West, Copley, Trumbull: American Revolutionary Paintings in a Transatlantic World

FAIN: GE-50110-09

Glassell School of Art (Houston, TX 77005-1803)
Emily Ballew Neff (Project Director: August 2008 to March 2011)

Planning for a traveling exhibition, a symposium, a website, and related public and educational programs exploring the history painting of West, Copley, and Trumbull in an Atlantic context.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) requests $40,000 to plan West, Copley, Trumbull: American Revolutionary Paintings in a Transatlantic World (working title), the first major exhibition on the subject of modern history painting and its American innovators. Opening in Houston in the spring of 2012, the exhibition will reexamine Benjamin West (1738-1820), John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), and John Trumbull (1756-1843), and their work, challenging audiences to rethink long-standing perspectives that limit these artists' contributions to colonial or early American culture. The exhibition and interpretive programs and materials will help audiences to learn about the multiple ways in which these works, which may seem familiar and known, can be newly studied and appreciated.