Early 19th Century

Question 1

Answer 1

Constant Mayer, Recognition: North and South, 1865

1. I don’t know anything about this painting.

Question 2

Answer 2

George Caleb Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, 1854

1. Name changed from French-Trader, Half-Breed son
2. Depicts the style some American art historians call luminism.
3. Man on right is wearing a liberty cap.

Question 3

Answer 3

Frederic Edwin Church, Heart of the Andes, 1859

1. Church’s landscape conformed to the aesthetic principles of the picturesque, as propounded by the British theorist William Gilpin, which began with a careful observation of nature that was then enhanced by particular notions about composition and harmony. The juxtaposition of smooth and irregular forms was an important principle, and is represented in The Heart of the Andes by the rounded hills and pool of water on the one hand, and by the contrasting jagged mountains and rough trees on the other.
2. The play of light on his signature has been interpreted as the artist’s statement of man’s ability to tame nature.
3. Harmoniousness between church and environment supports philosophy viewing art, morality, and the natural world as spiritually unified

Question 4

Answer 4

Richard Woodville, War News from Mexico, 1848

1. Metaphorically, this building represents the United States, a sheltering, though often dysfunctional, nexus of politics, camaraderie and dissent.
2. On the other hand, they are excluded from the dense knot of activity, attentive to the news but relegated to the status of powerless observers. The black man and child form a cohesive group that offers a powerful commentary on the reactions of the figures above them. The red, white and blue of their clothes may allude to the crisis of slavery in the United States.

3.

Question 5

Answer 5

Asher B. Durand, Progress (The Advance of Civilization), 1853

Question 6

Answer 6

Winslow Homer, The Veteran in a New Field, 1865

Question 7

Answer 7

Winslow Homer, Croquet Match, 1868-1869

Question 8

Answer 8

Sanford Gifford, A Coming Storm, 1863

Question 9

Answer 9

Washington Allston, Moonlight, 1819

Question 10

Answer 10

Thomas Cole, Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State, 1836

Question 11

Answer 11

Thomas Cole, View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow), 1836

Question 12

Answer 12

William Sidney Mount, The Painter’s Triumph, 1838

Question 13

Answer 13

Winslow Homer, Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg, 1864

Question 14

Answer 14

William Sidney Mount, Farmers Nooning, 1836