A Hudson River School artist looks north
Seeing America – topic: city and country
There is no open road here.
Cars, highways, and isolation in Postwar America
The awesome beauty of a large hole in the earth, dug to bring railroads to Manhattan.
Before Penn Station, Bellows & old NYC
Top American bucket list destination in 1821
Clean water for a young Philadelphia
The river's brilliant reflections gave shape to this enormous sculpture in silver
Mapping nature’s stunning beauty
Meet the two women behind this iconic 1936 photograph.
Migrant Mother, behind the Icon
Cats, gossip, and laundry — a view of Los Angeles during the Great Depression.
Resilience during the Great Depression
The sensations of the streets of New York City
Celebrating the modern city
When movies were new and lights transformed the darkened city streets.
Going to the movies in 1913
Buttons, flags, and booze — Ben conjures up a specific time and place.
Politics and humanity in 1970s New York
A colorful perspective on agriculture, water, and pollution.
Teaching guide
Wayne Thiebaud, Ponds and Streams
Can the commonplace working farmland of California's Sacramento River Valley be a place of of breathtaking beauty?
The landscape remade
The gun that "won the West" also transformed American manufacturing and marketing.
Colt’s Experimental Pocket Pistol
According to the artist (Reginald Marsh), at Coney Island, “The best show is the people themselves.”
Coney Island during the Depression
Captured here in paint, this grand Californian landscape would soon disappear under water.
The battle for National Parks
Drought and rain govern when this work of art in Utah’s Great Salt Lake can be seen.
Entropy and environment at Spiral Jetty
In order to capture the beauty of America’s national parks, Brown faced the prejudices of the lawless West.
“Leave it as it is”
To bring “polite sociability” to the city, designers blended nature’s greatest hits into one ambitious park.
A breath of fresh air, NYC’s Central ...
Though often thought of as a simple image of American values, this painting resists easy interpretation.
As contested as the nation
This snowy image of a bygone Brooklyn is sprinkled with farm animals, townspeople... and casual racism.