American Scenes/Americas Seen is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
During the ’30s and ’40s, many artists reacted against the abstract styles favored by the first generation of American moderns, dismissing non-objective art as “un-American.” Favoring representational modes, artists on both sides of the border pursued variations on several period styles variously called the American Scene, Regionalism, and Social Realism in the United States.
In Mexico, the Mural Movement shaped by the utopian fervor of the Revolution was initially a state-sponsored project to bring public art to the masses, translating nationalist ideologies into visual form. Some celebrated muralists like Diego Rivera also created easel paintings of idealized peasants marketed to foreign tourists, and heroic paintings of indigenous peoples by Alfredo Ramos Martinez were in great demand during his sojourn in California in the late ’30s.
IMAGE CREDIT
Diego Rivera, Winding Thread (Hilando), 1936. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce. © 2020 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Many U.S. artists, however, continued to pursue modern styles, and in 1936, a group of them founded the Abstract Artists of America (AAA) to exhibit together and educate the public. Alice Trumbull Mason, a founder of the AAA, declared, “I was completely joyful not to be governed by representing things anymore.” Nevertheless, the majority of Mexican artists continued the Muralists’ emphasis on figuration and social themes during this period. Carlos Mérida, however, was one of the first artists in Mexico to experiment with abstraction. Initially active in the Mural Movement and the Taller de Gráfica Popular (The People’s Print Workshop), he eventually paved the way for others to explore abstract styles in the ensuing decades.
American Scenes/Americas Seen features works from the collection of Phoenix Art Museum spanning the 1930s and 1940s and created by these celebrated muralists and abstract artists from Mexico and the United States.
IMAGE CREDIT
Philip C. Curtis, My Studio (Mi estudio), 1935. Oil on board. Gift of Terese Greene Sterling.
EXHIBITION SPONSORS
FEATURED WORKS IN THE COLLECTION
Winding Thread (Hilando)
Diego Rivera, Mexican, 1886 - 1957, 1936, painting, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce
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American Landscape (Paisaje americano)
Miklos Suba, American, 1860 - 1944, 1938, painting, oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Lorenz Anderman
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My Studio (Mi estudio)
Philip C. Curtis, American, 1907 - 2000, 1935, painting, oil on board, Gift of Terese Greene Sterling
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