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American History Painting
American artists of a hundred years or more ago who studied abroad were often captivated by the awe-inspiring tradition on the continent for massive history paintings. If for no other reason than they were often gargantuan in size, it had to mean that they were important. And of course, history was important, as anyone of the time could tell you. Also, to those producing it anyway, art was vitally important even though its monopoly on visual communication was rapidly fading. Today, motion pictures like Titanic and Gone With the Wind, or Television masterpieces such as Roots have taken over the place history painting once held simply because they are so much more effective in portraying it.

Pity the poor nineteenth century artist returning from Europe with the high-minded intentions of becoming the all-American history painter of all times. Artists like Morse, Mount, Cole, and dozens of others fell into this trap and paid dearly for their folly in terms of years of frustration. The fact was, there simply were not a significant number of grand palaces, massive cathedrals, or monstrous temples to government in which they could hang their idealistic masterpieces. Yet strangely, one artist did have a modicum of success in this endeavour. He was a German immigrant named Emanuel Leutze.


Contributed by Lane, Jim
30 June 1998


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