Art in America: A Critical and Historial SketchBenjamin, S. G. W. (Samuel Greene Wheeler)
History
Art in America: A Critical and Historial Sketch
Benjamin, S. G. W. (Samuel Greene Wheeler)
Art, American
HAVING A GOOD TIME _Louis C. Tiffany_ 192
SOUTHAMPTON, LONG ISLAND _C. H. Miller_ 193
A STUDY _Frederick Dielman_ 195
THE BURGOMASTER _H. Muhrman_ 197
BURIAL OF THE DEAD BIRD _J. Alden Wier_ 200
THE APPRENTICE _William M. Chase_ 201
THE PROFESSOR _Thomas Eakins_ 204
THE GOOSE-HERD _Walter Shirlaw_ 205
A SPANISH LADY _Mary S. Cassatt_ 208
STUDY OF A BOY'S HEAD _W. Sartain_ 209
ART IN AMERICA.
I.
_EARLY AMERICAN ART._
The art of a nation is the result of centuries of growth; its crowning
excellence does not come except when maturity and repose offer the
occasion for its development. But while, therefore, it is yet too soon
to look for a great school of art in America, the time has perhaps
arrived to note some of the preliminary phases of the art which, we have
reason to hope, is to dawn upon the country before long.
As the heirs of all the ages, we had a right to expect that our
intellectual activity would demand art expression; while the first
efforts would naturally be imitative rather than original. The
individuality which finds vent in the utterance of truth under new
conditions is not fully reached until youth gives place to the vigorous
self-assertion of a manhood conscious of its resources and power. Such
we find to have been the case in the rise of the fine arts in this
country, which up to this time have been rather an echo of the art of
the lands from which our ancestors came, than distinctively original.
Our art has been the result of affectionate remembrance of foreign
achievement more than of independent observation of nature; and while
the number of artists has been sufficiently large, very few of them
stand forth as representatives or types of novel methods and ideas; and
those few, coming before their time, have met with little response in
the community, and their influence has been generally local and
moderate, leading to the founding of nothing like a school except in one
or two isolated cases. But many of them, especially in the first period
of our art, have shared the strong, active character of their time;
and, like the heroes of the Revolution, presented sturdy traits of
character. And thus, while the society in which they moved was not
sufficiently advanced to appreciate the quality of their art, they were
yet able to stamp their names indelibly upon the pages of our history.
But within the last few years the popular interest in art has grown so
rapidly in the country--as indicated by the establishment of numerous
art schools and academies, art galleries, and publications treating
exclusively of art subjects, together with many other significant proofs
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account