Picturing America is an exhibition of The Newark Museum's renowned American art collection. Starting in colonial times and ending in the 21st century, Picturing America examines the powerful impact that artists have had on shaping American culture and identity.

The exhibition includes over 300 works of art from the Museum's extraordinary collection. Masterpieces of painting and sculpture are shown with great works of photography, drawing and decorative arts by and for Americans of many backgrounds. Picturing America proceeds chronologically and each gallery's theme reveals the many layers of meaning found in the art.

In 17 new galleries, some 250 years' worth of paintings and sculptures join in eye-opening combinations with objects in other media to the tell the story of Picturing America:

1730 to 1900

The American Colonies, 1730 -1776
The Young Republic, 1790 -1860
Romantic Portraits for Eastern Cities, 1790-1860
Country Portraits, 1790 -1860
The Rise of Landscape Painting, 1825-1880
The Civil War and Its Aftermath, 1860-1900
The Lure of Europe, 1850-1900
The Gilded Age, 1875-1900
The New Woman, 1875-1900

1900 to Present

Into the Modern Era, 1900-40 
Far From the Modern World, 1900-25 
A Modern Art For a Modern World, 1910-30 
Faith, Fear and Failure in The Machine Age, 1920-40 
In the Wake of the War, 1945-65
Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, 1930-65
Challenging Conformity, 1955-65
Art Since 1965

Images top to bottom:

Banner: Albert Bierstadt, Western Landscape, 1869, Oil on canvas, Purchase 1961 The Members' Fund, 61.516

John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Charles Thursby, 1897-98, Oil on canvas, Purchase by exchange 1985, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan Pitney, Emilie Coles from the J. Ackerman Coles Collection, Mrs. Lewis B. Ballantyne and the Bequest of Louis Bamberger  Collection of The Newark Museum  85.45

Thomas J. White, Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, 1879, Painted wood, Gift of Herbert E. Ehlers, 1924  Collection of the Newark Museum  24.9