arts. writing. culture.

Earlier this week, I had the honor of previewing an upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art “American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915,” with the opportunity to listen to curatorial remarks by Carrie Barratt and Barbara Weinberg and gather impressions of the work on display before it’s unveiling to the public on Monday, October 12, 2009.

The exhibition which runs through January 24, 2010, is the story of American history as told through its painters.  Broken into four time periods representative of the thematic mindsets of the time, the 100+ works range from colonial portraits through Impressionist influence and early 20^th century New York, telling of the artists’ interpretations of their own time.  These 4 chronological segments travel from the coming and going of the Civil War and American hardships as viewed through the eyes of such artists as Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent.

The four sections of the exhibition, in synopsis:

INVENTING AMERICAN STORIES (1765-1830):

A less outwardly-expressive time period, these years produced many portraits and stifled stories of American life. Some noteworthy pieces in the show were John Singleton Copley’s “Paul Revere” (1768), using the boundaries of portraiture to still express a story about the revolt against tea taxes as the silversmith holds his teapot in an otherwise bare surrounding.

STORIES FOR THE PUBLIC (1830-1860):
During wartime, works concentrated strongly on national identity but maintain a cheerful overtone due to the nature in which they were created: in the hopes of being sold to customers.  On the eve of war, broader themes of race still ran strongly (“The Power of Music”) as did works that gleam a light onto the liberation of women who would have to take charge during dismal times (Spencer); however, these themes were shrouded in an ambiguity in order to sell to the masses.  The paintings were meant to appeal to a diverse audience with generalized figures and subject matters.

William Sidney Mount’s “The Power of Music” (1847) demonstrates the division of races as a black man eavesdrops on a group of white fiddlers creating music.  A clear separation of rights is visible, however the eavesdropper shows a slight grin, indicating what the title suggests: the power of music can bring people together.  This “intended” theme lightens the load of the racial issue at bay.

The controversial artist Lilly Martin Spencer, who can be considered the first prominent and successful woman artist in America, depicted strong women and foolish men as the museum displays “Kiss Me and You’ll Kiss the ‘Lasses (1856)(below) and “Young Husband: First Marketing” (1854) next to each other: She with a “come-hither” intrigue and He clumsily dropping groceries on his walk home.  Empowering and condescending at the same time, but all with a feminine and exquisitely-rendered wit.

STORIES OF WAR AND RECONCILIATION (1860-1877):

Meant to tame the sorrow from the war, artists turned to less political contexts.  Bloody battlefields were seldom generated or distributed over the preferred “aspects of every day life” during the war (inc. nostalgia of pre-war times and children playing), forming a contrast with the journalism reporting news of the time.  Even Winslow Homer, who created graphic works for Harper’s Bazaar at the time, chose to revolt from much of this subject matter in his major paintings.  His “Breezing Up” (1873-76) was an energetic piece expressing a generally-optimistic view for the future with symbols of hope like an endless horizon and boat anchor.

Eastman Johnson’s “Negro Life at the South” (1859) shows a community of African Americans in their everyday lives, reading, talking, sewing, etc.  The painting can be viewed in two extremely separate ways based on a person’s view of society at the time.  Abolitionists would view the poor conditions of their living arrangements to be an indication of inequality while slavery supporters see these people enjoying pleasantries and a good life.

Seymour Joseph Guy’s “Making a Train”(1867) shows a girl by herself in her room imagining the future by arranging her clothes to appear like the train of a gown.  The portrayal of this quiet innocence proves the hope that artist’s wished to depict during a time of devastation.  The audio commentary provided by the museum elegantly expresses that the painting conveys “private dreams that were unfettered by fears.”

COSMOPOLITAN AND CANDID STORIES (1877-1915):

Post-wartime expanded travel opportunities that, according to the exhibition’s press release, “redefined national identity in an international context.”  Many artists used this opportunity to develop new artistic techniques to expand the thematic repertoire of their works. Here, Impressionistic influence enters American painting and subjects.  With the Frontier diminishing, cowboys became a symbol of masculinity and industrialization increased.

Urban settings and modern advancements were now explored just as much, if not more than the rural settings of past.  John Sloan portrays working women in a city setting with “Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair” (1912).  International stories were just as likely told as stories of Americans’ lives.  John Singer Sargent makes the viewer feel as though they’ve interrupted the unclear and possibly sinister interaction between the couple in “A Street in Venice.” (1880-82).

FURTHER OBSERVATION:

For me, George Caleb Bingham’s 1845 painting “Fur Traders Descending the Missouri” (1845), though not my favorite of the displayed works, summarized the conceptual nature of the exhibition which encourages you to draw thematic lines throughout the chronologically-arranged sections.  This painting picturing a chained bear cub next to a reclining boy next to a seated man, along with the North-South axis, trade, settlement and race issues (as noted by the accompanying plaque), represented the development of “beast to civilized humanity.”  Whether Bingham intended it, in the context of this exhibition I saw so much more than that on a conceptual level.

The themes of this show were broad, spanning over 150 years worth of history and artwork, and within these years a progression through many themes was clear.  Slavery, the liberation of women, the progression of a nation succeeding from struggle to stability, the concept of hope… Bingham’s painting was more than a visual line across the canvas. The painting summarized within a single work what the exhibition itself allows its observers to visually see from room to room: how a society progressed in 150+ years.

Nevertheless, I highly suggest a perusal of this exhibition.  Thoughtfully laid out with an exploratory nature that allows you to draw your own dots while exploring artistic technique and expression, this display gave me more than I hoped for.  So easy to get lost in, it truly does tell a story in its images.  One of tragedy, progression, triumph, opportunity and hope.

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