the books of that time that is why it reflected on her works. With the help of dark colors she decreases the role of the women in the society and separates male world from female one. Her work “Kiss Me and You’ll Kiss the ‘Lasses,” 1856 is an example of the strategy of her style. Her unique manner of creation lies in convergence of body and face of the person depicted.

Women were compared with the nature because of their insignificance in the society and inabilities to make decisions. They were presented as something abstract, sensitive and transparent as the world of nature and air of the earth.

References

Donald J., Mabry. The United States and Expansionism Abroad, 1814-1920: 2002.

Aimee, Ernesta, and Eliza, Cecilia. Two Sisters, Two Choices, Tara Leigh Tappert, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, July 2000.