Building a National Collection

Chronology


Old Masters
in the
New World


Two Early Collectors

Pictures at the Exhibitions


The Artist as Collector

The Schoff Collection

The Ferris Collection

The Sloan Collection


American
Images


The Curator as Collector



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Building a National Collection
150 Years of Print Collecting at the Smithsonian

American Images

Francis D'Avignon
Distribution of the
American Art-Union Prizes,
1847

 
Frances Flora Palmer
Snipe Shooting
 
John Taylor Arms
The Gates of the City
 
Charles W. Dahlgreen
Morning Shadows
 
Walter Dubois Richards
Woodcutters
 
W. Leroy Flint
Illinois,
Montana, New York

 
W. Leroy Flint
Speakers Platform
 
June Wayne
The Sad Flute Player
 
Larry Rivers
Last Civil War Veteran
 
Colonial Americans imported English prints, and early Yankee travelers acquired European engravings while abroad. During the 19th century, as more Americans became interested in art, more images became available on the American market. Exhibitions in major east coast cities provided opportunities to view--and occasionally to purchase--antique and modern paintings, prints and drawings, sculpture and decorative arts. Publishers produced popular prints as premiums for periodical and newspaper subscriptions, and a wide range of pictures entered American homes.

Americans purchased prints for collection and display as part of an increasingly commercial culture characterized by conspicuous consumption. One of the most popular publishers was the lithographic firm of Currier & Ives, begun by Nathaniel Currier in 1835. Their "cheap, popular pictures" of animals, children, and idealized scenes of everyday life were said to be represented on more American walls than those of any other publisher.

Beyond an interest in historical Americana, 20th-century print collectors have sought the works of living artists, images that reflect social issues, regionalism, realism, and abstraction. The popularity of etchings increased dramatically during the 1880s and again in the 1920s, and original prints came into many homes through collectors' club exchanges and exhibitions. Literature for collectors appeared, including periodicals designed to educate wider audiences. Organizations like the Associated American Artists, founded in 1934, aggressively marketed current prints through department stores, exhibitions, and gallery sales, and by mail order. Standard editions of 250 impressions sold for $5.00 each. These changes in production and marketing methods indicate the 20th-century growth of art as an industry.


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