Thomas takes inspiration from both the 1969 moon landing and her backyard garden
Seeing America – Periods: 1945-1980
A plaster cast of a manhole cover from the streets of Manhattan is a testament to this artist's experimental use of materials
Sari Dienes, Star Circle
Cartoonish coyotes play on Fonseca's overlapping identities as queer, American, and Indigenous.
Harry Fonseca, Two Coyotes with Flags
Light and color take center stage in this soul illustration of the Oklahoma landscape where Echohawk and his family have lived for generations.
Brummett Echohawk, An Island of Redbuds on ...
Stripes of industrial spray paint on this canvas recall the industrial city and undersides of highways
Hedda Sterne, Number 3—1957
Lewis leaves behind the figure for abstracted fragments at the end of World War II
Norman Lewis, Untitled
Sam Gilliam trespasses the distinction between painting and sculpture
Sam Gilliam, Purpled (Chasers Series)
Gee's Bend quilts challenge notions of what is — and what is not — modern art
Gee’s bend, quilting over generations
Charles Sebree expresses his inner self in The Mystic.
Representing the inner self: Charles Sebree’s The ...
An International Style gem on Park Avenue
Mies in Manhattan, mid-fifties modern: The Seagram ...
Bearden thought about painting like music.
Romare Bearden, Three Folk Musicians
Delaney celebrates the famous opera singer Marian Anderson as a modern icon of Black excellence and civil rights
A modern icon: Beauford Delaney’s Marian Anderson
Is the bird real or imagined?
Thelma Streat, Girl with Bird
Perhaps the largest relief sculpture in the world, this Confederate memorial is an expression of 20th and 21st century racial politics.
The Long History of Stone Mountain, Georgia
This swaying juke joint belies its purpose as the central meeting place enlivened by music and dance in many African American communities, but its jubilance is tempered by the painting's ominous atmosphere
A Memphis juke joint
There is no open road here.
Cars, highways, and isolation in Postwar America
Buttons, flags, and booze — Ben conjures up a specific time and place.
Politics and humanity in 1970s New York
Museum visitors often mistake this sculpture for a real person
Disillusionment in 1970s America
At this party, everyone has the same face and seems profoundly alone.
Fashion & alienation in 1960s New York
From the Manhattan Project to nursery rhymes, a collision of art and science.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
