John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925), Portrait of Ralph Curtis on the Beach at Scheveningen, 1880, oil on panel, gift of Walter Clay Hill and Family Foundation, 73.3.
The High Museum of Art’s historical American Art collection includes over 1,200 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints made by artists working within the United States between 1780 and 1980.
With strengths in historical painting and sculpture, the collection demonstrates the evolution of a distinctly American point of view in artistic representation. From early American portraiture to the splendor of the Gilded Age, the High’s nineteenth-century collection includes excellent examples in landscape and portraiture in addition to one of the largest holdings of American neoclassical marble sculpture. The High holds works by the nation’s most progressive artists of the modern age, including the newly emerging groups of abstract painters, artists concerned with social justice and reform, and artists rooted in figural and narrative works featuring the American scene.
Margaret and Terry Stent Associate Curator of American Art
Senior Curator of American Art and
Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art
Explore the American Art Collection
American HIGHlights
The High’s American Art collection features iconic nineteenth-century sculpture including William Wetmore Story’s monumental Cleopatra and Medea marbles, landscapes by John Frederick Kensett and Martin Johnson Heade, Portrait of Ralph Curtis on the Beach at Scheveningen by John Singer Sargent, and Sketch of Mother Looking Down at Thomas by Mary Cassatt. Landmark twentieth-century paintings include works by Joseph Stella, Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Lewis, and Romare Bearden.
American Impressionism
The High’s American Impressionist collection began with major gifts from the J. J. Haverty Family and has grown to include works by Mary Cassatt, Theodore Robinson, Lilla Cabot Perry, and John Singer Sargent.
American Landscapes
The High holds several excellent examples of American landscape paintings, including early nineteenth-century imaginary views, the Hudson River School’s explorations of American nature, and Impressionist and modern landscapes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
American Neoclassical Sculpture
In 2010, a significant gift from the West Foundation of Atlanta established a landmark collection of American Neoclassical sculpture that features mythological, literary, and classical subjects that reflect the taste and concerns of nineteenth-century Americans.
American Portraits
The High’s American Art collection holds examples of portraiture across two centuries in painting, prints, drawings, and sculpture.
American Drawings and Watercolors
The High’s American Art collection has a growing number of drawings and watercolors from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the Paul Stein Collection, with strengths in nineteenth-century landscape, portraiture, and genre works.
Prints
The High’s holdings of American prints offer examples by major innovators in the field, including an outstanding suite of important etchings by James A. McNeill Whistler.
American Still Life
The High’s growing collection of American still life painting includes examples across two centuries, from the precise renderings of artists such as J. J. Audubon and J. B. Ord to the modernist reinterpretations of the genre by Marsden Hartley and Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
American Genre Painting
The High’s collection of American genre painting reveals artistic interpretation of everyday life over the course of two centuries. Highlights include paintings by such artists as Eastman Johnson, John Quidor, Fidelia Bridges, and Andrew Wyeth.
Do you love American Art?
Support the High by becoming a Friend of the American Art Collection.
