Burdens and Rewards: Some Issues for American Artists, 1865-1876

The rich and varied body of American art of the Reconstruction years (1865-1876) has received too little attention from art historians. Art of these years has often been criticized or belittled for its failure to be more adventurous without raising the question of why this might be so. This study responds to that question by considering art and artists in the context of their own time, the Civil War and the years immediately following. A review of the works of art that received significant recognition in important public exhibitions, critical opinion and representative literary works offers clear evidence that artists took on an important responsibility in the Reconstruction of the country, a responsibility that typically limited their choices to positive themes and subjects in the name of loyalty. Themes of reconciliation, of promise and of the past influenced artists' choices of subject matter for both landscape and genre painting, the latter often with a strong emphasis on children. Artists and their substantial middle class patrons, in many cases members of the same close cultural establishment that the national emergency had fostered, shared similar values that denied much of post-war anxiety by emphasizing an optimistic view of America. As a result patrons rewarded their artist colleagues well for works of art that supported this view. Yet, in spite of the historical circumstances--a narrowed range of choices for which the financial rewards were often generous--gifted American artists like Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Frederick Kensett and George Inness, created many works of art that were perceptive and powerful. In both affirming the future and dealing with a sense of loss, these works often pointed to deeper issues within the common life of the country.