Visions of US explores evolving ideas about American cultural identity from the 18th through 20th centuries. Drawn from NOMA’s world-class collection of American art, the exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures, photography and decorative arts to tell a rich and inclusive story about how we imagine and represent the United States. Featuring art from across America’s vast history and geography, Visions of US celebrates the cultural diversity and multitude of people and perspectives that make up our view of the United States. The exhibition uncovers dynamic points of connection between American artists working across the country—and even world—to craft the many different Visions of US that compose the country today.
American art, with a particular emphasis on artists working in Louisiana and the South, has long been one of NOMA’s key collection strengths. Visions of US is the first exhibition in NOMA’s history to highlight the full breadth of this extraordinary American art collection, and the first major American art exhibition in the country to place the work of acclaimed American artists from the Northeast like Jonathan Singleton Copley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Frank Stella alongside that of their lesser-known counterparts from the South and West like Alfred Boisseau, Josephine Crawford, Sam Francis and John T. Scott. American art is often largely defined by artists from the Northeast, and this exhibition shows how American artists working elsewhere—and especially the international port city of New Orleans—significantly broadened the range and scope of what we today think of as American art.
Rocks, Gloucester
1915
Stuart Davis
Oil on canvas
30 x 36 inches
Gift of Muriel Bultman Francis, 68.23
Portrait of Colonel George Watson (1718–1800)
1768
John Singleton Copley
Oil on canvas
58 ¾ x 48 7/8 inches
Museum Purchase and Gift by exchange from Isaac Cline, Herman E. Cooper, F. Julius Dreyfous, Durand-Ruel & Sons, and Laura Tortue, 77.37
Forenoon
1847
Asher Brown Durand
Oil on canvas
73 ¼ x 61 ¼ inches
Gift of the Fine Arts Club of New Orleans, 16.4
Her First Communion
1935
Josephine Crawford
Oil on canvas
39 x 24 inches
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard B. Kaufmann in honor of E. John Bullard, 93.167
Composition (White, Black, Blue and Red on White)
1948
Jackson Pollock
Casein on paper mounted on Masonite
32 x 40 inches
Bequest of Victor K. Kiam, 77.300
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Two Nuba Wrestlers
1970-71
George Dureau
Oil on canvas
60 x 54 inches
Bequest of Frank Walker Wright, 2002.25
Scramble: Ascending Yellow Values, Descending Spectrum
Frank Stella
Oil on Canvas
69 x 69 inches
Promised Gift of Donna Perret Rosen and Benjamin M. Rosen, EL.2011.234
Exclude
1980
Nancy Graves
Oil on canvas
Gift of Drs. Joy and Howard Osofsky, 2006.62