American Art

I wasn't sure what country to do my next post on and it took my a while to settle on America. I chose it because although it doesn't have a long history in art, many hugely influential and great artists come from this country. A few of which I would love to discover more about, this will be my main focus of the post. American art started off primarily with portrait and landscape art but then modern art began to develop hugely until New York replaced Paris as the center of art worldwide. Now-a-days American art covers a huge range in styles and topics.

The first topic I am going to talk about is an American artist is Edward Hopper who is very well known, in particular for his oil paintings. He was born on 22nd July 1882 in New York, the same city in which he died aged 82. For 6 years Hopper studied at the NY school of art where he explorede both illustration and fine art. He first of all worked as an illustrator and after that he travelled to Paris, the center of modern art at the time, this trip greatly inspired him. In 1942 Edward Hopper painted his most well known, and my personal favorite, painting called 'Nighthawks'. The painting shows a few people sitting in a diner late at night, it is painted in oil paints and is painted in a style known as 'social realism'. Personally I love the colour and shapes used and I find the painting quite lonely.



Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
http://03varvara.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/edward-hopper-night-hawks-1942/edward-hopper-night-hawks-1942/

Next I have decided to talk breifly on pop art in America. Although this style of art orginated in Britain it took of hugely in America in the late 1950s and 1960s. Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein focused on old fashioned comic strips using oil and manga paint. He used bright colours and Bem-Day dots. Andy Warhol was another hugly influencial artist is is very well known in association with pop art. Not only did he create visual arts but he made his whole lifestyle and himself as a person into a sort of art form.

This is one of Andy Warhols Most Iconic Paintings
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/popart/Andy-Warhol.html