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Painting in the United
States
June 29 - October 19, 2008
Painting in the
United States, organized by the Westmoreland Museum
of American Art, opened on June 29 and runs through October 19, 2008 coinciding
with the 55th Carnegie International [which opened in May at Carnegie Museum
of Art]. This exhibition creates an overview of the exhibitions of the same
title organized by the Carnegie Institute (now Carnegie Museum of Art) from
1943 to 1949. These exhibitions of American painting replaced the Institute's
annual Carnegie International exhibition when it was suspended due to World
War II.
Painting in the United States includes
48 paintings, 42 of which are the actual works selected for the exhibitions
over the seven-year period, including paintings by such artists as George
Ault, Thomas Hart Benton, Leon Kroll, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Edward
Hopper, Jack Levine, and Max Weber, among others. Many of these artists
were already established in their careers and artistic styles during the
war years, while emerging artists such as Philip Guston, Robert Gwathmey,
and Dorothea Tanning were also shown, and are included in this re-creation.
Artist/faculty members of Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie
Mellon University) including Samuel Rosenberg and Roy Hilton, who were invited
to all seven of the exhibitions, provide a Pittsburgh connection and a regional
focus. A full-color catalog accompanies the exhibition.
Judith H. O'Toole, Director/CEO, states: "It is our
hope that among the audiences attracted to Painting in the United
States will be those visiting Life on Mars, the 55th Carnegie International,
because these two exhibitions present such a great opportunity for comparison.
Carnegie Museum of Art has been a wonderful collaborator and assisted us
in promoting this exhibition. The International draws people from the nation
and around the world who we hope will be interested in viewing this historical
complement and become excited about American art."
According to Curator Barbara L. Jones, "My purpose
in organizing this exhibition some sixty-five years later, when the United
States is once more at war, was twofold: to re-create an exhibition of as
many of the actual paintings shown from 1943 to 1949 as possible, and to
represent the diversity of styles created during this decade, allowing a
fresh examination of them in the context of the new developments that would
usurp them in the same decade. It is in keeping with the Museum's mission
to organize an exhibition such as this; and not only allows The Westmoreland
to show works of art together as they would have been seen during the forties,
thus recreating that experience for our visitors, but also allows visitors
to witness artistic responses to the times in which the artists were living."
About Painting in the United States
Creating a sampling of these seven exhibitions presents
The Westmoreland with the opportunity to reexamine the work of this significant
period in the history of American painting at a time when critics in this
country were calling out for a truly American style in art. The decade of
the 1940s was a significant one for its confluence of ideas and styles.
It was a volatile period in American art, when American Scene painting dominated
but modes of abstraction were ascending. Artists played a vital role in
trying to create an art that was truly American as opposed to being overtly
derivative of European styles. Regionalists turned inward seeking an understanding
of the turmoil occurring in and outside this nation, expressing through
their art nostalgia for aspects of their life that were rapidly changing.
The social realists created an art that reflected their political and social
concerns in an attempt to instigate social change as seen in paintings by
Jack Levine and Robert Gwathmey. Realism and Modernism, the two prevailing
movements through which artists of this period chose to express their ideas,
are represented in this exhibition by Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper,
Philip Evergood, Arthur Dove, George L. K. Morris, Suzy Frelinghuysen, and
others.
During this same time period, abstract expressionism was
gaining ground. Artists such as Phillip Guston were experimenting with new
ways to express themselves and create a style that was more relevant to
their own experience. Abstract expressionist artists found their path through
surrealism, which allowed artists a means to escape their immediate surroundings
(World War II, the ongoing Depression) and explore a new arena in art. The
experience of art making became what mattered to some of these artists;
and while Guston was just formulating his style during these years, he would
become one of the leading abstract expressionists, together with Jackson
Pollock and Willem deKooning, among others.
This exhibition of forty-eight paintings reinforces the
diversity of personal interpretations and stylistic approaches to art making
during the 1940s. While realist and modernist styles co-existed throughout
the decade, both were marginalized toward the end in favor of abstract expressionism.
Both American Scene and abstract painters continued their work into the
1950s and beyond, but could not stem the momentum of the fast-advancing
movement that would become known as the "New York School."
Text panel for the exhibition
Painting in the United States reconstructs
a sampling of the seven exhibitions of the same title organized by Carnegie
Institute (now Carnegie Museum of Art) from 1943 to 1949. These annual
exhibitions of American painting replaced the Carnegie International while
it was suspended due to World War II. Comprised of forty-eight paintings
from thirty-six public and private collections throughout the U.S., this
exhibition reflects the diversity of personal interpretations and stylistic
approaches to painting during the 1940s.
About the original catalogue cover
The original catalogue cover was designed by Robert L.
Lepper (1906-1991), a member of the fine arts faculty of Carnegie Institute
of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) for 45 years.A 1927 Carnegie
Tech graduate, he initially designed the stylized red, white, and blue eagle
for Directions in American Painting, the first of the exhibitions
to replace the Carnegie International during the war years. Lepper subsequently
revised his design for the catalogue cover of the first Painting in the
United States exhibition held in 1943. With minor modifications, the
cover design remained the same through the final exhibition in 1949. (right:
catalogue cover designed by Robert L. Lepper)
Checklist for the exhibition
- Dimensions are image size, in inches, with height preceding width.
The date range below the credit line indicates the years that the artist
participated in "Painting in the United States."
-
- 1. Ivan Le Lorraine Albright (1897-1983)
- Self-Portrait, 1948
- Oil on canvas, 24 x 20
- Collection: National Academy Museum, New York, NY
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 2. George Ault (1891-1948)
- Bright Lights at Russell's Corners, 1946
- Oil on canvas, 20 x 25
- Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney
Lawrence
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1943, 1946 - 1948
-
- 3. Gifford Beal (1879-1956)
- Sea Bass Fisherman, 1944
- Oil on canvas, 20 x 24
- Collection: Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Anonymous gift through
the Westmoreland Society, 1995.51
- Exhibited: 1944
- 1943 - 1945, 1947 - 1949
-
- 4. Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975)
- Plantation Road, 1944-1945
- Oil and tempera on canvas mounted on plywood, 28 ? x 39 3/8
- Collection: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Patrons Art Fund, 46.22
- Photography: Richard A. Stoner
- Exhibited: 1946
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 5. Isabel Bishop (1902-1988)
- Mending, c. 1945
- Oil on fiberboard, 25 1/8 x 16 7/8
- Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby
Foundation
- Exhibited: 1945
- 1943 -1949
-
- 6. Robert Brackman (1898-1980)
- Arrangement No. 9 with Figure, c. 1948
- Oil on canvas, 28 x 36
- Collection: The Dicke Collection
- Exhibited: 1948
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 7. Alexander Brook (1898-1980)
- The Barn Chair, c. 1949
- Oil on canvas, 50 1/5 x 34 1/5
- Collection: Rhonda E. Levine
- Photography: R. H. Hensleigh
- Exhibited: 1949, Awarded fourth honorable mention
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 8. Charles Burchfield (1893-1967)
- Mid-June, 1917-1944
- Watercolor on paper mounted on board, 36 x 48
- Collection: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, Charles W. Goodyear
Fund, 1946, 1946:1
- Exhibited: 1945
- 1943 -1949
-
- 9. Paul Cadmus (1904-1999)
- Lloyd and Barbara Wescott with Eclipse of Morston, Mulhocaway Butterfat
Favorite and Heartsease Butterfat Heather, 1942
- Egg tempera on pressed wood panel, 21 ? x 35
- Private Collection, Courtesy Debra Force Fine Art, New York, NY
- Exhibited: 1946
- 1944 - 1948
-
- 10. Clarence Carter (1904-2000)
- Outside the Limits, 1938 (reworked 1946)
- Oil on canvas, 29 ? x 43 7/8
- Collection: Allentown Art Museum, Purchase: Priscilla Payne Hurd Gift,
1985 (1985.34)
- 1943 - 1948
-
- 11. John Rogers Cox (1915-1990)
- The White Cloud, c. 1943, reworked 1946
- Oil on canvas, 37 x 48
- Collection: Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN, Museum purchase,
2000.07
- Exhibited: 1943, Awarded third prize
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 12. Ralston Crawford (1906-1978)
- Lights in an Aircraft Plant, 1945
- Oil on canvas, 30 3/8 x 40 ?
- Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mr. and Mrs.
Burton Tremaine, 1971.87.1
- Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 13. Gladys Rockmore Davis (1901-1967)
- The End of Summer, c. 1943
- Oil on canvas, 30 x 40
- Collection: Michael and Barbara Schwartz
- Exhibited: 1943
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 14. Arthur G. Dove (1880-1946)
- Arrangement in Form II, 1944
- Oil on canvas, 18 x 24
- Collection: Phoenix Art Museum,
- Anonymous Gift
- Exhibited: 1945
- 1945 - 1946
-
- 15. Philip Evergood (1901-1973)
- Flight of Fancy, c. 1947
- Oil on canvas, 32 x 40
- Collection: The Baltimore Museum of Art: Gift of Marvin Small (BMA.1953.217)
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 16. Maurice Freedman (1904-1985)
- Avalanche Lake, c. 1947
- Oil on canvas, 30 x 40
- Courtesy: D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc., New York, NY
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1945, 1947 - 1949
-
- 17. Suzy Frelinghuysen (1911-1988)
- Composition with Toreador Drinking, 1944
- Oil on canvas, 51 x 35
- Collection: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through
the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- Exhibited: 1944
- 1944 -1945, 1949
-
- 18. Balcomb Greene (1904-1990)
- The King is Blacker than the Queen, c. 1945
- Oil on canvas, 46 x 34
- Courtesy: Spanierman Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
- Exhibited: 1946
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 19. William Gropper (1897-1977)
- Joe Magarac, 1947
- Oil on canvas, 54 x 44
- Collection: University Art Gallery, University of Pittsburgh
- Photography: Richard A. Stoner
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1943 -1949
-
- 20. O. Louis Guglielmi (1906-1956)
- Recurrent Theme in Red, c. 1944
- Oil on canvas, 24 x 30
- Collection: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Gift of the T.B. Walker
Foundation, Gilbert M. Walker Fund, 1944
- Exhibited: 1944
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 21. Philip Guston (1913-1980)
- The Porch II, 1948
- Oil on canvas, 62 ? x 43
- Collection: Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute, Museum of Art, Utica,
NY
- Exhibited: 1948
- 1943 - 1945, 1947 - 1949
-
- 22. Robert Gwathmey (1903-1988)
- Hoeing, 1943
- Oil on canvas, 40 x 60
- Collection: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Patrons Art Fund, 44.2
- Photography: Richard A. Stoner
- Exhibited: 1943, Awarded second prize
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 23. Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)
- Young Hunter Hearing Call to Arms, 1943
- Oil on canvas, 41 x 30
- Collection: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Patrons Art Fund, 44.1.2
- Photography: Richard A. Stoner
- Exhibited: 1943
- 1943
-
- 24. Roy Hilton (1891-1963)
- My Ivory Tower, 1946
- Oil on canvas, 41 3/8 x 33 ?
- Collection: The Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh, PA
- Exhibited: 1946
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 25. Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
- Pennsylvania Coal Town, 1947
- Oil on canvas, 28 x 40
- Collection: Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH;
- Museum Purchase 1948
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 26. Leon Kroll (1884-1974)
- A Day in June, 1949
- Oil on canvas, 36 x 59
- Private Collection
- Exhibited: 1949
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 27. Walt Kuhn (1877-1949)
- Clown in His Dressing Room, 1945
- Oil on canvas, 72 x 32
- Collection: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Gift of an anonymous
donor, 50.1. Photograph by Geoffrey Clements
- Exhibited: 1945
- 1945 - 1948
-
- 28. Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953)
- Mother and Daughter, 1945
- Oil on canvas, 40 ? x 30 ?
- Collection: Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Patrons Art Fund 46.1
- Photography: Richard A. Stoner
- Exhibited: 1945
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 29. Doris Lee (1905-1983)
- The View, 1946
- Oil on canvas, 28 x 44 ?
- Courtesy: D. Wigmore Fine Art, Inc., New York, NY
- Exhibited: 1946
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 30. Jack Levine (b. 1915)
- Welcome Home, 1946
- Oil on canvas, 40 x 60
- Collection: The Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 46.124
- Exhibited: 1946, Awarded second prize
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 31. Henry Lee McFee (1886-1953)
- Still Life with Duck, c. 1947
- Oil on canvas, 24 x 30
- Collection: Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH;
- Museum Purchase 1960
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1943 - 1949
-
- 32. George L. K. Morris (1905-1975)
- Commandos Attacked by Dogs, 1943
- Oil on canvas, 19 1/16 x 23
- Collection: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Charles Simon
Bequest, 96.60.69
- Photograph by Geoffrey Clements
- Exhibited: 1945
- 1944 - 1949
-
- 33. Grandma (Anna Mary Robertson) Moses (1860-1961)
- The Old Checkered House, 1945-1946
- Gouache on masonite, 14 1/8 x 21 1/8
- Collection: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. Gift
of Mr. Joyce Hall, 52-14
- Photography: Jamison Miller.
- 1945 - 1949
-
- 34. Dale Nichols (1904-1995)
- From Sun to Sun, 1944
- Oil on canvas, 30 x 40
- Private Collection
- Exhibited: 1947
- 1946 - 1948
-
- 35. Arthur Osver (1912-2006)
- The Red Ventilator, 1945
- Oil on Masonite, 29 5/8 x 23 ?
- Collection: Jason Schoen, Miami, FL; Courtesy Georgia Museum of Art,
University of Georgia, Athens