The Civil War and American Art
The Civil War and American Art will explore the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath on the visual arts in America using some of the finest artworks made during this period by leading figures such as Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, and Eastman Johnson. Although the exhibition will include photographs by Alexander Gardner and Timothy H. O'Sullivan, the focus will be on how artists addressed the metaphorical war, dealing allegorically or elliptically with the issues of internal warfare, the future of the union, abolition and race relations, and the post-war search for a new American identity. These artists' solutions resulted in some of the most compelling landscapes and genre paintings of the mid-nineteenth century, often containing layers of meaning beyond their war-related allusions. Eleanor Jones Harvey, chief curator, is organizing the exhibition. IMAGE: Eastman Johnson, The Girl I Left Behind Me, 1870-1875, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice in memory of her husband and by Ralph Cross Johnson
