10 Most Famous American Painters

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10 Most Famous American Painters

The United States artistic history stretches from the earliest indigenous cultures to the more recent globalization of contemporary art.

Centuries before the first European colonizers, Native American peoples had crafted ritual and utilitarian objects that reflected the natural environment and their beliefs.

American artists developed their regional styles that reflected life in America.

The greatest of them all included Gilbert Stuart, Frederick Church, James Abbott, Mary Cassatt, John Singer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’ Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Jackson Pollock, and Roy Lichtenstein.

These are the famous American artists who took their styles to the next level and achieved national and international recognition thus making among the famous painters.

1. Gilbert Stuart

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He was born on December 3, 1735, in Saunders town, Rhode Island, US. He died on July 8, 1928, in Boston, Massachusetts, US.

His paintings were for more than 1000 people. He painted Abigail Adams the wife to John Adams, President John Adams the second president of the US, John Quincy Adams the sixth president of the US among many others.

His first exhibited portrait was the portrait of a Gentleman Skating commonly known as The Skaters.

2. Frederic Edwin Church

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He was an American landscape painter. He was born on May 4, 1826, in Hartford, Connecticut, US. He died on April 7, 1900, in New York, US.

His first masterpiece was the Andes of Ecuador, a four by six-foot art depicting a vast tropical mountain panorama that astounded views with its combination of precise foreground detail and sweeping place.

Among his notable works include the Heart of the Andes of 1859, The Icebergs of 1861, and Aurora Borealis of 1865.

3. James Abbott Mcneil Whistler

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He was born on July 11, 1834, in Lowell, Massachusetts in the US. He died on July 17, 1903. He took part in the creative upheaval of late 19th century London and Paris.

He designed a unique aesthetic from varied references and emerged with a variant of post-impressionism in the mid1860s. Examples of his notable works include A Whistler’s Mother 1871, The Nocturne in Black and Gold in 1877.

4. Mary Stevenson Cassatt

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She was born on May 22, 1844, in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, US. He died on June 14, 1926. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academ

y of the Fine Arts at 16 years old. She later dropped out due to male teachers’ and classmates’ hostility, went to Europe, and explored the paintings of old Masters for herself.

Her inspiration was in the pastels of painter Edgar Degas whose work pushed her to pursue her path. Her interest was in females involved in daily household scenes, particularly moms with children.

Her portraits were unusual in their straightforward and honest character. Her notable artworks include the Child’s Bath of 1893, The Cue of Tea of 1879, and The Boating Party at 1893.

5. John Singer Sargent

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He was born on January 12, 1856, in Florence, Italy. He was a child of a doctor. He learned art in France and Italy.

He made a picture of Madame X in 1884, which people claimed was seductively sexual.

His greatest portrait reflects the sisters’ uniqueness and character. He abandoned portraiture in 1907 and concentrated on landscapes and sculptures later in his life. His work recounts his travels across the globe.

He produced his watercolors which depicted landscapes from his trips which he did with a joyous fluidity. His notable works include Carnation, Lily, and Rose.

6. Hopper Edward

He was born on July 22, at Nyack, New York. He was a highly known oil painter. He died on May 15, 1967. He painted realistic portray urban landscapes that led to people noticing the oddity of their environment.

He had a significant effect on pop art and new realist artists of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He began his career as an illustration artist. He learned under Robert Henri from 1901 to 1906.

His artworks depict motionless, nameless people and austere geometric shapes within snapshot-like arrangements that convey an unavoidable sensation of isolation.

His notable artworks include Nighthawks of 1942, Early Sunday Morning of 1930, and House of the Railroad of 1925.

7. Georgia O’Keeffe

She was born on November 15, 1887. She died on March 6, 1986. Her career spanned over 70 years.

She evolved art styles and remained true to her aesthetic which was concentrated on identifying the fundamental, abstract shapes of life. Her major topics were sceneries, flora, and bones.

Her paintings were her life experiences and were unique to the location she inhabited. Her most notable paintings were Lake George Reflection which she painted between 1921 and 1922, Jimson Weed in 1936, and Black Iris of 1926.

8. Norman Rockwell

He was born on February 3, 1894, in N, in New York. He died on November 8, 1978. He realized his passion for painting at the age of 14 and enrolled in the New School of Art. His paintings demonstrated basic beauty and a great sense of humor.

He painted the Four Freedoms in 1943 out of inspiration by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His reviews regarded him as tackling artistic quality but his motivation was his reality around him.

His sentiments that as he grew older, he discovered that the earth was not the perfect paradise he had imagined it to be and concluded that if it wasn’t an ideal environment, he would depict just the ideal elements of it.

Other of his paintings include Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom of Speech.

9. Jackson Pollock

He was born on January 28, 1912 at Cody, Wyoming. He began studying art at his junior high and the age of 18 he moved to New York to attend the Art Students League under Thomas Hart Benton.

He spilled, splashed, and poured paints and enamel over the unprimed canvas that laid flat on the hardwood floor of his Long Island workshop as his technique of painting.

His technique required the artist’s complete bodily engagement. Some of his artworks include the Mural of 1943, Blue Poles of 1952, and Autumn Rhythm of 1950. He died on August 11, 1956.

10. Roy Lichtenstein

He was born on October 27, 1923, in Manhattan, New York. He died on September 29, 1997. His work defined the premise of pop art through parody.

Comic strips inspired him to produce compositions that documented while they parodied in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

His artwork was considered to be disruptive. His paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City.

Gilbert Stuart, Frederick Church, James Abbott, Mary Cassatt, John Singer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe Norman Rockwell, Jackson Pollock, and Roy Lichtenstein became the top most famous painters in America.

Due to their great skills and their different artwork, their paintings developed to be of great public interest. Their artworks depict great determination and full exhaustion of talents.