Making American Taste: Narrative Art for a New Democracy
Before the origins of radio, social media, and television, our nation鈥檚 cultural and political views were depicted through art. Featuring forty-five paintings and seven sculptures created by the preeminent artists of the 19th century and on loan from the New-York Historical Society, Making American Taste: Narrative Art for a New Democracy casts new light on both the history of American art and the formation its cultural ideals. Specially, well known artists such as Benjamin West (1738-1820), William Sydney Mount (1807-1868), Eastman Johnson (1824- 1906) among other artists during that time used paintings and objects as powerful mechanisms to tell stories about America and the formulation of ideas of taste. In the accompanying exhibition catalogue, Barbara Dayer Gallati, co-curator and Art Historian, explains the definition of taste from 1830s to the late 1860s as 鈥渢he power of receiving pleasure from the beauties of nature and art.鈥� Making American Taste reveals the visual styles, standards of decorum, and repertoire of knowledge that came to represent cultural refinement to 19th century Americans. The exhibition is presented in six thematic sections that illuminate a broad range from the social and political to the religious, literary, and domestic spheres prevalent during the era. From Thomas Cole鈥檚 (1801-1848) romanticized nocturnal allegorical painting based on a poem by Lord Byron to Rembrandt Peale鈥檚 (1778-1860) exquisite portrait of George Washington, our nation鈥檚 first President; viewers are invited to perceive the principles important to America during a critical period of its formation.
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Before the origins of radio, social media, and television, our nation鈥檚 cultural and political views were depicted through art. Featuring forty-five paintings and seven sculptures created by the preeminent artists of the 19th century and on loan from the New-York Historical Society, Making American Taste: Narrative Art for a New Democracy casts new light on both the history of American art and the formation its cultural ideals. Specially, well known artists such as Benjamin West (1738-1820), William Sydney Mount (1807-1868), Eastman Johnson (1824- 1906) among other artists during that time used paintings and objects as powerful mechanisms to tell stories about America and the formulation of ideas of taste. In the accompanying exhibition catalogue, Barbara Dayer Gallati, co-curator and Art Historian, explains the definition of taste from 1830s to the late 1860s as 鈥渢he power of receiving pleasure from the beauties of nature and art.鈥� Making American Taste reveals the visual styles, standards of decorum, and repertoire of knowledge that came to represent cultural refinement to 19th century Americans. The exhibition is presented in six thematic sections that illuminate a broad range from the social and political to the religious, literary, and domestic spheres prevalent during the era. From Thomas Cole鈥檚 (1801-1848) romanticized nocturnal allegorical painting based on a poem by Lord Byron to Rembrandt Peale鈥檚 (1778-1860) exquisite portrait of George Washington, our nation鈥檚 first President; viewers are invited to perceive the principles important to America during a critical period of its formation.
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