Fine Arts

America: ‘A Nation of Artists’

Three centuries of art celebrate American civilization like never before, in this ambitious Philadelphia exhibition. 
America: ‘A Nation of Artists’
”Les Derniers Jours D’enfrance (The Last Days of Infancy),”1883–1885, by Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942). Oil on canvas; 45 3/4 inches by 54 inches. Gift of Cecilia Drinker Saltonstall, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Lorraine Ferrier
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Two Philadelphia art museums will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a stupendous joint exhibition. Unprecedented in scope and scale, “A Nation of Artists” spans three centuries of American art through more than 1,000 paintings, photographs, sculptures, decorative arts, and other items, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). 
Founded in 1805, the PAFA was America’s first art museum and fine arts school. The academy’s founders signed its charter in Independence Hall, where almost three decades earlier, America’s Founding Fathers had read the Declaration of Independence and signed the Constitution.
Lorraine Ferrier
Lorraine Ferrier
Author
Lorraine Ferrier writes about fine arts and craftsmanship for The Epoch Times. She focuses on artists and artisans, primarily in North America and Europe, who imbue their works with beauty and traditional values. She's especially interested in giving a voice to the rare and lesser-known arts and crafts, in the hope that we can preserve our traditional art heritage. She lives and writes in a London suburb, in England.