Exhibitions
The Civil War and American Art
1st floor West, American Art Museum
November 16, 2012 – April 28, 2013
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
The Civil War and American Art will examine how America’s artists represented the impact of the Civil War and its aftermath. Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Frederic Church, and Sanford Gifford—four of America’s finest artists of the era—anchor the exhibition. The exhibition follows the conflict from palpable unease on the eve of war, to heady optimism that it would be over with a single battle, to the growing realization that this conflict would not end quickly, to grappling with issues surrounding emancipation and the need for reconciliation. Genre and landscape painting captured the transformative impact of the war, not traditional history painting.
The Civil War and American Art will include approximately 60 paintings as well as vintage photographs. The artworks were chosen for their aesthetic power in conveying the intense emotions of the period. Homer and Johnson grappled directly with issues such as emancipation and reconciliation. Church and Gifford contended with the destruction of the idea that America was a “New Eden.” Most of the artworks in the exhibition were made during the war, when it was unclear how long it might last and which side would win.
The exhibition also includes battlefield photography, which carried the gruesome burden of documenting the carnage and destruction. The visceral and immediate impact of these images by Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, and George Barnard freed the fine arts to explore the deeper significance of the Civil War, rather than chronicle each battle.
Eleanor Jones Harvey, chief curator, is organizing the exhibition.
In the News
The Art Newspaper, February 2011, "The war we want to forget" by Helen Stoilas and Javier Pes
National Tour
The exhibition will travel to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, N.Y. (May 21, 2013–September 2, 2013). It is the only additional venue for the exhibition.
Book
A major scholarly catalogue, authored by Eleanor Jones Harvey, will accompany the exhibition and will focus on the coming of age of American art during the Civil War.
Credit
The Civil War and American Art is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from the Anschutz Foundation; Ludmila and Conrad Cafritz; Christie’s; Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins; Tania and Tom Evans; Norma Lee and Morton Funger; Dorothy Tapper Goldman; Raymond J. and Margaret Horowitz Endowment; Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts; Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation; Joffa and Bill Kerr; Thelma and Melvin Lenkin; Henry Luce Foundation; Paula and Peter Lunder; Margery and Edgar Masinter; Walter and Lucille Rubin Foundation; Patricia Rubin and Ted Slavin; Holly and Nick Ruffin. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum's traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.
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