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Terra Collection Initiative: Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation

Charles Demuth, Welcome to Our City, 1921, oil on canvas, 25 1/8 x 20 1/8 in. (63.8 x 51.1 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1993.3

Visual allegory painting of the Old Testament prophecy of peace between natural enemies. On the right, a child bearing a bough of grapes, an emblem of salvation, leads a harmonious assortment of wild predators and domestic animals from a dark wood into a peaceful natural landscape. In the left distance, a white mountain is crowned by thirteen figures representing Christ and the Apostles; below them, angels deploy a swirling banner, bearing biblical messages of peace, that floats among a gathering of soberly dressed Quaker elders—a group that includes women, whom the Quakers respected as preachers.

Edward Hicks, A Peaceable Kingdom with Quakers Bearing Banners, 1829 or 1830, oil on canvas, 17 5/8 x 23 5/8 in. (44.8 x 60.0 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1993.7

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Painting of a woman reading a book.

Milton Avery, Adolescence, 1947, oil and graphite on canvas Image: 30 x 40 in. (76.2 x 101.6 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.3

Thomas Hart Benton, Slaves, 1925, oil on cotton duck mounted on board, 66 7/16 x 72 3/8 x 1 7/16in. (168.8 x 183.8 x 3.7cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2003.4

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Mary Cassatt, Jenny and Her Sleepy Child, between 1891 and 1892, oil on canvas, 28 15/16 x 23 3/4 in. (73.5 x 60.3 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1988.24

William Stanley Haseltine, Rocks at Nahant, 1864, oil on canvas, 22 3/8 x 40 1/2in. (56.8 x 102.9cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.65

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Painting, whose composition is dominated by the steeply receding diagonal of the street, echoed by a row of elm trees in early-autumnal tints.

Childe Hassam, Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, c. 1892, oil on canvas, 22 1/4 x 30 1/4 in. (56.5 x 76.8 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.39

Thomas Hart Benton, The Spinners, 1925-26, oil on canvas, 66 1/8 x 30 x 1in. (168 x 76.2 x 2.5cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2003.3

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Martin Johnson Heade, Newburyport Marshes: Approaching Storm, c. 1871, oil on canvas, 15 1/4 x 30 1/8 in. (38.7 x 76.5 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.68

Thomas Cole, Landscape with Figures: A Scene from "The Last of the Mohicans", 1826, oil on panel, 26 1/8 x 43 1/16 in. (66.4 x 109.4 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1993.2

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Edward Hopper, Dawn in Pennsylvania, 1942, oil on canvas, 24 3/8 x 44 1/4 in. (61.9 x 112.4 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.77

Eanger Irving Couse, Making Pottery, 1912, oil on canvas, 35 1/4 x 46 1/4 in. (89.5 x 117.5 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.33

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

William S. Jewett, The Promised Land – The Grayson Family, 1850, oil on canvas, 50 3/4 x 64 in. (128.9 x 162.6 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.79

John George Brown, The Cider Mill, 1880, oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61.0 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.19

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Oil painting of an abstract composition

Marsden Hartley, Painting No. 50, 1914–15, oil on canvas, 47 x 47 in. (119.4 x 119.4 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.61

Walt Kuhn, Clown with Drum, 1942, oil on canvas, 60 7/8 x 41 3/8 in. (154.6 x 105.1 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.172

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Frederic Edwin Church, Our Banner in the Sky, 1861, oil paint, over photomechanically produced lithograph, on paper, laid down on cardboard, 7 1/2 x 11 3/8 in. (19.0 x 28.9 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.27

Ernest Lawson, Brooklyn Bridge, 1917–20, oil on canvas, 20 3/8 x 24 in. (51.8 x 61.0 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.43

Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Portrait of a Lady Holding a Rose, 1912, oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 16 1/4 in. (54.0 x 41.3 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.46

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

George Luks, Knitting for the Soldiers: High Bridge Park, c. 1918, oil on canvas, 30 3/16 x 36 1/8 in. (76.7 x 91.8 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.87

John Singleton Copley, Portrait of a Lady in a Blue Dress, 1763, oil on canvas, 50 1/4 x 39 3/4 in. (127.6 x 101.0 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.28

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Reginald Marsh, Pip and Flip, 1932, tempera on canvas mounted on canvas, 48 1/4 x 48 1/4 in. (122.6 x 122.6 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.96

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Richard Emil (or Edward) Miller, The White Shawl, after 1910, oil on canvas, 79 x 45 3/8 in. (200.7 x 115.3 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.50

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Ammi Phillips, Girl in a Red Dress, c. 1835, oil on canvas, 32 3/8 x 27 3/8 in. (82.2 x 69.5 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.57

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

William Matthew Prior, Sturtevant J. Hamblen, Young Boy Holding a Bow and Arrow with a Drum on the Floor, by 1856, oil on canvas, 41 5/16 x 34 3/4 in. (104.9 x 88.3 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.123

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

John Singer Sargent, A Parisian Beggar Girl, c. 1880, oil on canvas, 25 3/8 x 17 3/16 in. (64.5 x 43.7 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1994.14

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Pieter Vanderlyn, Portrait of Mrs. Myndert Myndertse (Jannetje-Persen) and Her Daughter, Sara, c. 1741, oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 32 3/8 in. (99.7 x 82.2 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.138

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

John H. Twachtman, Winter Landscape, 1890–1900, oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 30 1/8 in. (76.5 x 76.5 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1992.136

Installation view of the 2007–2008 Terra Collection Initiative Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China.

Thomas Waterman Wood, The Yankee Pedlar, 1872, oil on canvas, 28 x 40 in. (71.1 x 101.6 cm), Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 1998.3

Co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art, Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation introduced a generation of Chinese museum-goers to a landmark selection of 130 works of art representing the full range of American art. The artworks gathered in the exhibition created a composite picture of the American experience—its myths, dreams, ordeals, and vulnerabilities. +

Art in America explored periods of colonization and expansion, articulating national and regional identities and identifying moments of rupture and cohesion. Colonial portraiture and New World landscapes explored early forms of national expression, and whimsical genre paintings and grand history paintings dialogued about class, identity, and mythology. Gilded Age visions of wealth and success hung alongside the social realism of the Great Depression, while the visual cacophony of Pop Art and the austerity of Minimalism conveyed the expanded vision of post-World War II American art. An exhibition spanning three centuries, with media as varied as painting, sculpture, installation, and video, Art in America presented the vibrant multiplicity and innovation of the American democratic experiment.

The success of Art in America sparked the interest of other venues, and the show was reconfigured for exhibition in Russia at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow before traveling to the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain.

 

Dates & Venues

February 10–April 5, 2007
National Museum of China, Beijing, China

May 1–June 30, 2007
Shanghai Museum/Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China

July 24–September 9, 2007
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia

October 10, 2007–April 27, 2008
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

Works of Art from the Terra Foundation Collection

Publications

Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation [Chinese and English edition]. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007.

Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation [abbreviated Russian edition]. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007.

Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in the USA: 300 años de innovación [Spanish edition]. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007.

Related Content

Exhibition review: Douglas Tallack, “Art as Diplomacy,” review of Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, Journal of American Studies 42:1 (April 2008): 141-145.

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