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The history of art in the Americas can be divided broadly into three parts: pre-Colombian, Colonial and Post-World War II. Pre-Colombian refers to the period of time before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. It is primarily the art of the the Mayan, the Aztec and the Incan civilizations of South America and Mesoamerica. But it also includes the art of the indigenous cultures of North America The key characteristic of Mesoamerican art is that it favors, in the manner of Egypt and Mesopotamia, symbolism over representation. The effect of the arrival of Europeans on the Americas was disastrous for native cultures. It has been estimated (by William Unrau, Heritage of the Great Plains, 17 Spring 1984) that 75 per cent of the native population of the New World died from epidemic disease by 1524, a mere 32 years after the arrival of Columbus. As European nations conquered the continents of North and South America, they brought their English, French, Portuguese and Spanish cultures with them. Early on, however, it was not the grandiose art and architecture of the Renaissance, but the more primitive folk art of the poor and middle class colonists that typified American Art.
The first European painter of note to travel to the colonies was John Smithbert, whose credentials were superior to the self-trained artists working in the colonies. Smithbert also brought samples of European art to New England with his copies of works by masters of the Renaissance and later periods. The first native-born American painters of significance were Benjamin West and John Singleton Copely. Both produced important work in America, but left for Europe where they gained fame. The American Revolution provided American artists with the opportunity to paint large pictures of important events. John Trumbull painted the battle of Bunker Hill and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Another painter who also wished to create paintings of historical significance was Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the Morse Code. He was unsuccessful and eventually returned to his original interest...electricity! Perhaps the most famous portrait from the revolutionary period is that of George Washington (it appears on our dollar bill in reverse), by Gilbert Stuart. The first group, after the revolution, to use the American landscape as subject matter was the Hudson River School of Thomas Cole , Asher Durand and Frederick Church . The Hudson River School produced large and somewhat sentimentalized versions of the expanding and exotic American territory. In general, they shared a philosophical affinity with the American transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau . During the Civil War, the most important images to be created in America were not paintings, but the photographs of Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner and Timothy O'Sullivan . These images showing the aftermath of various battles brought home to the American public the reality and horror of the Civil War and began the tradition of photo-journalism in America. As America expanded westward, American artists found subject matter in the new and uncharted land. The most influential group was known as the Rocky Mountain School. Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt and others provided the American public with its first views of their new territories. One of the few American artists to sympathetically portray native Americans was George Catlin , who lived for a number of years among various tribes of North American Indians, producing hundreds of portraits and providing a record of the culture of his subjects.
Towards the end of the 19th century, American artists still looked to Europe for innovation and inspiration. Mary Cassat and James McNeill Whistler both developed their styles in Europe under the influence of French Impressionist and Post-impressionist painters. Early in the twentieth century, European Modernism came to America in the Armory Show of 1913 . The Armory Show was an international exhibition of painting and sculpture displayed at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York. It featured work by Van Gogh, C�zanne and Pablo Picasso. Walt Kuhn and Arthur B. Davies were the organizers. Many of those supporting the Armory show were members of a group known as the Ash Can School because of their fondness for a gritty realism with a social conscience. They were commonly associated with left-wing organizations and publications. Some of the more notable members were Davies, John Sloan and Maurice Prendergast . Surprisingly, it was a photographer, Alfred Steiglitz , whose 291 Gallery provided a popular exhibition venue for avant-garde American artists. In Mexico, the muralist movement was gaining momentum. Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco were its leading proponents. Rivera was popular in the United States despite the fact that he was an avowed communist. He often worked for American capitalists such as Edsel Ford (son of Henry.) His painting for the RCA building in New York entitled "Man at the Crossroads" was removed before it could be exhibited because it contained a portrait of V.I. Lenin, founder of the Bolshevik Party in Russia. Rivera refused to remove the portrait at the request of Nelson Rockefeller. All was not peaceful at home for these painters. Siqueiros is said to have led a machine gun attack on the home of Rivera because Rivera was sheltering Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary enemy of Joseph Stalin. After the second World War, the center of art in the West moved to the United States. Even though American artists in the last half of the twentieth century continued to be influenced by European artists of past generations, they stepped to the forefront of world art with abstract expressionism, color field painting, minimalism, pop art, op art, installations and so forth. Read more about these artists in the 20th Century art section.
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