The war of independence that broke out in 1775, preceded by a series of riots and rebellions, drew a sharp line between the past and the future and gave rise to the first high flowering of literature and art in the United States of America, responsible for the birth of a new nation. The war of independence United the most diverse strata of the American people in a common hatred of the English oppressors, it caused a wave of deep sympathy in all countries of Europe, and there is nothing unexpected in that. that the new art born from the depths of the national Patriotic upsurge spoke a language full of bright and natural originality. This first flourishing art of the new country-which arose on July 4, 1776, the United States of America — was also supported by the defensive American-English war of 1812-1814 and lasted until about the early 20s.
The aggravation of relations with England, and then the formation of the American Republic led to a split in the ranks of artists, as not all the inhabitants of the English colonies in America participated in the liberation struggle or sympathized with it. Some of them, such as Copley and WEST, forever left America and national originality of their work gradually disappeared in began at the turn of the 19th century the General decline of the English portrait and historical painting. However, what was done by Copley and WEST before the war of independence, became an important link in the tradition of American art. These are soberly realistic, masterfully executed portraits of "Boy with a flying squirrel" (CA. 1765; Boston, Museum of fine arts), "Nathaniel Hurd" (1765— 1770; Cleveland Museum of Art) by John singleton Copley (1738-1815) and a romantically elevated the images of Benjamin West (1738-1820) "the Death of General Wolfe" (1770; Ottawa, Canada's national gallery), "Colonel guy Johnson" (CA. 1775; Washington, national gallery).
Most American artists, inspired by the Patriotic enthusiasm of their compatriots, have found new strength and inspiration to create great artistic national values. Among them—" artist of the American revolution " Charles Wilson peel (1741-1827) and Mather brown (1761-1831). The first-an outstanding figure of education, the author of several dryish realistic portraits ("Washington and Lafayette at Yorktown", 1784, Annapolis (Maryland), the house of representatives; "Sons of the artist on the stairs", 1795, Philadelphia, Art Museum, etc.), on the initiative of which was founded in 1805 Pennsylvania Academy of arts. Second — he developed methods for acute psychological characteristics in the portraits of Thomas Jefferson or Colonel Mak-Caliri (USA, private collection).Heroic romance of the war of independence imbued the work of John Trumbull (1756-1843), who created a whole gallery of portraits of contemporaries in his elegant miniatures ("Senator Izard", 1793; New haven, the art gallery of Yale University, etc.) and especially in historical paintings devoted to the events of the liberation struggle. This series of small and carefully finished multi-figure paintings, written by Trumball on the fresh tracks of the most important episodes that marked the birth of the American Republic, and included the pathetic "Battle of bunker hill" (1786), and full of proud consciousness of the victory of the painting "Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga" and "the Capture of Hessian soldiers at Trenton" (1786-1790), and the solemn "Declaration of Independence" (1786-1794; all-new haven, the art gallery of Yale University), which depicts the leaders of the liberation war and the new state. Despite the traditional conventionality of compositional techniques of academic painting, elevated-theatrical gestures of the characters, in these pictures there is a real sincerity and life.
Most of the best masters of the era of the first heyday of American painting were primarily portraitists, although almost all of them tried their hand at other genres. In attraction to a portrait that increased attention to the human personality, to destinies and the sincere world of new people which is always inherent in big critical epochs in the history of the people was reflected. It was then that the national identity of the new Republic was formed and shaped; this process involved a variety of sectors of American society — from the most moderate to the most radical and democratic. The clash and struggle of different points of view on man, as well as on the tasks and goals of art, reflected in the diversity of the American portrait of the late 18th-early 19th century.
The most outstanding among the portraitists was Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), who returned after studying in England home. Portrait skill it was very high; one of the most significant portraits of Stuart — "Skater" (1782; Washington, national gallery) — has long been attributed to the greatest of the portraitists of England — Gainsborough. Indeed, in this portrait in height, depicting William Grant of Congalton, moving easily and gracefully skating on the ice, there are genuine poetic power and deep truth, so characteristic of the portraits of Gainsborough. Stewart, however, is usually drier, more sober and material in their dense, weighty painting. Very characteristic of Stuart painted from life portrait of George Washington (1795; Washington, national gallery). He gives a sober, even prosaic image of an outstanding historical figure, endowed with very tangible human shortcomings. This rude red-faced man is already an elderly man with a confident and overbearing, but unfriendly look, in all probability, is extremely similar to his original. Stewart wrote three times the first President of the United States from nature, and on the basis of these portraits created a number of variations, increasingly led to the sphere of majestic generalization, idealization.
In the works of Stuart can constantly note the fluctuation between the romantic elation, it is consistent with the mood of the era and encouraged him to look for spectacular poses and give their models loftily noble appearance (for example, in the portrait of General Knox, Boston, Museum of fine arts), and strict unvarnished, even sometimes dryish realistic reliability, following the traditions of portraitists of the end of the previous so-called "colonial" period.
As if in contrast to the sober precision of the female portrait Washington gallery ("Mrs. IETS", 1793) or the portrait of E. I. Dashkova, wife of the Russian Ambassador in the USA (CA. 1815; Hermitage), Stewart creates a subtle, gentle way in free written the portrait Mrs. Perez Morton (C. 1802; Worcester, USA, mA, Museum) reminiscent of the most masterly sketches of Gainsborough.
Contradictory clashes between different artistic worldviews were particularly clear when different artists painted portraits of the same well-known figures of the era of the war of independence. Joseph Wright (1756-1793) approached the models without any preconceived enthusiasm and deference. In the profile portrait of Washington (1784-1790; Cleveland, Art Museum), he brought a brave soldier rather than the full important dignity of the President. Wright owns the best in American painting portrait of the great scientist Franklin (1782; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of arts), also made unvarnished, austere and austere. The work of Wright's is a good foil for the major trend in the composition of American art of the late 18th and early 19th century, which is equally left and from the naive representational schemes formal portraiture in colonial times and from the outside romantic idealization, a substitute for the truth with illusions.
Among the realist artists, the most significant was Thomas Sally (1783— 1872), who created his best works in his youth, until 1820.in his paired portraits of captain Chamberlain and his wife Caroline (1810), the picturesque freedom of easy elegant execution and soft intimate cordiality of the characteristic attracts. The best of Sally's portraits is a portrait of the first truly democratic President of the United States — the architect and philosopher-educator Thomas Jefferson (American philosophical society), made in a dynamic manner, with great scenic power and generality. His portrait of a boy ("Torn hat", 1820; Boston, Museum of fine arts), written in a light gray-pink-yellow scale, surprisingly echoing the portrait of his son V. Tropin, is permeated with a lively charm. Sally's early works not only complete the process of the first stage of the formation of the United States independent from England, but also foreshadow many important features of the future, the second heyday of American painting of the 60-90s.
To assess the importance and significance of the first flowering of U.S. art, it should be noted that after the war of independence there was a high rise in architecture. It was at this time that the American version of classicism was formed, which found wide distribution throughout the Eastern United States and determined the nature of public buildings and large private estates of that time. Its largest representative was Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), who managed in his best buildings in his own way to implement the classical heritage. The harmony of proportions and grandeur of the building is distinguished by its virgin state Capitol in Richmond (1785-1796), resembling the model of a classical temple with strongly projecting forward shashikyan portico. More intimate in nature and picturesque in the layout of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville (1818), wonderfully connected with the surrounding Park. These same features of intimacy and harmonious connection with nature are also inherent in the Monticello estate (1796-1809) in Virginia, in which the principles of free interpretation of not only ancient, but also Palladian architecture were especially clearly manifested.