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Artist
Unknown
Untitled Still Life, ca. 1850-1870
Pastel on Paper, 11 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches |
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The
Artesia Art Collection
of the Frentress-Humphreys-Warren Families
This exhibition
was comprised of works from the private collection of the Frentress-Humphreys-Warren
families and is not a part of the Amarillo Museum of Art's permanent
collection. |
| These
works can perhaps explain the melange of aesthetic tastes in American
art during the turn of the century. Looking at this period, broadly the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, one should note two major
currents: one that bolstered American art and progressive styles, and
one that flaunted learned excellence through international study at the
European academies. Though American art schools were experiencing a new
and exciting unity of spirit evident in the cohorts of the "Ashcan
School", the works of the American students taught in the European
tradition were mainstream. In many cases these artists brought their European
acquired knowledge home to later incorporate American subject matter.
The "Ashcan"
group, comprised of Robert Henri, Everett Shinn, Ernest Lawson, William
Glackens, John Sloan, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast and Arther B.
Davies, radically exposed the confines of the academic style. They advocated
the American spirit, liberty and freedom of expression. An element of
sympathy for the common man or perhaps even the Native American was
depicted in most works. Many said that their art was fit for the ashcans
because of their choice of lowly subjects. |
