Most of us alive today have little or no memory of the life and spirit of urban life in America at the beginning of the 20th century, which is why a major university’s art gallery is using art to bring those times back.
Yale University’s Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition that seeks to illustrate the life and times of America during one of its most incredible periods of modern development. “It Was a New Century: Reflections on Modern America” opened on December 23, 2016 and continues through June 4.
Drawn largely from a private collection, the show features some 60 paintings, prints, watercolors, and drawings by many of America’s most iconic artists. Among the masters included in the show are George Bellows, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Walt Kuhn, Maurice Prendergast, and Everett Shinn.
The gallery reports, “[the artists] depicted a wide range of popular themes, from the gritty to the glamorous: busy street scenes in working-class neighborhoods; boxers doing battle in private clubs; patriotic flags lining New York’s Fifth Avenue; performers donning costumes and face paint; and sunny retreats for the wealthy, from Shinnecock, Long Island, to Venice. Taken together, these exceptional works present a compelling panorama of a new, modern America.”
To learn more, visit the Yale University Art Gallery.
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