World War I and American Art

Robert Cozzolino is the Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator of Paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Anne Classen Knutson is an independent scholar and curator. David M. Lubin is the Charlotte C. Weber Professor of Art at Wake Forest University.

World War I had a profound impact on American art and culture. Nearly every major artist responded to events, whether as official war artists, impassioned observers, or participants on the battlefields. It was the moment when American artists and designers began to consider the importance of their contributions to the wider world and visually represent Americas emergent role in modern global conflict. World War I and American Art provides an unprecedented look at the ways in which American artists reacted to the war. Artists took a leading role in chronicling the war, crafting images that influenced public opinion, supported mobilization efforts, and helped to shape how the wars appalling human toll was memorialized. Featuring works by artists ranging from Ivan Albright, George Bellows, Marsden Hartley, Childe Hassam, and Georgia OKeeffe to Violet Oakley, Man Ray, John Singer Sargent, and Claggett Wilson, World War I and American Art brings together paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, posters, and ephemera, spanning the diverse visual culture of the period to tell the story of a crucial turning point in the history of American art.