Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial architecture and the accompanying styles in other media were quickly in place. Early colonial art on the East Coast initially relied on artists from Europe, with John White the earliest example. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, artists primarily painted portraits, and some landscapes in a style based mainly on English painting. Furniture-makers imitating English styles and similar craftsmen were also established in the major cities, but in the English colonies, locally made pottery remained resolutely utilitarian until the 19th century, with fancy products imported.
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washington, begun in 1796, which is sometimes referred to as the Athenaeum Portrait. Stuart retained the portrait and used it to paint scores of copies that were commissioned by patrons in America and abroad. The image of George Washington featured in the painting has appeared on the United States one-dollar bill for more than a century and on various postage stamps of the 19th century and early 20th century.
Thomas Sully was an American portrait painter in the United States. Born in Great Britain, he lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He painted in the style of Thomas Lawrence. His subjects included national political leaders such as United States presidents: Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson, Revolutionary War hero General Marquis de Lafayette, and many leading musicians and composers. In addition to portraits of wealthy patrons, he painted landscapes and historical pieces such as the 1819 The Passage of the Delaware. His work was adapted for use on United States coinage.
Mather Brown was an American painter who was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was active in England.
Ellen Wallace Sharples was an English painter specialized in portraits in pastel and in watercolor miniatures on ivory. She exhibited five miniatures at the Royal Academy in 1807, and founded the Bristol Fine Arts Academy in 1844 with a substantial gift.
Events in the year 1828 in Art.
Sarah Goodridge was an American painter who specialized in portrait miniatures. She was the older sister of Elizabeth Goodridge, also an American miniaturist.
Elizabeth (Eliza) Goodridge was an American painter who specialized in miniatures. She was the younger sister of Sarah Goodridge, also an American miniaturist.
William Russell Birch was an English miniature painter, enameler, and landscape engraver and designer.
Anson Dickinson was an American painter of miniature portraits who achieved fame during his lifetime, producing a very large number of works, but who is now largely forgotten.
Virginia Richmond Reynolds was an American artist particularly known for her portrait miniatures. She was also an influential teacher of the genre.
Beauty Revealed is an 1828 self-portrait by the American artist Sarah Goodridge, a watercolor portrait miniature on a piece of ivory. Depicting only the artist's bared breasts surrounded by white cloth, the 6.7-by-8-centimeter painting, originally backed with paper, is now in a modern frame. Goodridge, aged forty when she completed the miniature, depicts breasts that appear imbued with a "balance, paleness, and buoyancy" by the harmony of light, color, and balance. The surrounding cloth draws the viewer to focus on them, leading to the body being "erased".
George Lethbridge Saunders (1807–1863) was an English painter.
Jane Stuart was an American painter, best known for her miniature paintings and portraits, particularly those made of George Washington. She worked on and later copied portraits made by her father, Gilbert Stuart, and created her own portraits. In the early 19th century, she assumed the responsibility of supporting her family after her father's death. She first worked in Boston, but later moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where she was the first woman who painted portraits. In 2011, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
Ann Hall (1792–1863) was an American painter and miniaturist.
Joseph Anthony Jr., was a noted American silversmith.
Alice Beckington was an American painter.
Nathaniel Rogers was an American painter from Long Island known as the preeminent miniature portrait painter in New York City.
Mary Jane Simes was an American portrait painter who worked in both oils and painted miniatures. She was born in Baltimore in 1807 and died in 1872. Mary Jane Simes is a member of the Peale family, an important lineage of artists and cultural workers in 18th and 19th century America. She is a descendant of Charles Willson Peale, who established one of the first museums of art and natural history in the United States. Her aunts were Anna Claypoole Peale and Sarah Miriam Peale, who were known as miniaturists and oil painters, respectively. Simes lived with her aunt Sarah during a portion of her childhood. Her career as an exhibiting artist ended upon marriage to John Floyd Yeats.
Benjamin Trott was an American painter who specialized in portrait miniatures.
