The Gilded Age: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Artists who brought a new sophistication into American art in the three decades before World War I are featured in this engaging survey. As wealthy industrialists eager to acquire culture began to patronize native artists, elegant portraits, paintings inspired by romantic literature, exotic Middle Eastern cultures, and idealized "masculine" landscapes emerged. The works of John Singer Sargent, Cecilia Beaux, John La Farge, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Mary Cassatt, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Winslow Homer, and others are presented.