vascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/p17.htm»,«p17»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=305»)> are the quintessential example of this approach.in the postmodern age continues to take on new form and purpose. Chuck Close «s hugely magnified images experiment with both the meaning and the process of the portrait. From a distance, Fanny <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/p18.htm«,»p18«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=295«)> appears to be a photograph, but in fact this highly detailed image is composed entirely of the artist »s fingerprints. Barkley Leonnard Hendricks, best known for his highly realistic portraits of African Americans, uses painting to address issues ofculture and identity <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/p19.htm»,«p19»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=295»)>. A segment of the population traditionally underrepresented in fine art, these life-sized figures achieve iconic status through their neutral environments and their direct, serious gaze. Here, portraiture no longer solely fulfills a documentary function, but explores complex social and cultural issues [3].
2.2 Landscape painting
, or views of nature, play a significant role in American art. The earliest American landscape paintings were topographic illustrations of farms, cities, and landmarks <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l1.htm»,«l1»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=270»)> that were generally painted for local residents or for Europeans interested in the New World. In the colonial era, landscape views were found primarily in the backgrounds of portraits <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l2.htm»,«l2»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=280»)>, usually to provide additional information about the sitter.painting came to dominate American art in the 1820s, when artists began to equate the country «s unspoiled wilderness <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/l3.htm«,»l3«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=250«)> with the new nation »s seemingly limitless potential. Foremost among those increasingly interested in the expressive power of landscape was the young artist Thomas Cole. Cole is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River school, a loosely knit group of American artists who actively painted landscapes between 1825 and 1875. Giving stylistic direction to a distinctly American understanding of nature, Hudson River school artists invested the land with a sense of national identity, the promise of prosperity, and the presence of God.first generation of Hudson River school artists, represented by Asher B. Durand <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l4.htm»,«l4»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=300»)> and Cole, believed that studying the land led to enlightenment and a connection with divine harmony. Every detail absorbed their attention, from moss-covered rocks in clear streams to snowcapped mountains. For other artists, exact documentation was less important than illustrating religious and moral sentiments. Allegorical landscapes <java...
