Category: American Art
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Edith Perry at the Window by Lilla Cabot Perry
American Impressionist Lilla Cabot Perry’s beautiful painting of her daughter sitting by the window.
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Edwin Booth by John Singer Sargent
This week’s artist, like last week’s, is among the most famous artists in American history. John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) made many of his best-known works, including the scandalous Portrait of Madame X, during the many years in which he lived in Europe, but he was an American-born artist who painted many American subjects throughout his…
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View from Mount Holyoke (The Oxbow) by Thomas Cole
Romanticist and landscape painter Thomas Cole was born in England but came to success in New York in the 1820s. He was a founder of the so-called Hudson River School. View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, is among Cole’s best-known works.
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Christmas Eve by Edmund Restein (December 24th)
As soon as I saw this work, I knew I had to feature it today. It’s not just the name that makes it appropriate. It so perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas Eve, at least as I’ve always experienced it – the early darkness, the inviting light from the church windows, and the well-dressed families…
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Christmas-Time, the Blodgett Family (December 19th)
Eastman Johnson, Christmas-Time, The Blodgett Family, 1864. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It’s very difficult to find genre paintings (scenes of everyday life) with Christmas settings. I assume that’s because the Christmas traditions we are familiar with today have only come into being relatively recently when compared with the entire the history of art. I had…
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Santa with Elves by Norman Rockwell (December 12th)
Painter and The Saturday Evening Post illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) is beloved in the United States for his images of American life during and after World War Two – soldiers, Boy Scouts, school children, mid-twentieth century family life, and, of course, Santa Claus. My family owns an entire set of Christmas ornaments featuring his Santas in a variety of scenes at rest, work, and…
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Christmas Eve by George Inness (December 10th)
Nineteenth-century Tonalist landscape painter George Inness (1825-1894) is one of my favorite American artists. Many of his paintings feature locations in the northeastern United States that I’m familiar with. That’s one of the reasons I feel connected to his works, although most of these places look quite different today. There’s no indication of where Christmas Eve…
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Skating Carnival Montreal by William Notman (December 9th)
I’ve seen this image before, in a book about ice skating history. This work by Scottish-Canadian photographer William Notman (1826-1891) depicts an elaborate gala at Montreal’s Victoria Rink in 1870. The event was to honor Prince Albert of the UK. It looks like a painting or print, but it’s actually a colored albumen photographic print. I can’t get…
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Winter in Switzerland by Jasper Cropsey (December 7th)
Day seven of the Advent Calendar features a winter-themed landscape painting by Jasper Cropsey – a member of the Hudson River School.
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Flight into Egypt by Henry Ossawa Tanner (December 5th)
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Flight Into Egypt, 1923. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. When I decided I wanted to do a flight into Egypt painting today, I expected to pick a famous one. This common subject for religious paintings, involving Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus fleeing their persecutors on the back of a donkey has been represented by artists such…
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Late Afternoon, New York, Winter (December 4th)
Frederick Childe Hassam, Late Afternoon, New York, Winter, 1900. Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 62.68. I think we’ve already established how much I love paintings of New York City in the snow, since I’ve written two previous posts on the topic (Snow falls softly on the city: the paintings of Guy C. Wiggins and Snow in…
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Santa Claus according to Thomas Nast (December 2nd)
The image of Santa Claus is pretty much omnipresent in the month of December, but how many people actually know where it comes from? Santa has his origins in numerous characters from the myths, legends, and stories of many different cultures; Saint Nicholas is his best-known but not only antecedent. As such, Santa Claus takes many diverse forms and personalities…
