Bellows, George Wesley

1918

A member of New York's Ash Can School, Bellows achieved prominence for his bold depictions of the bustling city, which did not shy away from showing the seamier side of urban life. In 1918, moved by reports ...

Duncanson, Robert S.

1865

The descendant of former slaves from Virginia, Robert S. Duncanson was born in Fayette, New York. In 1828, the family moved to Monroe, Michigan, where Robert, along with his brothers, were apprenticed ...

Durand, Asher Brown

1845

Major John André (1750-1780) was a British spy hanged during the American Revolution for assisting Benedict Arnold's failed plot to surrender the fort at West Point, New York, to the British Army. This ...

Chase, William Merritt

1869

Only twenty years old when he painted "Still Life with Watermelon," William Merritt Chase exhibited considerable skill in this, his earliest known still life. At the time, his formal training in art amounted ...

Curran, Charles Courtney

1890

The genre painter Charles Courtney Curran is best known for his canvases depicting beautiful ladies in pleasant settings. Here, a young woman--the artist's wife Grace Wickham Curran--arranges a bouquet ...

Sargent, John Singer

1904

John Singer Sargent was the preeminent portraitist of the Gilded Age. With his brilliant bravura brushwork, flair for rich colors, and dramatic juxtaposition of light and dark tones, he made striking images ...

Edmonds, Francis William

About 1850-1855

Known for his humorous scenes of American life, Francis William Edmonds worked for three years as a New York banker before enrolling in night classes at the National Academy of Design in 1826. After taking ...

Bierstadt, Albert

1865

Stuart, Gilbert

About 1785

Born in Rhode Island, Gilbert Stuart became the leading American portraitist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. In 1775, with the Revolutionary War severely affecting his business, ...

Hassam, Childe

1900

This colorful and light-filled masterpiece by the American Impressionist Childe Hassam held a special place within the artist's home. In a 1956 letter to Richard Howard, first director of the Birmingham ...