May 19 through September 2, 2007
Wachovia Gallery, Doylestown
Artists of the Commonwealth was sponsored by Anonymous, Audrey Long
Interior Design, Kelchner's Horseradish Products, Moyer & Son, Inc. and
The Freight House.
While New York is often thought of as the center of the American art world,
the accomplishments of Pennsylvania's artists have rivaled those of our neighbor to
the north, and our commonwealth's artistic roots actually reach back to the early
colonial period. Great artistic families like the Peales not only gave us many
fine works of art but also founded America's first art museum, the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
At their academies and universities, influential cities like Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh served as training grounds for young artists. Rural counties like
Lancaster and Bucks helped to inspire artistic vision through their scenic beauty.
Following the success of a similar exhibition in 2001
that focused on the latter half of the 20th century, this exhibit featured paintings
by 38 Pennsylvania artists who worked in the first half of the century, focusing
on the common stylistic thread of realism in its many forms—from the romantic
realism of Daniel Garber and
Mary Cassatt, to the more precise realism of
Charles Sheeler,
to the impressionist realism of
Edward Redfield and
Robert Spencer.
Other well-known artists in the show include Henry Ossawa Tanner, Cecilia Beaux,
Robert Henri, Arthur B. Carles, and Violet Oakley. Artists with Bucks County
connections include Garber, Sheeler, Redfield, Spencer,
Fern Coppedge,
Walter Schofield, and
Clarence Carter.
The exhibit was organized by three Western Pennsylvania art
museums—Westmoreland, Southern Alleghenies, and Erie—with the
assistance of the Michener Art Museum.
A L S O S E E
Top: Clarence Carter (1904-2000), Study for the Barnesville Post Office Mural, 1935, Oil on board,
16 1/2 x 39 inches, Collection of Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh, PA...
Bottom: William Glackens (1870-1938), The Easter Hat, c.1930, Oil on canvas,
23 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches, Palmer Museum of Art of The Pennsylvania State University,
Gift of Ira Glackens.
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