American Art

Purview

This collection focuses primarily on paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures created by artists who lived in the United States. It also incorporates works produced throughout the Americas from the colonial period to the 20th century.

Work by American artists from the 20th and 21st centuries can also be found in the Contemporary Art, Feminist Art, and Photography collections. Works by Indigenous artists can also be found in Arts of the Americas. Some work from European colonies in the Americas can also be found in European Art. Examples of American design can be found in Decorative Arts and Design.

History

“We commend these Exhibitions—and hope the spirit which prompts them will increase and multiply in Brooklyn. We wish some plan could be formed which would result in a perpetual free exhibition of works of art here, which would be open to all classes.” —Walt Whitman on the Brooklyn Institute, November 21, 1846

The Brooklyn Institute, a precursor to the Brooklyn Museum, began exhibiting paintings in 1843 and announced its intention to establish a permanent collection of fine art in 1846.

Inspired by the words of Walt Whitman—the acting librarian in 1835 of the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library, which also preceded the Brooklyn Museum—institute founder Augustus Graham bequeathed $10,000 to support the purchase of artworks by living American painters. This was a groundbreaking idea at a time when museums focused primarily on historical European paintings. The institute received the sum upon Graham’s death in 1851 and in 1855, commissioned New York City–based artists Asher B. Durand and Daniel Huntington to create paintings that would start the collection. In addition to the work of living artists, the institute was particularly interested in portraiture dating to the 18th and 19th centuries.

Beginning in the late 19th century, rapid changes and innovations in artistic styles led many institutions to consider separating historic and contemporary art. The Brooklyn Museum established a department of Contemporary Art in 1934 that would continue to focus on the work of living artists. The department of American Art continued to collect historic works.

In the 21st century, the American Art department is working to expand the narrative of what it means to be American and redefine the ways in which we represent the cultural history of the United States.