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Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art 1770–1950 November 20, 2004–August 7, 2005
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Washington, DC – The permanent collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art is renowned for its grand American landscapes. Equally important, however, is the Gallery’s treasure trove of figurative paintings and sculptures. Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art 1770 – 1950 takes this aspect of the Corcoran’s permanent collection as a lens through which to chronicle the changing character of America from the founding of the nation through World War II. Figuratively Speaking is on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from November 20, 2004 through May 23, 2005. “The human figure has always been a major concern for American artists,” notes Sarah Cash, Corcoran Bechhoefer Curator of American Art. “Tracing figurative painting and sculpture through almost 200 years reveals a dynamic portrayal of the nation with all of the evolving values and mores of its populace.” Broadly defined, figurative art encompasses portraiture, historical scenes, imaginary images and subjects from everyday life. Figuratively Speaking explores the stylistic diversity of American artists’ depictions of the human form in these varied guises, chronicling the nation’s artistic and social histories. As a counterpoint to the paintings, many of the Corcoran’s figurative sculptures are also on display for the first time in many years. Taken together, this diverse group of works – from engaging political scenes of the antebellum era to tranquil views of genteel Gilded Age women to animated 20th-century abstractions – reveals the profoundly important role that depictions of the human form have played in expressing the nation’s evolving concerns and ideals. Organized chronologically, the exhibition features approximately 85 paintings and sculptures and is divided into seven sections guided by key themes: Origins of the Figurative Tradition; Pictures of the People: Early American Genre Painting; Pluralism in the Post-Civil War Era; The Gilded Age Woman; A New Century: The Eight and their Circle; Urban Realism and the Fourteenth Street School; and Abstraction Meets the Human Form. Origins of the Figurative Tradition explores portraiture of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the American patrons of this era who commissioned artists such as John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart to document their own presence and prominence in the new world. This section also considers the influence of European models of subject and form on American classical subjects. Pictures of the People: Early American Genre Painting moves through the early decades of the 19th century, when American artists such as William Sidney Mount and Richard Caton Woodville began to extend the range of figurative art to include genre (paintings and sculptures focusing on the depiction of scenes from everyday life). This period found its dominant themes in politics and American expansionism. Pluralism in the Post-Civil War Era examines the impact of dramatic changes in the social fabric of American life in the late 19th century on figurative painting. Painters such as Thomas Eakins created highly individualized representations of the human form, while artists such as J. G. Brown highlighted the ethnic and social heterogeneity of the country's large working class. Topics of these works included the immigrant experience and the difficult social conditions of African-American life in the postbellum years. The Gilded Age Woman considers women’s roles in the period of rampant materialism in the United States known as the Gilded Age. An era symbolized by women of the leisure class, the Gilded Age saw magnates of industry and commerce commissioning and collecting paintings and sculptures depicting women in domestic interiors that provided soothing, nostalgic antidotes to the stresses and strains of turbulent modern life. This section includes works by artists such as John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt. A New Century: The Eight and their Circle follows artists’ responses to the dramatic changes wrought by increasing industrialization and immigration in the last years of the 19th century. A group of painters called “The Eight” rejected the rarified themes of the Impressionists and their Gilded Age contemporaries. Led by influential painter and teacher Robert Henri, the group was stylistically diverse but collectively embraced a gritty, unadorned urban aesthetic. Urban Realism and the Fourteenth Street School examines a group that might be understood as The Eight’s second generation, including a loose cadre of New York artists known as the Fourteenth Street School. These artists, who included Reginald Marsh, Raphael Soyer and Isabel Bishop, often depicted the melancholy that characterized the experience of urban dwellers in the years following the onset of the Great Depression. Abstraction Meets the Human Form traces the influence of early 20th-century European modern art movements on American artists. Challenging the American public’s prevailing taste for realism, artists such as Arthur B. Davies, Marsden Hartley and Max Weber absorbed the lessons of Fauvism, Cubism and other avant-garde European movements, with a new emphasis on color, line and form that anticipated the total abstraction of post-World War II art. EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS Mask of George Washington, 1785 A Pastoral Visit, Virginia, 1881 Into Bondage, 1936 EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION PRESS IMAGES ABOUT THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART Founded in 1890, Corcoran College of Art + Design is Washington’s only 4-year college of art and design, offers a four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program in Fine Art (painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics and digital art), Graphic Design, Digital Media Design, Photography and Photojournalism; a two-year Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) degree program in Fine Art, Photography, Graphic Design, Interior Design and Digital Media Design, a Masters of Arts (MA) degree in Interior Design, Teaching and Education, as well as a 5 year combined BFA/MA in Teaching; and a Continuing Education Program encompassing more than 250 courses and seven certificate programs aimed at meeting the needs of part-time adult students; as well as year-round classes designed especially for children and teens. The Continuing Education Program, which offers part-time credit and non-credit classes for children and adults, draws more than 3,500 participants each year. The Corcoran Gallery of Art is located at New York Avenue and 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC, and is open every day, except Tuesday, 10 am – 5 pm and until 9 pm on Thursday. The museum is closed every Tuesday. Admission to the Corcoran is: $6.75 for adults; $4.75 for senior citizens; $3 for students with current ID; and $12 for families. Free for Members and children under 12. Admission is “pay as you wish” on Monday all day and on Thursday after 5 pm. A satellite educational facility is located at the Corcoran’s historic Fillmore School in Georgetown at 1801 35th Street, NW. The public information line for the museum is 202.639.1700. The public information line for the college is 202.639.1800.
:: View images and further details from this exhibition
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CONTACT:
Media Resources: Curator Sarah Cash and Emily Shapiro
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