visual arts

The visual arts have traditionally included forms of expression that appeal to the eyes through painted surfaces, and to the sense of space through carved or moldedmaterials. In the 19th century photographs were added to the paintings, drawings, and sculpture that make-up the visual arts. The visual arts were further augmented in the 20th century by adition of other materials, such as found objects. These changes were accompanied by a profound alteration in tastes, as earlier amphasis on realistic representation of people, objects and landscapes made by far a greater range of imaginative form.

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, american art was considered inferior to european art. Despite noted american painters such as Thomas Eatkins, Mary Cassat, and John Marin, american visual arts barely had an international presence.

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American art began to fluorish during the Great Depression of the 1930s as New Deal government programs provided support to artists along with other sectors of population. Artists connected with each other and developed a sense of common purpose through programs of the Public Works Administration, such as the Federal Art Project, as well as programs sponsored by the Treasury Departament. Most of the art of the period, including paintings, photography, and mutual work, focused on the plight of the American people during the depresion, and most artists painted real people in difficult circumstances. Artists such as Thomas Hart Benton and en Shahnexpressed the suffering of ordinary people through theirrepresentations of struggling farmers and workers. While artists such as Benton and grant Wood focused on rural life, many painters of the 1930s and 1940s depicted the multicultural life of the American city. Jacob Lawrence, for example, recreated the history and lives of African Americans. Other artists such as Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, tried to use human figures to describe emotional states such as loneliness and despair.

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