THE AMERICAS

By Benjamen Judd

America has been responsible for some of the greatest artistic endeavours of the modern world – Toddlers and Tiaras; Here Comes Honey Boo Boo; The Bachelor; and who can forget the groundbreaking Flavor of Love where rapper Flava Flav looked for love. For three seasons.

Obviously on a much lesser scale but breathtaking none the less, as part of the Sydney International Art Series, bringing the world’s most outstanding exhibitions to Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales are now showing the greatest collection of masterpieces from US artists that spans nation’s history.

With many works shown here for the first time, the exhibition brings together over 90 works from major artists, such as James Whistler, Edward Hopper, Mark Rothko, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock.

Encounter the epic stories and dark chapters in American history, the sublime poetry and drama of the land, the ambition and optimism of the country’s pioneers, and the challenges of the frontier. Share the intimacy of family life and the gritty realism of the modern metropolis in this vivid account of the American experience.

This exhibition is in collaboration with Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

America: Painting A Nation will show at the Art Gallery of NSW until Sunday, February 9.