New exhibit explores rural influence on modern American art
ATLANTA (AP) — A new exhibition takes a look at how American artists found inspiration in rural landscapes during an era of modernist art that was more closely associated with cities.
Thomas Hart Benton, usually associated with the Midwest, traveled to the South and captures a weathered old tobacco farmer teaching a slight young girl about tobacco leaves in "Tobacco Sorters," a commission for a tobacco company that was ultimately rejected.
"Opening Day at Talladega College," painted by Hale Woodruff in 1942, is one of a series of six murals for the historically black college's library that traces the slave's journey to freedom.
The painting, from 1919, gives a preview of her bright floral paintings with blended colors that have become so popular.
A large-scale print of Ansel Adams' iconic "Yosemite Valley from Inspiration Point, Winter, Yosemite National Park" captures the majesty of the Western landscape in a way that is so familiar but still breathtaking.