#american art
Portraits of Rosina Ferrara
Rosina Ferrara (1861–1934) was an Italian girl from the island of Capri, who was a muse and friend of numerous expatriate artists including John Singer Sargent, Frank Hyde, Charles Sprague Pearce, Charles Caryl Coleman, Alfred Stevens, and George Randolph Barse, whom she later married.
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Thomas Dewing (1851–1938, United States)
Thomas Dewing was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. His style was influenced by the Englishaesthetic movement, which prioritised beauty and sensual qualities opposed to traditional moral or narrative considerations. His art became known for an extreme refinement of style, as well as its characteristic dream-like haze and detachment.
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William Merritt Chase (1849–1916, United States)
Figure paintings
William Merritt Chase was an American painter and exponent of Impressionism.
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Lionel Walden (1861-1933, United States)
Walden was an Americanlandscape painter active in Hawaii, Cornwall, Wales and France. Particularly known for his seascapes, and depictions of Hawaii, which constitute the first noteworthy attempts by a professional artist to portray the region in painting.
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Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) (1912) Marcel Duchamp, American (born France), 1887 - 1968
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William Sidney Mount (1807-1868)
“The Bone Player” (1856)
Oil on canvas
Located in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massatchuestts, United States
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Elizabeth Jane Gardner (1837-1922)
“La Confidence” (1880)
Oil on canvas mounted on aluminium
Located in the Georgia Art Museum, Athens, United States
Elizabeth Jane Gardner Bouguereau was among the first wave of Americans who sought art training in Paris after the Civil War.
Bouguereau arrived in Paris in 1864 and began studying contemporary and old-master paintings. While Paris beckoned all artists, women were still barred from studying at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. Undaunted by these discriminatory practices, Bouguereau enrolled in private classes.
In 1868, she was one of the first American women to exhibit at the Paris Salon, along with Mary Cassatt. Bouguereau’s paintings were accepted into 25 Paris Salons; she also won a bronze medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle. By the late 1870s, she was studying with William-Adolphe Bouguereau, whose use of rich color and portrayals of children and domestic scenes were widely acclaimed.Religious, historical, and mythological subject matter dominated Bouguereau’s early art production. She acknowledged that her work was strongly influenced by William-Adolphe (to whom she became engaged in 1879 but did not marry until 1896). She made her own way by producing works in a monumental style most often associated with male artists.
—National Museum of Women in the Arts
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Cats didn’t need the internet to achieve feline fame.
Our@archivesofamericanart has a new exhibition, “Before Internet Cats: Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art,” which explores how cats are represented in rare documents like sketches and drawings, letters, and photographs from the 19th century through the early 2000s.
We decided to let the cat out of the bag…er, box with this collage postcard sent from fiber artist Lenore Tawney to filmmaker Maryette Charlton. Tawney’s postcards often featured intricate layers of found media and handwritten notes. Animals, especially cats, were a frequent motif.
While we think the whole exhibition is purrfect (we couldn’t help it), here are some of our favorite pieces from the archives:
Georges Mathieu, a French painter, embellished this oversize letter to painter Hedda Sterne. It’s among the cat-themed correspondence from Mathieu that are in Sterne’s papers.
Cats often make ideal studio companions. They serve as sympathetic critics and elegant muses.
In this photo, Pozy the cat watches muralist Edna Reindel work in her California studio. (Pozy is also the subject of the wall mural behind them.)
Photos of artists in their studios enhance our understanding of their stories and their working processes.
Reginald Gammon was known for his evocative portraits of prominent African Americans (and not cats) but in the mid-1960s he illustrated a children’s book that chronicles the friendship between a boy and a bespectacled cat.
Thousands of sketches in the Archives of American Art offer insight into artists’ creative processes. A 1948 sketchbook of watercolor studies by muralist and children’s book illustrator Emily Barto highlights the distinct personalities of several felines—here’s one taking a cat nap.
#BeforeInternetCats is on view through Oct. 29 in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery (the first floor of the National Portrait Gallery). You can also paw your way through the exhibition online.
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DONALD JUDD, Untitled, USA, 1987. Material copper and Plexiglas. Photography by Ed Glendinning. / Ed Glen Photo
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