HAELY CHANG
Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art
EVONNE FUSELIER
Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow, Curatorial
ASHLEY B. OFFILL
Curator of Collections
ELIZABETH RICE MATTISON
Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art
What is a nation? Is it a place, a political system, or a group of people striving toward a common goal? How does a country imagine itself? Rather than seeking to settle upon one idea of the United States, the exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790–1940 explores how art and artists have played a role in defining, nurturing, and maintaining ideas of nationhood. Following broad thematic groupings, the exhibition examines artistic presentations of land, people, and ideas as emblematic of America and American identity.
Featuring paintings, sculptures, prints, maps, baskets, and even a wooden baseball player, the exhibition considers how conceptions of American nationhood have continued to evolve from 1776 to the present day.
Landscapes can serve as a form of symbolic representation. In Régis François Gignoux's New Hampshire (White Mountain Landscape), for instance, the artist did not portray a specific location. Instead, he composed an imagined landscape inspired by the panoramic photographs and paintings that flourished in the 19th century. The sweeping hills and vast horizons are dramatized by the presence of a bald eagle soaring through the canyon, an image that would have resonated with contemporary viewers thinking of westward expansion. Such glorious visions were one way to represent the United States.
However, both artists' depictions of the land and seemingly objective maps frequently ignored the presence of Indigenous peoples who had lived there for generations. They had established their own nations and ways of knowing the land, a form of knowledge that is present in the geographies represented in baskets and ceramics. Native American artists also created works that represented the struggle for sovereignty and survivance. For example, the scene in a pictorial elk hide painting most likely created by Cadzi Cody (Codsiogo) pairs a dance with a buffalo hunt and a central American flag. This painting's material and imagery reflect complex relationships between Native and American national identities.
In addition to the land, ideas about the United States are strongly tied to specific symbols. Baseball has become a defining American pastime, and the baseball player, a new kind of American hero. The horse—and related notions of cowboys—became synonymous with ideas about American adventure. Meanwhile, eagles and buffalo became alter egos for the bounty of American nature. Notions of nationhood also grew out of the idolization of specific people, both real and imagined. Paul Bunyan, Jesse James, and Jackie Robinson all came to stand for certain aspects of American identity: strength, rebellion, and bravery.
Artists played a key role in bringing these ideas about nationhood to life. Through a variety of art forms, artists across media gave shape to the emergent ideas of America. This exhibition emphasizes the artistic plurality of national visions, and some of its works offer alternative perspectives on the country, highlighting the stories that are often excluded from national consideration. The paintings, sculptures, prints, and other objects on display present diverse notions about how people understand the connections between their lives and places. Through art, ultimately, American nationhood and identity have continued to evolve.