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Artist unknown (American, 19th century), The Greenhow Children , ca. 1818, oil on canvas, 60 ½ x 73 ¾ in.; 153.67 x 187.33 cm Gift of Miss Emily Keller, 1942.112 The Greenhow Children represents a marked departure from earlier American portraiture. The informal poses contrast strongly with the stiff and sober depictions of the Colonial period. Whereas all portraiture served to confirm the sitter’s privileged station — evidenced here by the comfortable setting and the servant pictured second from left — this group portrait also demonstrates changing attitudes toward children. By the nineteenth century, childhood was understood as a distinct phase of life marked by innate innocence, contradicting earlier ideas of children as miniature adults. The lighthearted gesture of the child at farthest left and admonishment of his elder sister reveal the transition from carefree childhood to cautious adulthood. MORE DETAILS

George Ault (American, 1891-1948), August Night At Russell's Corners , 1940, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in.; 45.72 x 60.96 cm Museum purchase, 1955.189 MORE DETAILS

George Bellows (American, 1882-1925), Jewel Coast, California , 1917, oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in.; 50.8 x 60.96 cm Museum purchase, 1959.164 MORE DETAILS

Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889–1975), The Hailstorm , 1940, tempera on canvas mounted on panel, 33 x 40, 83.82 x 101.6 cm Gift of the James A. Douglas Memorial Foundation (1971), 1952.11 An outspoken populist, Benton used his art to praise what he saw as ordinary American virtues. His subjects ranged from rough-hewn Midwestern characters to broad epics of American life. An artist fully in touch with contemporary art and aesthetic theory, Benton’s anti-intellectual, nationalistic bravado held special appeal in Depression-era America. The Hailstorm, with its rural theme, vibrant colors, tilted perspective, lanky figures, and undulating landscape, is quintessential Benton; with its hallmark mule and rolling countryside, it represents archetypal Missouri. At the time of its making, The Hailstorm’s drama between man and nature would have stirred memories of recent farm failures and dust bowls. Purchase a poster featuring this artwork. MORE DETAILS

Albert Bierstadt (American, born Germany, 1830–1902), Storm on the Matterhorn , 1886, oil on canvas, 53¾ x 82½, 136.5 x 212.1 cm Gift of Mrs. Ben Gallagher, 1966.620 Like Thomas Moran, Bierstadt accompanied several government-sponsored expeditions to the American West, and his resulting panoramas strongly influenced the post-Civil War generation’s perception of the region.      Born in Düsseldorf, Bierstadt returned there for artistic training, absorbing the Academy’s preference for large, detailed compositions. Equally influenced by the Hudson River School, Bierstadt’s paintings of mountainous terrain combine geological accuracy with a romantic sensibility. Late in his career, Bierstadt concentrated on European scenery, views of the Alps being a particular favorite. These later works mix sublimity with artistic conventions; here, the left foreground trees act as a framing device, the small circling bird as an indicator of perspective. MORE DETAILS

George Caleb Bingham (American, 1811–1879), Watching the Cargo by Night , 1854, oil on canvas, 24 x 29 in.; 60.96 x 73.66 cm Gift of Foxley & Co, 1997.33 Bingham, a largely self-taught artist, lived most of his life in Missouri. His pictures almost always carry political messages. Even his idyllic river scenes, showing ordinary boatmen at work or rest, were a reminder that the rivers — so important to commerce and progress — were fraught with dangers that the government was making little attempt to correct. Here there is deep mist or fog, making the shallow, shifting waters perilous for travel; other pictures emphasize the sandbars and snags that impeded river traffic.      This painting is from a period in which Bingham experimented with night scenes, beautifully playing the effects of firelight and moonlight against the central figure and the night sky. MORE DETAILS

John George Brown (American, 1831-1913), The Card Trick , ca. 1880s, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in.; 76.2 x 102.24 cm Gift of the estate of Mrs. Sarah Joslyn, 1944.14 MORE DETAILS

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926), Lydia Reading the Morning Paper (No. 1) (Woman Reading) (Femme lisant) (Portrait of Lydia Cassatt, the Artist's Sister) , 1878–79, oil on canvas, 32 x 23 1/2 inches Museum purchase, Joslyn Endowment Fund, 1942.38 The most universally recognized female painter associated with Impressionism, Mary Cassatt traveled with her family in Europe and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before settling permanently in Paris in 1874. In 1877, Edgar Degas invited her to join the Impressionists, and she participated in their series of historic exhibitions in the late 1870s and early 80s. Regarded as one of the most talented painters of the Impressionist group, Cassatt took an active interest in and explored their new approaches to color theory, brushwork, and figure-ground relationships. Purchase a poster featuring this artwork. MORE DETAILS

William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916), Sunlight and Shadow , 1884, oil on canvas, 65¼ x 77¾, 165.74 x 194.3 cm Gift of the Friends of Art, 1932.4 Chase personified the late-nineteenth-century international artist. Cultivated and well-traveled, he spent equal time in America and abroad. Although he early on practiced the Munich style of painting, Sunlight and Shadow marked a transition in Chase’s career. The bold brushwork and anecdotal subject are hallmarks of the Munich School, but the plein-air colors, subtle light contrasts, and flat shapes are indebted to Impressionism. Interestingly, Chase originally titled the painting The Tiff, focusing on the clear psychological tension between the man and woman. The subsequent change in title indicates Chase’s shifting interest from the narrative to pure sense perception. Purchase a poster featuring this artwork. MORE DETAILS

John Steuart Curry (American, 1879-1946), Manhunt , 1931, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 1/4 in.; 76.2 x 102.24 cm Museum purchase, 1979.142 MORE DETAILS

Manierre Dawson (American, 1887-1969), Equation , 1914, oil on cardboard, 36 x 27 5/8 in.; 91.44 x 70.17 cm Museum purchase with funds provided by the Joslyn Women's Association and gift of Ephraim Marks, 1988.4 MORE DETAILS

Thomas Eakins (American, 1844-1916), Professor John Laurie Wallace , 1885, oil on canvas, 50¼ x 32½ , 127.64 x 82.5 cm Gift of the James A. Douglas Memorial Foundation (1971), 1941.24 Like fellow American Edwin Lord Weeks, Eakins studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Léon Gérôme. Unlike those two Orientalists, however, Eakins was less interested in artistic exactitude than in psychological realism. Favoring the strong light-and-dark contrasts perfected by seventeenth-century Spanish masters, Eakins set his subjects in dim interiors, employing dark pigments and rapid, sweeping brushstrokes to capture their mood. J. Laurie Wallace, Eakins’ pupil at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, appears in many of the artist’s most famous works. In the 1890s, Wallace moved to Omaha to establish a fine arts academy and stayed for fifty years overseeing a lucrative portrait studio. MORE DETAILS

Frederick Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935), April Showers, Champs Elysees, Paris , 1888, oil on canvas, 12½ x 16¾, 31.75 x 42.55 cm Museum purchase, 1946.30 Joris-Karl Huysman’s 1883 defense of Impressionism in his book L’Art Moderne justified the many artists who, acting against centuries of tradition, abandoned their studios to paint Paris’ streets and its citizens. The civic renaissance initiated in the 1870s turned the city’s outdoor cafés and avenues into fashionable meeting places for Paris’ bourgeoisie, and Hassam’s April Showers illustrates the phenomenon: a well-dressed woman observes the bustle of pedestrians and carriages on Paris’ most famous boulevard. The unrestrained patches of muted color faithfully capture the effects of a gray, rainy day in the city, a favored theme of Hassam’s throughout his life. MORE DETAILS

Robert Henri (American, 1865-1929), Portrait of Fi , 1907, oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 20 1/8 in.; 61.6 x 51.12 cm Museum purchase, 1957.14 MORE DETAILS

Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910), Trooper Meditating Beside a Grave , ca. 1865, oil on canvas, 16 x 8 inches, 40.64 x 20.32 cm Gift of Dr. Harold Gifford and Ann Gifford Forbes, 1960.298 Homer worked as an illustrator, providing visual reportage of the Civil War to American magazines. Unlike others who translated their sketches of the war into large-scale, epic paintings, Homer opted to portray the more personal consequences of battle. Here, a Union soldier contemplates the grave of a fallen comrade, the memorials of others scattered in the background.  MORE DETAILS

Daniel Huntington (American, 1816-1906), Roman Ruins in Southern Italy , 1848, oil on canvas, 43 ½ x 63 ¼ in.; 110.5 x 160.66 cm Gift of J.L. Brandeis and Sons Co., 1952.97 Though friends with Thomas Cole and other luminaries of the Hudson River School, Huntington mostly concentrated on portraiture, historical scenes, and allegories rather than landscape, making Joslyn’s landscape somewhat of an exception. The work was most likely begun during the artist’s stay in Rome between 1842 and 1845, where numerous artists gathered to study works of classical antiquity and practice their draftsmanship. The subject of Roman ruins in Arcadian settings was popular at the time, and Huntington’s inclusion here of a classical figure links it to works by contemporaries such as Cole. Indeed, that the painting was completed and exhibited the year of Cole’s death may indicate an homage to the renowned master. MORE DETAILS

Henry Inman (American, 1801-1846), Onpatonga (Big Elk) , ca. 1832-33, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in. Museum purchase with funds from the Art Acquisition Fund and the Edward R. Trabold and Lulu H. Trabo, 2011.2 MORE DETAILS

Henry Inman (American, 1801–1846), Portrait of William Drummond Stewart , 1844, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches, 76.2 x 63.5 cm Museum purchase, 1963.617 Henry Inman, an accomplished American portraitist, was engaged by Stewart to paint this likeness, considered by many to be one of Inman’s finest. The ruddy complexion suggests Stewart’s love of outdoor life, while his erect posture, Roman nose, and the rich fur collar imply his aristocracy and wealth Stewart (Scottish, 1795–1871), a younger son, was a caption in the British army and served under Wellington at Waterloo.  Later he spent considerable time in the American West, with a number of expeditions into the Rocky Mountains to attend the annual fur trading fair known as the Rendezvous.  He returned to Scotland only after inheriting the ancestral estates upon the death of his older brother. MORE DETAILS

Charles Bird King (American, 1785–1862), Portrait of Shaumonekusse (L’Ietan), an Oto Half-Chief , n.d., oil on canvas, 29½ x 24½ inches, 74.93 x 62.23 cm Gift of M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1978.267 An accomplished professional portraitist, King is best known today for his depictions of Native American dignitaries who came to Washington to confer with government officials. The portraits were commissioned by Superintendent of Indian Affairs Thomas L. McKenney (1785–1859). With James Hall (1793–1868) as co-author, McKenney published a History of the Indian Tribes of North America between 1836 and 1844. Shaumonekusse was a member of a distinguished delegation of Kansas, Missouri, Omaha, Oto, and Pawnee men who traveled to Washington in 1821. MORE DETAILS

Walt Kuhn (American, 1877-1949), Woman With a Black Necklace , 1928, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in.; 76.2 x 63.5 cm. Gift of Mr. Charles Simon, 1979.139 MORE DETAILS

Paul Manship (American, 1885–1966), Indian Hunter and Pronghorn Antelope , 1917, plaster painted in bronze, Indian: 57½ high,127 cm; antelope: 62 high, 157.48 cm Gift of the artist, 1956.391.1-2 One of the outstanding American sculptors of the early 20th century, Manship’s work bridged the traditional and the modern. Its characteristic polish and streamlined stylization is often associated with the development of Art Deco, a dominant style in 1920s American architecture and design.  Manship apprenticed under Solon Borglum and studied at both the Art Students League in New York and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, followed by three years at the American Academy in Rome. He traveled to Greece, where he found a lasting affinity for archaic Greek art, with its expressive directness and restrained, simplified naturalism. The dramatic Indian Hunter and Pronghorn Antelope takes as its source the Greek myth of the labors of the hero Herakles, recast here as an Indian hunter wounding his western American quarry. Embodying the full flavor of Manship’s refined works, the sleek, silhouetted pair emphasizes the power and grace of flowing line. MORE DETAILS

Wright Morris (American, 1910-1998), Gano Grain Elevator, Western Kansas , 1940, gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.; 24.13 x 19.03 cm Museum purchase, 1997.4.1 MORE DETAILS

Dale Nichols (American, 1904-1995), Road to Adventure , 1940, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.; 76.2 x 101.6 Museum purchase, 1942.80 MORE DETAILS

James Peale (American, 1749–1831), Portrait of Katherine Francis , 1807, oil on canvas, 31 x 25 ½ in.; 78.74 x 64.77 cm Museum Purchase, 1982.2 A member of a renowned family of artists and intellectuals, James Peale originally received artistic training from his eldest brother, Charles Willson Peale, after the latter’s return from England in 1769. By 1786, the two had established a studio in Philadelphia, specializing in miniatures and portraits.      This depiction of Katherine Francis evidences James’ early work as a miniaturist: the delicate lace bodice is rendered with breathtaking delicacy and detail. James, more than Charles, was interested in the latest European artistic developments. The high coloring, backlighting, and attention to particulars are all features of Neoclassicism, then the dominant European artistic trend. MORE DETAILS

Severin Roesen (American, born Germany, ca.1815–ca.1872), Fruit Still Life with Compote of Strawberries , n.d., oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in.; 40.64 x 50.8 cm; Museum purchase with funds from the Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, 2002.10 Upon his arrival in New York around 1848, Roesen quickly adopted characteristically “American” style elements: classical balance, intense realism, and simplicity of form and composition. These he fused into brilliantly colored and brightly illuminated still lifes in which the painted objects appear almost aggressively physical and present. Roesen habitually reused objects and compositional devices, especially a marble table top on which most of his fruit and flower arrangements are presented. Individual elements as well, such as the fancy milk glass compote, the bruised peach, and the two plums with their distinctive gnawed leaf seen here, are found in several of Roesen’s canvases. MORE DETAILS

John Sloan (American, 1871–1951), Sunset, West Twenty-third Street (23rd Street, Roofs, Sunset) , 1906, oil on canvas, 24 3/8 x 36¼, 61.91 x 92.1 cm 25th Anniversary Purchase, 1957.15 Believing that a new century demanded new art, Sloan joined The Eight, a group of painters who rejected suave society images in favor of portraying the average New Yorker at work or leisure. Sloan considered himself a member of the urban working class and found views of life in lower Manhattan's markets or back alleys to be interesting and relevant for a mass audience. In keeping with the spirit of the times, his urban vision is characterized by frank observation, humor, and compassion. A study of an undistinguished cityscape, Sunset, West Twenty-third Street displays Sloan's ability to transform an ordinary setting into an image of beauty and tranquillity. MORE DETAILS

Edwin Lord Weeks (American, 1849–1903), Indian Barbers, Saharanpore , ca. 1895, oil on canvas, 56 ¼ x 75 in.; 142.88 x 190.5 cm Gift of the Friends of Art Collection, 1932.22 Oriental themes gained popularity after Napoleon’s sweep through North Africa in the first decade of the nineteenth century. In Indian Barbers, set in a city in northwest India, the amusing scene fits the Victorian taste for incidents of everyday life. Weeks’ composition delineates the simple facts while conveying the scene’s exoticism, which is heightened by the dazzling light. Squatting in the sandy market place, these benighted citizens are undergoing slow torture at the hands of their native tonsorial artists, with their dull scissors and duller razors. A glimpse at the faces of the clients will convince anyone that the experience is one not of enjoyment but of endurance. MORE DETAILS

Grant Wood (American, 1891–1942), Stone City, Iowa , 1930, oil on wood panel, 30¼ x 40, 76.84 x 101.6 cm Gift of the Art Institute of Omaha, 1930.35 Of the leading American Regionalist painters of the 1930s, Wood was regarded as the quiet philosopher-artist. His reassuring, representational paintings embodied enduring American myths about the perfection of rural life. Intentionally aimed at an isolationist-minded, Depression-era audience, Wood's work found in the local scene a means of expressing nationalistic sentiment; it is also deftly sprinkled with wry observations about country life. Stone City, Iowa, his first major landscape, epitomizes Wood's commentary about change that was often threaded through his traditional subjects. A boomtown gone bust, Stone City seems to have gone back to a purer purpose of grazing animals and growing crops. Purchase a poster featuring this artwork. MORE DETAILS