Young America: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

by Amy Pastan

Young America traces the transformation of the colonies into nationhood from about 1760 to the decade after the Civil War. Portraits by John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale, and Thomas Sully from the Revolutionary War era and later reveal values of people in New England and the mid-Atlantic. By the 1820s, landscapes by Thomas Cole, Thomas Birch, and Alvan Fisher tell of growing national ambitions, while still lifes and genre paintings address a range of subjects.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Amy Pastan is an independent writer, editor, and book producer. She is former acquisitions editor for art and humanities at the Smithsonian Institution Press. She lives in the metropolitan D.C. area.