HAELY CHANG
Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art
EVONNE FUSELIER
Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow, Curatorial
MICHAEL HARTMAN
Former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art
ASHLEY OFFILL
Curator of Collections
ELIZABETH RICE MATTISON
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art
The American Revolution (1765– 83) and signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776) shaped the political and ideological foundation of the United States. Two hundred and fifty years on, images of the Revolution have remained powerful tools of self-definition. Beginning with Dartmouth's founding, just a few years before the war, this exhibition explores how artworks made at this critical juncture have shaped our understanding of history through their reappearance at key historical moments. This exhibition brings together images from the 18th century to the present day that reflect on that Revolutionary moment, questioning how representations of the Revolution came to define an idea of American history and contributed to an emergent idea of the nation. The propaganda, myths, and history of the Revolution, both as it took place and in successive centuries, were essential to forging the concept of the United States itself.
Representations of the Revolution reverberated through four subsequent time periods. As American colonists fought British soldiers, works of art relayed current events and preserved their memory for future generations; prints of battles, portraits of military leaders, and even relics of the Revolution, like a piece of George Washington's coffin, all created a foundational—and often exclusionary—vision of the nation. Crucially, this section of the exhibition also introduces the Revolution as a multinational conflict, emphasizing the important roles of Indigenous leaders, like Joseph Brant, and the contributions of Black servicemembers. The foundation of Dartmouth College, alongside the wide American educational system, was inextricably linked to this Revolutionary moment as well.
Fifty years later, upon the first major anniversary of the Revolution in the late 1820s and 1830s, prints of political leaders and major historical events helped to mythologize figures such as George Washington. As the last remaining fighters of the Revolutionary generation were dying, such imagery laid the groundwork for a notion of a glorious nation built on "liberty." These themes were extended in the time of the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the Centenary of the United States. Works such as reproducible images of the 1876 exhibition as well as decorative arts that recall the Revolution attest to the ongoing significance of the Colonial period in creating a fiction of unity and glory, especially in the aftermath of conflict.
War again formed the background of the 20th-century renewal of Revolutionary imagery. Just prior to and during the Second World War, artists looked to the 1770s as a moment of righteous battles and national ideals. Wartime posters directly compared 20th-century soldiers to their counterparts two centuries prior as a means of fostering a patriotic spirit. This trend continues into the present day as artists use national symbols to examine contemporary issues.
Taken together, the objects harness a shared visual language and invest in imagining a national spirit. While some artists created works to inspire patriotism and laud leaders, others used their talents to invite critique of the country by appropriating the familiar representations. As a whole, this exhibition challenges the assumptions and applications of this Revolutionary imagery and asks visitors to reconsider how artworks contribute to our understanding of the past.