Telling Tales: Stories and Legends in 19th-century American Art

March 05 - June 19, 2016 - The exhibition drawn from the New-York Historical Society’s expansive collection of narrative art includes 53 works by well-known artists. The exhibition provides a new perspective on American art by showcasing works of narrative subject matter from roughly 1825 to 1870, when debates over the role of American art addressed not just content, but the role art should take outside of the European tradition. By integrating history, literary and religious subjects with now better-known examples of landscape and scenes-of-everyday-life, this exhibition introduces modern audiences to the broad range of styles and narrative themes that appealed to 19th-century Americans.