Great American Artists
Find out about American Artists
Find out about great American artists of the past and present.
Artists are "great" if they are well known, if their artwork is included in major museums and art galleries and if exhibitions of their work often attracts people from miles around. To pass the art history test, their name needs to be one which is still known and well regarded even when the artist died quite some time ago. Artists can also be important to the history of American Art for a specific achievement.
Great artists in 20th and 21st centuries are those who look as if they're likely to join their peers from the past and will continue to be celebrated long after they are dead
This site includes links to
- my websites about Great American artists
- more information about specific named artists
- genres of art particular to America
- RECOMMENDED books about American Art and American Artists
Book: 50 American Artists You Should Know - by Deborah N Mancoff
RECOMMENDED: This is a book for those wanting to learn more about American Art and American Artists. In common with all Prestel books of this type, the book is very accessible and provides an informative introduction to great American artists.
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars (based on 3 customer reviews)
Artists in the book include:
- Portraits and Figurative - John Singleton Copley, Cassatt, John Singer Sargent,
- Landscapes - Frederic Church, James McNeill Whistler and Georgia O'Keeffe
- Modern Art - Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Jasper Johns.
- Contemporary: Cindy Sherman, Richard Serra, and Chuck Close
It also includes important but not well known American artists such as Henry Ossawa Tanner - the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim
Debra N. Mancoff is a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago
Nineteenth Century - Great American Artists
These sites were developed by me as a result of projects on my blog - Making A Mark - to investigate the artist primarily using online resources. As interest grew books were bought and the sites expanded.
- About John Singer Sargent - Famous Painter
Find out about John Singer Sargent - the noted American painter, draftsman, portraitist, muralist and watercolorist. - About James McNeill Whistler - American Artist
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) is a famous American painter and print-maker who lived in England. He's under-rated in my view and this site aims to give his work the profile it deserves. - About Mary Cassatt - American Artist
Learn about Mary Cassatt - the American Artist and Impressionist painter and printmaker who was a friend of the French Impressionists - About Thomas Moran - American Landscape Painter
This compendium website shares information about Thomas Moran the American landscape painter and his art, where you can see it and where you can find out more about it. - About Winslow Homer - American Artist
Find out about the famous American painter Winslow Homer. This site shares information about the paintings and artwork of Winslow Homer
More American Artists of the 19th Century
Many of the famous American artists of the 19th century are associated with landscape painting and the exploration of the continent
- Thomas Cole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Cole (1801 - 1848) was an American landscape painter who founded the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. He was known for realistic and detailed portrayal of American landscape and wilderness. - Sanford Robinson Gifford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823 - 1880) was an American landscape painter and leading member of the Hudson River School. His landscape paintings are characterised by characterized by a hazy atmosphere with soft, suffuse sunlight and he was a proponent - Frederic Edwin Church - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frederic Edwin Church (1826 - 1900) was an American landscape painter. He was a pupil of Thomas Cole and became a leading member of the Hudson River School. He used extraordinary detail, romanticism, and luminism in his paintings. - Henry Ossawa Tanner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859 – 1937) was the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. He he has been called "the greatest African American painter to date" in the Encyclopedia of African American History
Book: Smithsonian Q & A: American Art and Artists: The Ultimate Question & Answer Book
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
The book covers the history of American art and artists from the eighteenth century to the present and all visual arts: painting, photography, and sculpture. It also features prominent movements as well as artists from a variety of backgrounds.
Book: Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists - by Ann Lee Morgan
The Oxford Dictionary of American Art and Artists - published in 2008 - is the first exhaustive dictionary focusing on American art in 30 years to be published in one volume
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
Key features include:
- 945 A-Z entries relating to visual artists - painters, sculptors, graphic artists, photographers, printmakers etc. Descriptions go beyond bare facts to convey significance and context"
- includes entries on notable American institutions, organizations, schools, techniques, styles, and movements
- comments on people who have been important collectors e.g. Peggy Guggenheim
- covers a full range of terms including artists of all mediums from painting to video, critics, historians and curators, institutions, techniques, styles, and movement
- Introduction discusses American art as unique genre and criterion used for who and what was included in the Dictionary
20th Century - Great American Artists
More website by me about American Artists - this time these are American Artists who practiced in the 20th century
- About Andrew Wyeth - American Artist
Learn about Andrew Wyeth, a famous and popular American Contemporary Realist Painter who worked mainly in watercolor and/or egg tempera.
About Georgia O'Keeffe - American Painter (site is being moved)
Find out about Georgia O'Keeffe - American painter and pioneer of American Modern Art: - her life and influences; - her flower paintings - her southwestern l...
Great Contemporary American Artists
American Contemporary Artists practising in the 20th and 21st centuries
- About Chuck Close - American Artist
This site is about the American artist Chuck Close. It presents information about his life, self-portraits, portrait paintings, fine art prints and other artwork.
20th Century - More Great American Male Artists
Below you can some of the artists who worked in the USA in the 20th century and became famous internationally for their art. It's worth noting that not all were born in America - some emigrated to America
- Ansel Adams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ansel Easton Adams (1902 - 1984) was a 20th century American photographer - who was possibly the most influential photographer in the history of American landscape photography. He is best known for his black-and-white landscape photographs of the Ame - Mark Rothko - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Rothko (Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz 1903 - 1970) was born in Russia and emigrated to America in 1913. He had a Latvian Jewish heritage. Although often identified as an "Abstract Expressionist", he rejected this term and considered himself to b - Willem de Kooning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Willem de Kooning (1904 - 1997) was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist. He stowed away on a ship and came to the USA from Rotterdam in 1926 - Jackson Pollock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Jackson Pollock (1912 - 1956), known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his unique style of drip painting. - Wayne Thiebaud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wayne Thiebaud (born 1920) is an American painter who was born in Arizona and brought up in California. He is associated with Pop Art and items of mass culture. His most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks.
Abstract Expressionism & American Artists
- Eye Level: Q and Art: Abstract Expressionism
Question: I've read a lot about Abstract Expressionism in New York during the 1940s and 50s, painters such as Jackson Pollock and William De Kooning. What about the rest of the United States? Were there Abstract Expressionists in other places?
Video: Jackson Pollock painting (1950)
Contemporary American Women Artists - contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st centuries
Photography is a common theme among female contemporary artists. Sculpture and installation art is another
- Louise Bourgeois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louise Josphine Bourgeois (1911 - 2010), was born in France and emigrated to America in the 1940s having married an American. She was a renowned sculptor who only really became famous in her 70s. She is best known for her 'confessional art' contribut - Diane Arbus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diane Arbus (1923 - 1971) was a Jewish American photographer who was particularly noted for taking square black-and-white photographs of people who were out of the ordinary. Her work was deemed controversial by some - Judy Chicago - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Judy Chicago (born 1939) is an American feminist artist and writer. She is particularly well known for her large collaborative art installation pieces which examine the role of women in history and culture. The best known of these is The Dinner Party - Cindy Sherman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cynthia "Cindy" Morris Sherman (b.1954) uses conceptual photography to address issues to do with the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.
Book: American Art: History and Culture, Revised First Edition - by Wayne Craven
Rated: 4.1 out of 5 stars (11customer reviews)
American Art provides a survey and chronology of American Art. It covers painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts, photography, folk art, and graphic arts. Both art and artists are presented within the context of their times.
Seven main stylistic periods are identified by the author: Colonial, Federal, Romantic, the American Renaissance, Early Modern, Postwar Podern, and Postmodern.
The insights into the intellectual, spiritual, and political environment provide a history of American culture as well as American art.
American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America
Amazon reviews: 4,0 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews)
Robert Hughes's book was first published to accompany a television series (PBS). Its 9 chapters cover the people, events and changes in art across three centuries. The author is particularly good at social commentary that connects art to its context and vice versa.
Folk and Outsider Art & American Artists
- American Folk Art Museum
Located at 2 Lincoln Square, New York City, and featuring 18th- and 19th-century paintings, quilts, sculptures, and the work of contemporary self-taught artists. - Folk Art, African American Art, and Latino Art / American Art
Learn about the folk art and self-taught art in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum - HOME | The Folk Art Society of America
The Folk Art Society of America, founded in 1987, is a nonprofit organization that advocates the documentation, preservation and exhibition of folk art, folk artists and folk art environments, with an emphasis on the contemporary. We publish The Folk - Eye Level: Q and Art: Folk Art
Question: Who is M.C. "5 Cents" Jones? Why is he named "5 Cents"? Plus reading recommendations re folk art
Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art
A Guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources
Betty-Carol Sellen and Cynthia J. Johanson's book provides a reference point for all those interested in the folk art of American and artwork produced by self-taught artists and that considered to rate the term Outside Art
The two authors are both members of the Folk Art Society of America and the American Library Association.
The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists
Features of the fourth edition of this essential and authoritative reference work by Ian Chilvers are as follows:
- Over 2,500 entries which cover Western art - from ancient Greece to the present day
- Biographical entries for all the different players in the art economy - focusing primarily on the artists - but also including the patrons, dealers, collectors and critics
- Comprehensive coverage of the different art movements, styles, materials and techniques across the centuries
- Thorough coverage of styles, groups and movements,
- Listing of materials, tools and techniques,
- Entries include quotations from artists and critics
