Decorative painters love the charming country landscapes found in the art of American masters Grant Wood, Rufus Porter and Charles Wysocki. Their simplified styles celebrate rural America through paintings of rolling hills and farmlands dotted with sheep or old-fashioned farm houses.Now, anyone can paint these nostalgic scenes with the easy instructions found in Painting Americana. In this book, readers learn:* Simple techniques for painting hills, farm animals, trees, barns and more that even beginners can master* How to achieve rustic effects on wood and metal surfaces* 10 unique step-by-step projects, including a Pennsylvania Dutch design on a door crown and French country chickens on a bentwood boxStunning finished pieces make perfect gifts and family keepsakes.

Fans of Charles Wysocki, Mary Engelbreit, Grandma Moses, and folk art in general will fall in love with this guide to painting, organized by seasons. Featuring projects that instruct artists of all skill levels how to draw and paint subjects that include quaint homes, pretty patterns, colorful gardens, picturesque farms, beautiful birds, and textured florals, this book features American-themed folk art infused with a modern twist. Beginning with an overview of what folk art is, followed by introductory topics like color, tools and materials, and drawing and painting techniques, Folk Art Fusion: Americana also includes sixteen simple step-by-step projects done in approachable and popular mediums. Rounding out the book is a gallery of folk-art pieces sure to inspire lovers of all things Americana. Simultaneously fresh and nostalgic, Folk Art Fusion: Americana draws on America’s rich artistic tradition and heritage and provides a fun, accessible take on creating beloved scenes from the heartland.

Published to accompany a major transatlantic exhibition, a tribute to U.S. landscape painting features more than one hundred works by the Hudson River School artists, complemented by three gatefolds, artist biographies, and essays on American landscape painting in the context of international traditions and national identity. (Fine Arts)

Describes Grant Wood's portrait of Iowa farmers, and documents how the piece has represented midwestern Puritanism, hard-working endurance, and the often-parodied American heartland.

Describes the transformation in American art as a vast group of American artists settled in Paris to study with the great French painters, and continued through the twentieth century as French artists began to leave Paris for New York.

Collects the best artwork created before, during and following the Civil War, in the years between 1859 and 1876, along with extensive quotations from men and women alive during the war years and text by literary figures, including Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain and Walt Whitman. 15,000 first printing.

The social and political climate in which Wood's art flourished bears certain striking similarities to America today, as national identity and the tension between urban and rural areas reemerge as polarizing issues in a country facing the consequences of globalization and the technological revolution. Wood portrayed the tension and alienation of contemporary experience. By fusing meticulously observed reality with fables of childhood, he crafted unsettling images of estrangement and apprehension that pictorially manifest the anxiety of modern life.

" Food has always been an important source of knowledge about culture and society. Art and Appetite takes a fascinating new look at depictions of food in American art, demonstrating that the artists' representations of edibles offer thoughtful reflection on the cultural, political, economic, and social moments in which they were created. Using food as an emblem, artists were able to both celebrate and critique their society, expressing ideas relating to politics, race, class, gender, and commerce. Focusing on the late 18th century through the Pop artists of the 20th century, this lively publication investigates the many meanings and interpretations of eating in America. Richly illustrated, Art and Appetite features still life and trompe l'oeil painting, sculpture, and other works by such celebrated artists as William Merritt Chase, John Singleton Copley, Elizabeth Paxton, Norman Bel Geddes, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, Alice Neel, Wayne Thiebaud, Roy Lichtenstein, and many more. Essays by leading experts address topics including the horticultural and botanical underpinnings of still-life paintings, the history of alcohol consumption in the United States, Thanksgiving, and food in the world of Pop art. In addition to the images and essays, this book includes a selection of 18th- and 19th-century recipes for all-American dishes including molasses cake, stewed terrapin, rice blancmange, and roast calf's head. "--

The American flag is the quintessential symbol of the land of opportunity in which our highest dreams and aspirations are united. As a representation of the greatest heights of freedom and human attainment, it inspires the imagination. Conceived of as a joyous exclamation of progress, the flag provokes the most spirited emotional responses the world over. This book presents a collection of contemporary artists, working in diverse media, who use this revered emblem to relate their own ideals.00.

Earl Cunningham's intensely colored landscapes are American Edens filled with wonder.