American Artists and the Louvre

This exhibition presents a selection of thirty masterworks of American painting.

Jointly organized by the Louvre and the Terra Foundation for American Art (Chicago). “American Artists and the Louvre” explores the development of artistic exchanges between France and the United States, showing how the Louvre has been a source of inspiration for generations of American artists, from Benjamin West to Edward Hopper.

For centuries, artists from around the world have flocked to the Louvre, whose vast collections have had a pervasive influence on their work. For American artists, this attraction is as old as the Museum itself. Although we are well aware of its significance in the work of James McNeill Whistler or Edward Hopper, it is easy to forget that the Louvre has been an academy for American artists from its very inception. The annual salon exhibitions established at the Louvre in the 18th century presented their first American paintings beginning in the 1800s. During the reign of Louis-Philippe, the American artist George Catlin was even offered exhibition space at the Louvre to present his works. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, American artists pursued their studies at the Louvre and their works bear witness to the profound impact of the Museum and its collections. This exhibition presents a broad selection of paintings from the end of the 18th century to the 1940s. It also provides an opportunity to observe that artistic inspiration did not only flow in one direction and that French artists also benefited from the presence of American artists and their works.

Exhibition co-organized by the Louvre and the Terra Foundation for American Art with the support of the Florence Gould Foundation. As media partners : France Info, The International Herald Tribune and Paris Première.

Catalogue: American Artists and the Louvre, co-published by Musée du Louvre Editions and Hazan, text in French and English, 29 euros.

Curator(s) : Olivier Meslay, Curator, Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre, and Elizabeth Kennedy, Curator of Collection, Terra Foundation for American Art.

Pressetext

American Artists and the Louvre
Kuratoren: Olivier Meslay, Elizabeth Kennedy

Werke von Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, F. B. Morse, Benjamin West ...