the primitive virtues of honesty, an instinct for colour, line and decorative pattern, and above all. the physical integrity that marks the primitive in every age and land.the eighteenth century the colonies had become prosperous enough to attract professional painters from England and European countries, Justus Engelhardt Kuhn, a German artist, settled in 1708 at Annapolis; GustavusHesselius, a Swede, in 1711 in Philadelphia; Jeremiah Theus, a Swiss, in 1739 in Charleston; John Smibert in 1730 in Boston. John Wollasion arrived in New, York in 1749 and Joseph Blackburn in Boston in 1753. Both of them painted in the colonies for about twenty years. These artists of European origin and training represented professional standards and had some influence on American art as it emerged. But, by the middle of the eighteenth century it was already not the immigrant artists but the-native ones who left a significant heritage.two most gifted native-born artists who grew out of the general colonial tradition were R. Feke and J. S , Copley [1, p. 10-14].
1.2 The First American Revolution and the young republic
American Revolution of 1775-83 laid the basis for the rapid development of industry, culture and art in the young republic. The general patriotic and heroic enthusiasm of the period gave rise to an upsurge in the spiritual and creative sphere of activities. A new, important stage in the history of American art began. National consolidation, growth of national consciousness and wide dissemination of democratic ideas were powerful factors in the formation of American art. Without severing its ties with European culture it was acquiring an increasingly national character. If the self-taught artist was typical in colonial American painting, now professional artists trained in the established academies of England or France took over the leadership. A distinct American school in portraiture and depiction of historical events was evident by 1800. It was characterized by the choice of American subject matter and the blending of native genius with influences from abroad. Portraiture remained dominant but the artists of the revolutionary generation filled their portraits with heroic, romantic content; they produced historic paintings commemorating contemporary events filled with revolutionary pathos [6, p. 386]. Contemporary pathos was conveyed by John Trumbull who was the first of the American artists to return home to the young republic after a course of studies under Benjamin West in London. Trumbull is known primarily as the painter of the Revolution. While studying under West in London, Trumbull framed a vast project - to depict a series of scenes from American history. He was encouraged by West, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson assisted him in selecting twelve episodes from the American Revolution. The next decade, working in London, Paris and the United States, he produced twelve small dramatic compositions as studies for projected murals. In these canvases the artist recreated the high moments of the Revolution together with portraits of its great leaders. Eight of them are his most impressive works. It is due to these paintings that the artist s fame has survived for over 150 years, they may have their defects but even now they recall the Revolution s vigour and romance. In such powerful works as the Battle of Bunker s Hil...
