Lawrence captures the vitality of Harlem and highlights the advancements in medical care for and by people of color.
American art to WW II
Geller captures the tensions of the Jewish immigrant experience in the early 20th-century United States.
Todros Geller, Strange Worlds
Wood infuses a famous folktale about George Washington with theatricality, humor, and a Gilbert Stuart sample.
Grant Wood, Parson Weems’ Fable
A new, modern culture of shopping and ready-made clothes were part of women’s new urban mobility.
When the department store was new: Elizabeth ...
Does a portrait need to be an accurate visual representation of the subject?
Marsden Hartley, Portrait of a German Officer
Tanner studied in Philadelphia and Paris, and his style combined elements of American Realism and the Old Masters.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson
Calder injected motion into sculpture with his mobiles—the viewer’s mere presence impacts their movement.
Alexander Calder, Mobile
Straight from the horse’s mouth: the process of making a photograph, in the artist’s own words.
Ansel Adams: Visualizing a Photograph
These photographs, taken covertly on the New York City subway, show that seeing is in itself a creative act.
Walker Evans, Subway Passengers, New York City
Representing women who entered the workforce during WWII, Rosie is strong, determined, and eating a ham sandwich.
Norman Rockwell, Rosie the Riveter
Though often thought of as a simple image of American values, this painting resists easy interpretation.
Grant Wood, American Gothic
Shahn makes an not-so-subtle comparison between Christ and two Italians executed for a crime they didn’t commit.
Ben Shahn, The Passion of Sacco and ...
Confused by this painting? Imagine lying on the grass under a tree and looking up.
Georgia O’Keeffe, The Lawrence Tree
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George Bellows, Pennsylvania Station Excavation
Lawrence carefully documents the migration of African Americans from the agricultural South to the industrial North.
Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series
Hopper gives us a window into the urban isolation and anxiety of WWII-era New York.
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks
Knowledge of the poem “The Great Figure” by William Carlos Williams is critical for decoding this painting.
Charles Demuth, I Saw the Figure 5 ...
Refusing to be known only for African-American genre pictures, Tanner was devoted to lush religious scenes.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Angels Appearing before the ...
Though this photograph could be seen as a searing social commentary, its maker preferred to view it as fine art.
Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage
The violence and physicality of this boxing match reflect contemporary racial tensions in pre-WWI New York.