Perfectly American: The Art-Union and Its Artists
July 24, 2011 – October 2, 2011
Trying times and poor organization challenged the art world in the first half of the 19th century. Schools of art, museums, and galleries were virtually nonexistent, limiting the ways new artists could find an audience or hone their craft. In 1843, a group of New York businessmen and artists set out to change the art world.
Their organization aimed to bring art to the masses, encourage new talent, and above all, celebrate the unique character of American art. These gentlemen formed the American Art-Union. By selling subscriptions and distributing both prints and oil paintings, the directors of the Art-Union hoped to foster a love of art that moved beyond aesthetic appreciation, elevating the morals and uplifting the everyday lives of those who paid their five dollars a year or who visited the Perpetual Free Gallery in New York City. By supporting American artists depicting American scenes, the directors of the Art-Union shifted the focus away from the traditions of Europe and towards the promise of a new nation.
A little under a century later, another businessman heard the call of American art. Thomas Gilcrease began steadily collecting American art in the 1930s, purchasing artworks that reflected his interests — American history, western scenes, and landscapes. Gilcrease also supported fledgling Native American artists, changing the perception of the state of Native American art in the early 20th century. In 1943, Gilcrease opened his first museum, dedicated to American art and history, in an office building in San Antonio, Texas. Despite the museum's limited reach, Gilcrease persevered, reopening his collection to the public in 1949 in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Throughout his collecting life, Gilcrease seemed drawn to those objects that embodied the cultural and historical heritage of the United States. Through documents, art, and artifacts, he sought to tell the story of American history and worked in his later years to ensure that story could be told to future generations.
Through his numerous acquisitions, Gilcrease expanded ideas of what it means to be "American," and how the imagery from our collective past can influence the present. With Thomas Gilcrease's legacy of American art and history in mind, Gilcrease Museum is pleased to offer a fresh look at the American Art-Union, a subject whose goals of increasing the appreciation for American art are reflected in the works Gilcrease chose to collect. Gilcrease Museum houses several paintings originally displayed in the American Art-Union's Free Gallery — as well as many of the prints distributed to subscribers — from artists as diverse as Alfred Jacob Miller, William Tylee Ranney, and Thomas Cole. These landscapes, genre scenes, and western images impressed contemporary viewers with their beauty and their reflections of everyday life. These pieces, which resonated with a 19th-century audience, continue to bring today's viewers an appreciation of our country's shared past. In conjunction with a publication featuring essays by Patricia Hills of Boston University, and Peter John Brownlee of the Terra Foundation for American Art, this exhibition will highlight the Art-Union pieces owned by Gilcrease Museum.
Perfectly American: The Art-Union and Its Artists will open July 24, 2011 and run through October 2, 2011 at Gilcrease. A member preview day is set for July 23, 2011. In addition, Hills will present a lecture entitled The American Art-Union, Paintings, Patrons, and Politics in the 1840s, on July 23, 2011 at 11 a.m. in the Tom Gilcrease Jr. Auditorium. The Art-Union is an often overlooked topic in American history. Although only viable for 13 years, the Art-Union influenced American art and culture well beyond its tenure. This is also the first time the Gilcrease Museum has displayed these works with its Art-Union "siblings," exploring a new facet of the art we curate. In selecting art, the directors of the Art-Union chose works that would communicate directly to the viewer. In many ways, despite the passage of time, these works retain that power.
The American Art-Union was one of the first great experiments in American art. This exhibition explores the Art-Union in its cultural context, illustrating the lingering effects of this group on the art world today.
These works of art, so identifiably American, shed light not only on the values of the 1840s, but also on the beliefs that shaped our nation. By examining them as a whole, the visual history of the country comes into view. This cultural history, collected by Thomas Gilcrease to share with the world, is "Perfectly American" — optimistic, forward looking, and headstrong. The Art-Union's directors believed that art had the power to unify a nation and that a shared national culture was worth celebrating. This idea is reflected in the mission of the Gilcrease Museum today.