Telling the Story of America

Abstract

Elizabeth Broun When I take visitors through the Smithsonian American Art Museum, I begin by saying we have a wonderful collection that tells the story of the country and its people. We start with John Singleton Copley's showy portrait of Mrs. George Watson (1765; fig. 1), where the red satin gown and blue-and-white vase allude to Mr. Watson's import business in colonial Boston, a major trading center. Then we move to John Trumbull's portrait of The Misses Mary and Hannah Murray (1806; fig. 2), two would-be muses with drawing pencil and musical score, signaling new cultural ambitions in the early Republic. Next we stop near Daniel La Motte, Thomas Sully's young aristocrat seated before his Maryland estate (1812-13; fig. 3), and I mention Jefferson's idea that America should have a representative democracy, managed by wise landowners on behalf of the broader population. Soon Frank Mayer's Independence (1858; fig 4) comes into view-a rugged, self-made man lounging on his rough-hewn porch-inspiring words about Andrew Jackson's Era of the Common Man, which ushered in a more direct democracy. These are obvious points