Early American Art

Visual Art of the United States

by Wikipedia

Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial architecture and the accompanying styles in other media were quickly in place. Early colonial art on the East Coast initially relied on artists from Europe, with John White (1540-c. 1593) the earliest example. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artists primarily painted portraits, and some landscapes in a style based mainly on English painting. Furniture-makers imitating English styles and similar craftsmen were also established in the major cities, but in the English colonies, locally made pottery remained resolutely utilitarian until the 19th century, with fancy products imported.

Early American Art

by SAAM

The museum’s collection begins with works from the colonies of New Spain and New England. Some of the oldest works in the collection are from seventheenth-century Puerto Rico—Santa Bárbara (Saint Barbara), a painting from about 1680–90, and Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows), a painted wood sculpture from about 1675–1725. The collection features artworks that trace the transformation of the thirteen colonies into a nation, including portraits by John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, and Gilbert Stuart; landscapes by Thomas Cole; and sculptures by Horatio Greenough.

Art in American Colonies and the United States, c. 1700–1865

by smarthistory

It was only in 1605 the the British founded Roanoke Colony in what would later be named North Carolina. Although Roanoke Colony failed while still in its infancy, two years later the British colony of Jamestown—founded in 1607—managed, despite starvation and disease, to survive. It is estimated that the combined European population of North America in 1610 was approximately 350. In contrast to this, a recent study has suggested that the population of Indigenous peoples in what is now the United States and Canada approached 7 million—a number that was greatly reduced in the decades following the arrival of Europeans due to genocide and the introduction of pathogens from Europe, Asia, and Africa to which the Indigenous peoples of the Americas had no protection.

Art of the Americas

by MFABoston

The Art of the Americas department studies, presents, and cares for the paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts made throughout North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean by artists from many cultures and nations. Spanning 3,000 years, from the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica to the modern art capitals of Mexico City and New York, these objects embody the essential human desire to create meaning and beauty through art and craft, a drive shared by artists free and enslaved, trained and self-taught, immigrant and indigenous. Shaped by global contexts of migration, war, commerce, politics, and cultural exchange, the works on view hold many stories and reflect a wide range of ideas about the Americas and Americanness—as a place, an identity, and an aspiration.

In Focus: Early American Art

by Farnsworth Art Museum 19/7/25

In Focus: Early American Art invites visitors to delve into the Museum’s exceptional holdings of American art from the 18th to early 20th century. Featuring both iconic pieces and recent acquisitions, the show offers a fresh perspective on American art history. Through portraits, landscapes, and Wabanaki baskets, the exhibition broadens our understanding of the country’s cultural heritage, artistic legacy and Maine’s role within it.

American Folk Art Museum is a center of scholarship

by AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM

Ancient American Art in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

by THE MET

A rich history of creative expression—parallel to, but independent of, the rest of the world—unfolded in North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean thousands of years prior to European colonization. Over the course of several millennia, artists transformed select materials into monumental stone sculptures, finely crafted gold ornaments, and other works in wood, ceramic, shell, textile, and featherwork. The Met’s collection of ancient American art sheds light on how these works were commissioned, created, and animated by powerful men and women across the continents.

Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North

by ART5 FOLK

Through 125 remarkable works including paintings, needlework, and photographs, this exhibition invites visitors to focus on figures who appear in—or are omitted from—early American images and will challenge conventional narratives that have minimized early Black histories in the North, revealing the complexities and contradictions of the region’s history between the late 1600s and early 1800s.

New Galleries Will Present a Fresh Take on Art of the Americas with a Focus on Philadelphia

by PHILADEPHIA ART MUSEUM 25/2/21

On May 7, 2021, when the Philadelphia Museum of Art unveils its new Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Galleries dedicated to American art from 1650 to1850, visitors will enter a succession of generously proportioned spaces to experience the museum’s spectacular collection of early American art in an entirely new light. In galleries that will be accessed from a spacious corridor that provides superb views to the city skyline through windows with Tiffany iron grilles—original to the building but blocked for many decades—visitors will be presented with the first major reinstallation of early American art since the nation’s Bicentennial celebrations in 1976.

Early American Painting

by National Gallery Of Art

Early American art includes works made by settlers in what we now know as the United States. Before the American Revolution, artists documented life in the colonies of New Spain and New England. And in the early decades of the United States, many artists represented the new nation through portraits of its early leaders.

List of American artists before 1900

by WIKIPEDIA

This is a list by date of birth of historically recognized American fine artists known for the creation of artworks that are primarily visual in nature, including traditional media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking.

Ten Artworks to Understand Early United States History

by National Gallery of Art

From the Native peoples lobbying to keep their homelands to immigrants facing challenges in their new home, artists used these works to shape American identity, advocate for change, and reckon with our nation’s stories.