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John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler, 1893
Oil, 49-3/8 x 40-1/2 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chanler A. Chapman
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More about "The Gilded Age"
The term characterizes the culture of America from about the time of the Civil War (1861-65) into the early 20th century. During this period, the development of mass production, and innovations in agriculture, transportation, and manufacture, produced unimaginable wealth, giving rise to the term "millionaire." Great cities were established. For the first time in nearly 2,000 years, cities of more than one million people emerged in both Europe and the United States.
The wealthy of this time patronized artists on a scale never before seen in America, and much of this art was proudly international. Many artists from the United States studied in Europe, and some, such as John Singer Sargent, spent most of their careers abroad. However, the Gilded Age also produced artists like Winslow Homer, who disdained foreign fanciness, concentrating instead on American life.
But like any gilded object--gold on the surface, a different material underneath--the Gilded Age consisted of multiple elements. Extraordinary wealth existed beside shocking poverty, and the outward optimism of the period often concealed deeper anxieties. In turn, the art often reveals several perspectives, as in the portraits of this period: the public façade so proudly displayed often seems at odds with the more private individual underneath.
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Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942)
Man with the Cat (Henry Sturgis Drinker), 1898
Oil, 48 x 34-5/8 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Henry Ward Ranger through the National Academy of Design
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Society portraitists such as John Singer Sargent posed Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler--whose family was heir to John Jacob Astor's fortune--in his London studio, flanked by old-master paintings. Cecilia Beaux portrayed her brother-in-law Henry Sturgis Drinker--a hard-driving corporate railroad lawyer--as relaxed and casual in Man with the Cat (1898), resplendent in a cream-colored suit and pink shirt.
The Gilded Age was also an international age, when artists and their patrons traveled widely to visit exotic cultures. Louis Comfort Tiffany's Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco (1873) reflects this interest and foreshadows the artist's later development of opulent interiors. Near Eastern subjects were also popular for their lush color and languorous sensuality, seen in Frederick Arthur Bridgman's Cafe at Biskra, Algeria (1884) and H. Siddons Mowbray's Idle Hours (1895).
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Evocations of music abounded, seen in Childe Hassam's Improvisation (1899), an impressionist portrayal of a woman playing the piano, and Thomas Dewing's allegorical Music (about 1895), in which a prevailing gold palette reflects a musical tonality. Spiritual themes--countering fears that Americans were overly materialistic--appear in Abbott Thayer's threepaintings in the exhibition, including Angel (1887). The artist's graceful 12-year-old daughter posed for the angel figure, draped in a classic Greek garment, or chiton.
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Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921)
Angel, 1887
Oil, 36-1/4 x 28-1/8 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly
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The surge of wealth allowed the construction of many elegant townhouses, settings for fine art collections and decorations. Apollo with Cupids (1880-82), a panel by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and John La Farge, once adorned the dining room of Cornelius Vanderbilt's Fifth Avenue mansion in New York City. The work is embellished with African mahogany, hammered bronze, colored marbles, mother-of-pearl, and ivory.
In addition, American sculptors mastered bronze casting, learning to use its sleek surfaces and rich patinas to achieve great decorative effect. Twelve bronzes are in the exhibition, ranging from Daniel Chester French's patriotic and restrained Concord Minute Man of 1775 (modeled in 1889) to Adolph Weinman's moody Descending Night and exuberant Rising Sun (1914-15). The most famous sculptor of the Gilded Age was Augustus Saint-Gaudens, represented in this exhibition by several works, including an early model for the Diana (1889) that once graced the top of New York's Madison Square Garden.
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Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917)
With Sloping Mast and Dipping Prow, about 1880-85
Oil, 12 x 12 in.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly
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Four rare paintings by the visionary artist Albert Pinkham Ryder are also included in the show, each a story of betrayal and redemption based on literary sources. These works are painted in glowing colors, with dramatic composition and a complex layered painting technique that made Ryder a favorite among collectors. Since Ryder's technique causes his paintings to be unusually fragile, the Smithsonian Museum rarely lends his works. Special humidity-controlled packing and shipping technology will allow the paintings to be displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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Objects Included in The Gilded Age
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