American artists that painted prairie or pioneer scenes or...

[jaderbee]

Come from the 19th century. I'm looking to piece together an art study for this summer to go along with Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. I looked in WTM for artists suggestions and that chapter is more of a plug for Drawing With Children and Artistic Pursuits then a reference guide. Is it different in earlier editions? Anyhow, I put 13 Great American Artists Every Kid Should Know in hopes that it would give me some clue about artists of the time. I would appreciate any opinions or ideas from the Hive about an art study for this era (I'll have a 7 and 8 year old working on this). Thank you!

[Lori D.]

Early-mid 20th century U.S. artist Harvey Dunn painted the prairie and American West.

 

The prairie was sometimes the subject of 19th century U.S. Western artists George Catlin, C.M. Russell and Frederick Remington (they are best-known for their paintings of Native Americans), while 19th century artist William Ranney painted some pioneer-themed works.

 

John Gast's "American Progress", and Harvey Dunn's "The Prairie is My Garden" would be interesting paintings to discuss (themes of westward expansion, Manifest Destiny, taming the wilderness, the "rights" of whites to settle the American West, etc.).

 

Here's a short list of U.S. 19th Century Visual Artists who painted U.S. landscapes. (Don't know if that included the prairies or pioneer scenes.)

 

The Smithonian American Art Museum website -- results from a search for "pioneer"; results from a search for "prairie".

 

You might check out these Wikipedia articles for ideas of artists:

Hudson River school (U.S. Romanticism art movement of mid-19th century; focus on landscapes)

Luminism (U.S. art movement of mid-to-late 19th century, off-shoot of Hudson River school; focus on landscapes)

American Barbizon school (U.S. art movement of late 19th century, focus on rural landscapes)

 

[Missouri Okie]

John Audubon lived in the early 19th century.  I bet you could find some birds or other animals referenced in Wilder's books among his art work (turkeys and prairie chickens, for example).

[smudge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moran

 

They had a lot of his stuff hanging up at the Ranger Station in Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone NP a few years back, I fell in love with his work. 

[sarasue7272]

Art Project by google

You can search keywords for artwork

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/Prairie?projectId=art-project&hl=en

That link is just a search for "prairie"

[Rachel]

Harvey Dunn.

[Cottonwood]

I second C.M. Russell.  We live in his 'neck of the woods' so we've learned a lot about him.  Very interesting artist.  He was artistic in many ways. 

[jaderbee]

Thank you!

[Shifra]

I lived in Texas for 19 years, and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth had an excellent collection of Western art, including pictures and scupltures by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. You can view them online.

[Plink]

Of all the ones listed, Remington is my favorite!