Art of the Americas

Ranging from the art created in both the British and Spanish colonies to the work of contemporary artists, the Art of the Americas has been a particular collecting interest of the Museum since its founding. Paintings by Robert Henri and John Sloan were among the first pieces donated to the museum, and they were soon joined by the works of George Bellows, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, and Thomas Eakins.

These canonical American artists would later be complemented by the work of Asher B. Durand, Eastman Johnson, Albert Bierstadt, Stuart Davis, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Thomas Hart Benton. The work of Mexican and South American artists is well represented with examples by artists such as Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, and Alfredo Ramos Martínez. Likewise, the work of local artists has been an interest of the Museum since its inception and the displays include a group of California plein air paintings by Maurice Braun, Nicholai Fechin, Charles Fries, Alfred Mitchell, Charles Reiffel, Guy Rose, and others.