Turkey Charles Culver, born Chicago, Heights, IL 1908-died Bellaire, MI 1967. Watercolor 1966
Happy Thanksgiving Americans! Here is a selection of my favorite artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s online collection. And, if you find yourself in the mood for a song or two, here’s a collection of Thanksgiving songs from Smithsonian Folkways. Depending on your taste, you may happily skip the first song and start with the second. It’s pretty great. If you make it through that, Elizabeth Cotten will reward you with a very pleasant Vastapol coming in at number three.
With the artworks below, while I don’t usually include the artist’s place and date of birth and death in these collections, I think place and time are relevant for views of our collective humanity in this American Thanksgiving. Be sure to notice the artist names. There are some gems.
Hope you have time to rest your greatness on this Thanksgiving.
The Chap-Book. Thanksgiving No. Will H. Bradley, born Boston, MA 1868-died La Jolla, CA 1962. Lithograph 1895Thanksgiving Still (no. 246) Werner Drewes, born Canig, Germany (now Kaniów, Poland) 1899-died Reston, VA 1985. Woodcut, 1969The Marchbanks Calendar — November Harry Cimino, born Marion, IN 1898-died Sharon, CT 1969. Woodcut 1969
Turkey Jacques Hnizdovsky, born Pylypcze, Ukraine 1915-died New York City 1985. Linocut 1962Thanksgiving Doris Lee, born Aledo, IL 1905-died Clearwater, FL 1983. Lithograph 1942
Ohenten Kariwatekwen Thanksgiving Address Mohawk [Akwesasne (St. Regis), Hogansburg, New York]. Quilt 1990-2000Harvest Albert Pinkham Ryder, born New Bedford, MA 1847-died New York City 1917. Oil on canvas
Luce Center Label Albert Pinkham Ryder never relied on sketches before he started work on a painting and instead applied large areas of color with quick, expressive strokes of the palette knife. In this unfinished painting, we can see where he changed the composition simply by painting his latest idea over previous attempts. He altered the direction of the hay cart and decided it should be pulled by oxen instead of horses. We can still see the faint outline of a horse behind the wheels, while the oxen are just blocked in with a reddish-brown wash. This painting is a rare glimpse of the early stages of Ryder’s work, before he began the painstaking process of adding layer upon layer of translucent glaze. (Broun, Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1989)Thanksgiving Day Parade when Danny Kaye was Young Joseph Delaney, born Knoxville, TN 1904-died Knoxville, TN 1991. Oil on paperboard 1991Bronze Turkey Albert Laessle, born Philadelphia, PA 1877-died Miami, FL 1954. Bronze 1911
Luce Center Label Albert Laessle’s sculptures of insects, lizards, frogs, and snails were not always taken as seriously as the works of other animal sculptors. Laessle chose to sculpt animals because he found them to be as expressive as people. He enjoyed working with animals so much that he eventually moved his studio to a farm in the Pennsylvania countryside. Laessle gave this turkey enormous tail feathers to emphasize the bird’s proud preening in the farmyard.
Luce Object Quote “. . . when you want to model an animal you must manage it . . . And when you do that you don’t know how much like people they really are.” Albert Laessle, quoted in Grafly, “Albert Laessle, Sculptor, has a persuasive way with Animals,” Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 1922
Thanksgiving Activity for the Classroom National Museum of the American Indian, 2015
Teachers, this quick and simple corn necklace activity, using widely accessible and inexpensive materials and designed for kindergarten through 5th grade, provides an alternative to the culturally inappropriate paper feather headdress sometimes made during Native American Heritage Month. The video provides step-by-step instruction on how to make the necklace. By highlighting the cultivation of corn and other agricultural contributions made Native peoples, the activity can extend or culminate a classroom lesson and connect to social studies, science, math, or, art.Thanksgiving menu, Company 1968 NMAH Archives Center Civilian Conservation Corps Collection 0930 Box 298 Folder 42 Original Menus Box 1 Thanksgiving menu, Company 1968, Bridgeland, UtahThanksgiving Dinner Artist: Louis Lozowick, born Ludvinovka, Russia 1892-died South Orange, NJ 1973 Printer: Burr Miller, active New York City late 1940s Lithograph, 1938, printed 1972Goop Joe’s Poultry Page No. 17. Thanksgiving Prize Turkey Number . Joseph Cornell, born Nyack, NY 1903-died New York City 1972 Collage: type, ink, pencil, photomechanical reproductions, and engraving on paper
Thanksgiving Time painting / (photographed by Peter A. Juley & Son) Painting was possibly exhibited at Carson Pirie Scott Galleries in January 1929 per Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan. 10, 1929, pg. 31. Ufer, Walter 1876-1936. Photograph
Harvestors B. Jesus Newton, n.d. oil on canvasThanksgiving Day–Hanging up the Musket/Thanksgiving Day–The Church Porch, from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, December 23, 1865 Winslow Homer, born Boston, MA 1836-died Prout’s Neck, ME 1910Going Home with the Harvest Carl Moon, born Wilmington, OH 1879-died San Francisco, CA 1948. oil on canvasGathering Harvest M. M. Obin, Haitian, b. 1949. Synthetic polymer on fiberboard 1974Harvest Time Doris Lee, born Aledo, IL 1905-died Clearwater, FL 1983. Oil on canvas 1945 Harvest Rest Léon Augustin L’hermitte, French, born Mont-Saint-Père, France 1844-died Paris, France 1925. Charcoal 1915 A Potato Harvest W. H. Martin, born 1865-died 1940. Photography-Photoprint 1910sPeople: Tohono O’odham (Papago) Artist/Maker: Michael M. Chiago (Mike Chiago), Tohono O’odham (Papago)/Piipaash (Maricopa)/Akimel O’odham (Pima), b. 1946. Painting/Drawing/Print 1992Harvest Scene Jules Emile Zingg, French, born Montbeliard, France 1882-died Paris, France 1942. Charcoal 1912
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A Selection of American Thanksgiving Art, from the Smithsonian Collection
Charles Culver, born Chicago, Heights, IL 1908-died Bellaire, MI 1967. Watercolor 1966
Happy Thanksgiving Americans! Here is a selection of my favorite artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s online collection. And, if you find yourself in the mood for a song or two, here’s a collection of Thanksgiving songs from Smithsonian Folkways. Depending on your taste, you may happily skip the first song and start with the second. It’s pretty great. If you make it through that, Elizabeth Cotten will reward you with a very pleasant Vastapol coming in at number three.
With the artworks below, while I don’t usually include the artist’s place and date of birth and death in these collections, I think place and time are relevant for views of our collective humanity in this American Thanksgiving. Be sure to notice the artist names. There are some gems.
Hope you have time to rest your greatness on this Thanksgiving.
Will H. Bradley, born Boston, MA 1868-died La Jolla, CA 1962. Lithograph 1895
Werner Drewes, born Canig, Germany (now Kaniów, Poland) 1899-died Reston, VA 1985.
Woodcut, 1969
Harry Cimino, born Marion, IN 1898-died Sharon, CT 1969. Woodcut 1969
Jacques Hnizdovsky, born Pylypcze, Ukraine 1915-died New York City 1985. Linocut 1962
Doris Lee, born Aledo, IL 1905-died Clearwater, FL 1983. Lithograph 1942
Mohawk [Akwesasne (St. Regis), Hogansburg, New York]. Quilt 1990-2000
Albert Pinkham Ryder, born New Bedford, MA 1847-died New York City 1917. Oil on canvas
Luce Center Label
Albert Pinkham Ryder never relied on sketches before he started work on a painting and instead applied large areas of color with quick, expressive strokes of the palette knife. In this unfinished painting, we can see where he changed the composition simply by painting his latest idea over previous attempts. He altered the direction of the hay cart and decided it should be pulled by oxen instead of horses. We can still see the faint outline of a horse behind the wheels, while the oxen are just blocked in with a reddish-brown wash. This painting is a rare glimpse of the early stages of Ryder’s work, before he began the painstaking process of adding layer upon layer of translucent glaze. (Broun, Albert Pinkham Ryder, 1989)
Joseph Delaney, born Knoxville, TN 1904-died Knoxville, TN 1991. Oil on paperboard 1991
Albert Laessle, born Philadelphia, PA 1877-died Miami, FL 1954. Bronze 1911
Luce Center Label
Albert Laessle’s sculptures of insects, lizards, frogs, and snails were not always taken as seriously as the works of other animal sculptors. Laessle chose to sculpt animals because he found them to be as expressive as people. He enjoyed working with animals so much that he eventually moved his studio to a farm in the Pennsylvania countryside. Laessle gave this turkey enormous tail feathers to emphasize the bird’s proud preening in the farmyard.
Luce Object Quote
“. . . when you want to model an animal you must manage it . . . And when you do that you don’t know how much like people they really are.” Albert Laessle, quoted in Grafly, “Albert Laessle, Sculptor, has a persuasive way with Animals,” Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 1922
National Museum of the American Indian, 2015
Teachers, this quick and simple corn necklace activity, using widely accessible and inexpensive materials and designed for kindergarten through 5th grade, provides an alternative to the culturally inappropriate paper feather headdress sometimes made during Native American Heritage Month. The video provides step-by-step instruction on how to make the necklace. By highlighting the cultivation of corn and other agricultural contributions made Native peoples, the activity can extend or culminate a classroom lesson and connect to social studies, science, math, or, art.
NMAH Archives Center Civilian Conservation Corps Collection 0930 Box 298 Folder 42 Original Menus Box 1 Thanksgiving menu, Company 1968, Bridgeland, Utah
Artist: Louis Lozowick, born Ludvinovka, Russia 1892-died South Orange, NJ 1973
Printer: Burr Miller, active New York City late 1940s
Lithograph, 1938, printed 1972
Joseph Cornell, born Nyack, NY 1903-died New York City 1972
Collage: type, ink, pencil, photomechanical reproductions, and engraving on paper
Painting was possibly exhibited at Carson Pirie Scott Galleries in January 1929 per Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan. 10, 1929, pg. 31.
Ufer, Walter 1876-1936. Photograph
B. Jesus Newton, n.d. oil on canvas
Winslow Homer, born Boston, MA 1836-died Prout’s Neck, ME 1910
Carl Moon, born Wilmington, OH 1879-died San Francisco, CA 1948. oil on canvas
M. M. Obin, Haitian, b. 1949. Synthetic polymer on fiberboard 1974
Doris Lee, born Aledo, IL 1905-died Clearwater, FL 1983. Oil on canvas 1945
Léon Augustin L’hermitte, French, born Mont-Saint-Père, France 1844-died Paris, France 1925. Charcoal 1915
W. H. Martin, born 1865-died 1940. Photography-Photoprint 1910s
Artist/Maker: Michael M. Chiago (Mike Chiago), Tohono O’odham (Papago)/Piipaash (Maricopa)/Akimel O’odham (Pima), b. 1946. Painting/Drawing/Print 1992
Jules Emile Zingg, French, born Montbeliard, France 1882-died Paris, France 1942. Charcoal 1912
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