Art of the United States: 1800 – 1900

While the European tradition loomed large for the artists of the new republic of the United States, the nineteenth century saw the development of styles of art that reflected the unique values of this brand-new country.

Henry Merwin Shrady (sculptor) and William Pearce Casey (architect), Ulysses S. Grant Memorial with the US Capitol Building in the background — Shrady’s sneaky self-portrait within this sculpture took on tragic connotations after the monument claimed his life.

Shrady and Casey, Ulysses S. Grant Memorial

by Julia Langley

View of the National Mall showing the Washington Monument in the center. Robert Mills and Lietenant Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey, Washington Monument, completed 1884, granite and marble, Washington, D. C — Unlike the other monuments on the Mall, this monument tells us virtually nothing about the man it commemorates.

Robert Mills and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lincoln ...

by Julia Langley

Riis, “Knee-Pants” at Forty-Five Cents a Dozen — Riis snapped photos of the urban poor during midnight police raids—but only because he cared.

Jacob Riis, “Knee-Pants” at Forty-Five Cents a ...

by Miriam Bader

A stunning look at an important Navajo monument reminds us that we’re basically specks in a vast universe.

Timothy O’Sullivan, Ancient Ruins in the Cañon ...
by Dr. Rebecca Jeffrey Easby

To bring “polite sociability” to the city, designers blended nature’s greatest hits into one ambitious park.

Olmsted and Vaux, Central Park
by Dr. Paul A. Ranogajec

Sargent studied the work of Velázquez, and those lessons paid off in this painting of a Bostonian’s daughters.

John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward ...
by Meg Floryan

This dramatic dance scene captures a moment in time on an enormous scale.

John Singer Sargent, El Jaleo
by Meg Floryan

It was all fun and games until the artist painted a woman’s bare shoulder and showed it to a scandalized public.

John Singer Sargent, Madame X (Madame Pierre ...
by Meg Floryan

Nothing says “I love you” like depicting your girlfriend as a “prop” without mood, personality, or expression!

Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The ...
by Meg Floryan

In order to capture the beauty of America’s national parks, Brown faced the prejudices of the lawless West.

Grafton Tyler Brown, View of the Lower ...
by Farisa Khalid

Men in suits cut open a leg while their teacher holds a bloody, gloveless hand aloft. Gross indeed.

Thomas Eakins, The Gross Clinic and ...
by Meg Floryan

Eakins’ serene river scene celebrates a personal friend as well as an interest in masculine athleticism.

Thomas Eakins, The Champion Single Sculls (Max ...
by Meg Floryan

Johnson’s moving painting of a family fleeing slavery places the courage of African-Americans center stage.

Eastman Johnson, A Ride for Liberty — ...
by Scott Mestan and Dr. Bryan Zygmont

Church was the child star of nineteenth-century landscape painting; these astonishing canvases show us why.

Frederic Edwin Church, Niagara and Heart of ...
by Dr. Bryan Zygmont

This gigantic canvas is one of the most famous in the history of American art, but it wasn’t made in the USA.

Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware
by Dr. Bryan Zygmont

This dignified portrait of a Native leader belies the cruel treatment he endured at the time of its painting.

George Catlin, The White Cloud, Head Chief ...
by Farisa Khalid

Not content to merely paint the land, Cole elevated the landscape to approach the status of historical painting.

Thomas Cole, The Oxbow
by Dr. Bryan Zygmont

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