This class will examine the beginnings of American art from the colonial period to the Civil War. From the second half of the 18th century, the art of painting blossomed considerably, especially portraiture and history painting, to record the events and the heroes of the American War of Independence. Numerous artists were trained in Great Britain, particularly in the workshop of Benjamin West, a painter born in North America who succeeded Joshua Reynolds at the head of the British Royal Academy. His influence was tremendous on artists such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart or Charles Willson Peale. American art gained its independence from Europe with the representation of great landscapes such as the ones created by the Hudson River School and its followers, for instance luminist painters such as Albert Bierstadt. The representation of the American West and Native Americans is another specificity of American art in the 19th century, with painting as well as photography. The last part of the class will be devoted to the development of American realism led by Thomas Eakins and the representation of the Civil War.
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