Edwin Lord Weeks

Edwin Lord Weeks (1849-1903) was an American artist specializing in Orientalist painting. He was one of the few such painters to focus on India.

 A Court in The Alhambra in the Time of the Moors (1876)

 A Marketplace in Isfahan (1887)

 A Persian Cafe

 A Street Market Scene, India (1887)

 A Wedding Procession before a Palace in Rajasthan

[Rajasthan is a state in northwestern India]

 

 Along the Nile

 Along the Ghats, Mathura (1883)

[what is a ghat? find out here]

 Arrival of the Rajah at the Palace of Amber

 By the Well (1880)

Camels beside a Cistern (1880-81)

Orientalia, ctd

More 19th century American paintings with Oriental subjects.

 Robert Frederick Blum: Flower Market, Tokyo (1892)

 Robert Frederick Blum: The Ameya (1893)

 Theodore Wores: A Lesson in Flower Arrangement

 Theodore Wores: Homoko, Japan (1896)

 Theodore Wores: Lotus Pond, Shiba, Tokyo (ca. 1886)

 Theodore Wores: New Year's Day in San Francisco's Chinatown (1881)

Theodore Wores: Spring's Inspiration (ca. 1887)

Theodore Wores: The Shrine in Spring

Orientalia

In the latter half of the 19th century, some American artists became interested in depicting life in Asia, then relatively unknown to most Americans. Most of these paintings played up the exotic aspects of Asian life.

Harry Humphrey Moore: Geisha Playing a Samisen

 

 Harry Humphrey Moore: Glimpse into the Pleasure Quarters, Yoshiwara (1887)

 John La Farge: Colossal Statue of Ananda, near the Ruined City of Pollanarua, Ceylon (1891)

[Ananda was one of the Buddha's principal disciples] [Ceylon is now known as Sri Lanka]

 John La Farge: Avenue to the Temple of Iyeyasu, Nikko, Mid-Day Study (1886)

 John La Farge: Kwannon Meditating on Human Life (1886)

[Kwannon is the embodiment of compassion in Buddhism]

 John La Farge: Statue of Oya-Jizo at Kamanga-Fuchi, Nikko (1886)

John La Farge: The Great Statue of Amida Buddha at Kamakura, known as the Daibutsu, from the Priest's Garden (1887)

[more about this giant statue]

Jerome Thompson

Jerome Thompson (1814-1886) was a popular 19th century American genre and landscape painter. Here is more about his life and career.

 American Beauties (1867)

 Autumn (ca. 1860)

 Gathering Wildflowers (1859)

 Indian Idyll (1865)

 Noonday in Summer (1852)

 Pastoral (1872)

 Recreation (1857)

 The Belated Party on Mansfield Mountain (1858)

[more about this painting]

The Open Gate (also known as Flirtation) (1875)

The American Revolution

Here are some 19th century paintings depicting the American Revolution.

 Alfred Wordsworth Thompson: Halt at the Outpost (1881)

 Archibald Willard: The Spirit of '76 (1876)

[more about this painting]

 Frank Blackwell Mayer: The Continentals (1875)

 Franz Ludwig Catel: Molly Pitcher at The Battle of Monmouth, 1778

[who was Molly Pitcher? find out here]

 Howard Pyle: Redcoat Soldiers Toasting the Ladies

 Howard Pyle: The Nation Makers

 Jennie Brownscombe: Washington Greeting Lafayette at Mount Vernon

 William Tylee Ranney: First News of the Battle of Lexington (1847)

William Tylee Ranney: Recruiting for the Continental Army (1857-59)

Civil War

The Civil War was arguably the most important event in American history after the Revolution itself. Its effects - and wounds - reverberate in American society to this day. Here are a few paintings depicting the Civil War.

 George Cochran Lambdin: At the Front (1866)

 George W. Pettit: Union Refugees (1865)

[video about this painting]

 Gilbert Gaul: Glorious Fighting (1885)

 Gilbert Gaul: Holding the Line at All Costs (1882)

 Gilbert Gaul: Leaving Home (ca. 1907)

 James Alexander Walker: View of the Grand Army of the Republic (1865)

Here is a group of paintings by James Hope, who was in the Union army at the Battle of Antietam, which he portrayed in these searing images. The Battle of Antietam (known to southerners as the Battle of Sharpsburg) was the bloodiest single day of any American war. Both I and a friend have family history connected with this battle: we had ancestors who owned neighboring farms on which the battle was fought. My friend tells me this story that has come down through oral history: after the battle, their family had to move away because the ground was so saturated with blood that it was impossible to farm there anymore. One of the best accounts of this battle (worth reading if you have any interest in the Civil War at all) is Landscape Turned Red by Stephen W. Sears.

 James Hope: A Crucial Delay

 James Hope: A Fateful Turn

James Hope: Artillery Hell

James Hope: Wasted Gallantry

James Hope: The Aftermath at Bloody Lane, 1862