European and American Artists Before 1900

The Denver Art Museum’s European and American art before 1900 department boasts an expansive collection, which spans painting, sculpture and works on paper by artists like Edward Hopper. Their works demonstrate how artists are adept at adopting European techniques while remaining uniquely American in style.

Continental Europeans often view America’s massive music industry with disdain, believing it homogenizes culture into mass markets that dilute community identity.

Exile

Exile can provide artists with an invaluable opportunity to broaden their horizons and produce fresh work, but its complexity often creates additional hurdles from language barriers to social divides. Elizabeth Catlett used her relocation to the US as a vehicle for social justice issues through her prints while Iranian artist Shirin Neshat used her experiences navigating cultural intersections to break stereotypes of Muslim women.

As Nazi regime killed Jews, burned synagogues, and destroyed art deemed “Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) in Europe from 1938-40, American journalist Varian Fry joined with Pierre Matisse – father of Henri Matisse and noted modern art dealer – and collectors like Peggy Guggenheim to form Emergency Rescue Committee, or ERC. As part of its work they organized landmark group show called Artists in Exile that introduced fourteen exiled European artists living in New York as centers for modernism – where they would find solace.

Disorientation

As late as 1960, artists still traveled to Europe for various purposes such as artistic inspiration, exhibition opportunities, illustration on commission work, leisure travel and cultural enrichment. It was difficult for artists from one country to distinguish European from American art due to instant communication and cultural cross-pollination.

Katharine Kuh took a scholarly approach when curating American Artists Paint the City at the 1956 Venice Biennale, by seeking commonalities between various artists. For instance, she linked Lewis to Mark Tobey because they shared an interest in luminosity; furthermore she group them together because they perceived American cities as new spaces characterized by lights snapping on and off and streaming traffic as well as light effects to transform previously accepted dimensions.

Kuh’s selection of Hopper, Shahn and de Kooning allowed her to emphasize their shared concerns regarding rural people becoming separated and alienated in urban environments – providing her with an interpretive key that helped convince European critics of abstract expressionism’s validity.

Survival

Even after being exposed to European art, many American artists maintained a strong sense of self-reference and locality. Ash Can School painter Edward Hopper’s depiction of people uprooted from 19th century rural communities into urban settings is an excellent example.

Jewish artists living in Nazi Germany decided to flee because of practical and financial considerations as well as mortal danger; they did not wish to repeat World War One and its horrendous effects, or risk further creative years gone awry and an inability to showcase their works.

Varian Fry’s American Emergency Rescue Committee helped Chagall, Duchamp, Ernst, Leger, Lipchitz and Zadkine along with Aldous Huxley and other intellectuals escape Europe by providing safe houses, money and false passports. As refugees they sought asylum in America where they hoped they could make a mark similar to what had occurred back home – often via New York-centric art scenes.

Integration

Many immigrant artists embraced American culture while remaining connected to established European traditions, like Jewish composers such as Horowitz. He used European canons as inspiration to compose uniquely American works.

Some artists saw themselves as guardians of Europe in America. They sought to uphold artistic traditions from their homelands while using art for cultural enrichment and transformation.

Many took this as an opportunity to create large-scale Grand Manner history paintings depicting themes from Greco Roman history as moral instruction against Native Americans.

Rouben Mamoulian was another artist who developed new forms of cultural expression. They applied Surrealism’s unconscious improvisations and spontaneous methods in new contexts. By 1950s America, artistic cross-pollination made it difficult to differentiate European art from American. This visual integration can be found throughout The Metropolitan Museum collections.