Exhibit:

Death and Rebirth in the American Spirit

Preview of images

Judith Sargent Murray
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
The Return of Rip Van Winkle
New Echota Historical Marker: Cherokee National Capital
Emancipation: The Past and the Future by Thomas Nast
Freedom From Want Thanksgiving Painting
Phillis Wheatley Portrait
The Raven and Poe Etching

 This gallery presents a thought-provoking selection of portraits, images, and other visual works of art that represent the death and rebirth of human legacies, nature, literary movements, cultures, ways of life, and other significant, core characteristics that have defined American history and American literature. The United States, in its almost 250 years of independence, is often known as a place of freedom, and this freedom entails frequent change and new cycles of progress in every age. Simply put, this nation is a land of change and moving away from much of the old. Works displaying events at the time or looking back on the events that have forced the death of one component of the American way of life and the rebirth of it in a different form from the days of Columbus to the early 20th century shall be included here. These visual works of art will also be heavily tied to American writers who have seen and attempted to comprehend these transitions within the country's history through their literary works.

Images in this Exhibit

Portrait of Mrs. John Stevens (Judith Sargent, later Mrs. John Murray)
Judith Sargent Murray

In this portrait from 1772, a young eighteen-year-old Judith Sargent Murray is shown with a rather stoic or contemplative expression in this detailed painting. From this work, we see the beginning of the lifelong journey in which Murray pioneers for the start of a revolutionary set of women's rights in American society. Namely, Judith Murray is, in the American context, a pioneer for women's intellectual freedom and an advocate for the ability of women to be as intellectually competent as men. In this portrait and through her works, particularly On the Equality of the Sexes, one...
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay

In this painting of hefty moods, one can see that there are some young boys walking away from a shore with small sailboats whilst a lightning storm approaches. However, this work of art draws a deeper meaning from its connection with life and nature. From this portrait, one may notice the inevitability of the storm as much as the nonchalant, peaceful dispositions of the walking boys. It seems, from this intriguing point of view, that Heade's painting tells the observer a great message about embracing the inevitability of death and one's peaceful rebirth among the cycles of nature forever....
The Return of Rip Van Winkle
The Return of Rip Van Winkle

In Quidor's painting of a significant plot point of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, one can see among its colors and clusters of figures that the protagonist, Rip Van Winkle, is confidently and loudly attempting to explain to the town mob that he is the same man who was last seen a bit more youthful 20 years ago. In the background, a sign with a picture of George Washington painted somewhat sloppily over an image of King George is cleverly integrated; Rip seems to grapple with the confusion of his fellow townsfolk and boldly tries to reestablish his sense of belonging and way...
New Echota Historic Marker
New Echota Historical Marker: Cherokee National Capital

This crafted sign in New Echota, Georgia, is one of the typical history-recognizing and respected landmark signs scattered throughout the towns and street corners of the United States. What is significant, however, about this sign as it pertains to the context of this gallery is what the engraving tells the reader or visitor; it plainly informs the individual of the Cherokee’s losses and forced removal, but it also reminds one of the successes of the people’s post-Columbus attempts at independence. The Cherokee national legislature established the site of the sign, New Echota, as their new...
Emancipation: The Past and the Future
Emancipation: The Past and the Future by Thomas Nast

This image made by the German American immigrant Thomas Nast a few weeks after Lincoln’s delivery of his Emancipation Proclamation shows a striking contrast from the reality of his day in the United States. The image presents a joyful, unified, and peaceful African American family in the center by a stove in their home with the word “Emancipation” written over this center portrait of the work. A baby, representing the New Year, breaks the chains of an emancipated slave below this main portrait. Scenes drawn on the left side of the image portray the brutal past of slavery with depictions of...
Freedom From Want
Freedom From Want Thanksgiving Painting

This rather famous painting depicts a bigger middle-class family gathered around a clean, organized table for a plentiful Thanksgiving meal. The older couple in the middle of the artwork set down a sizeable turkey with attention and care, and the relatives and guests smile at each other as the dinner is soon to begin. Freedom From Want has been considered to be a simple yet profound, peaceful, and hope-giving for generations. This work has now “become an iconic representation for Americans of the Thanksgiving holiday and family holiday gatherings in general” (Raphel). This...
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley Portrait

In this engraved portrait of Phillis Wheatley, an African American woman who was captured and sailed to America and later became a renowned poet, is enjoying the freedom to write her lines and ideas on paper upon her desk with a writing feather in hand. Her left hand is raised toward her cheek, and the moment captured in this portrait of the writer represents a spark or a change. This portrait captures her process to not only start writing a new and inviting piece of poetry, but it also portrays the start of a literary revolution of her time. One can see the rebirth of the Romantic...
The Raven
The Raven and Poe Etching

This etching of darker shades of markings creating a depiction of a scene from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven appears to be a fitting closing entry to this American gallery. The narrator depicted in an illustrated form of Poe sits in his chair at a dimly lit table at night, seeming to be intently focused on something as the viewer can only view the back of his head and torso. In the background, the door to his chamber is cracked open as the raven sits almost ominously on top of a bust of Pallas directly the left of the door. This etching conveys a dark, dreary, and cheerless mood. It...