A selection of treasured artworks from the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Modern American Realism encompasses the range of what can broadly be called modern realism—from sociopolitical to psychological, from satirical to surrealist. Drawn from works collected by the Sara Roby Foundation, the exhibition includes 44 paintings and sculptures from the 1910s to 1980s by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Arthur Dove, Edward Hopper, Wolf Kahn, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, Reginald Marsh, and Honoré Sharrer, among others.Sara Roby (1907-1986) believed that the most effective way to encourage the visual arts in the United States was to acquire the works of living artists and exhibit them to the public. The Sara Roby Foundation began collecting American art in the mid-1950s, and during the next 30 years assembled a premier group of paintings and sculpture by the country’s leading figurative artists.

Philip Evergood, Dowager in a Wheelchair, 1952, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.90

The resulting collection captures both the optimism and the apprehension of the years following World War II. Many of the works are poignantly human, such as Dowager in a Wheelchair (1952) by Philip Evergood, while others, by artists such as Robert Vickrey, challenge us to decipher meanings imbedded in complex, sometimes enigmatic scenes.

Sara Roby refused to be bound by current trends when she began collecting in the 1950s. She championed realism at a time when critics celebrated abstract expressionism and “action painting.” Yet, she was unwilling to be constrained by her own collecting criteria. In addition to obtaining masterpieces by Edward Hopper, Paul Cadmus, and their contemporaries, the Foundation showed cultural range by purchasing key works by Stuart Davis and Louise Nevelson, and regional breadth by collecting works by Mark Tobey and Morris Graves, both preeminent Northwest Artists.

Images


Reginald Marsh, George Tilyou's Steeplechase, 1932, oil and egg tempera on linen mounted on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.60



Reginald Marsh, Coney Island Beach, 1951, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.96 

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• Robert Vickrey, Fear, 1954, egg tempera on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.82

 

Charles Burchfield, Night of the Equinox, 1917-1955, watercolor, brush and ink, gouache, and charcoal on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.86 

 

 

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Strong Woman and Child, 1925, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.50  

 

Kenneth Hayes Miller, Bargain Hunters, 1940, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © 1940, Kenneth Hayes Miller, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.65 

 

 

Guy Pene du Bois, Shovel Hats, 1923, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.27  

 

Paul Cadmus, Night in Bologna, 1958, egg tempera on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.87 

 

 

Jack Levine, Inauguration, 1956-1958, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.54  

 

George Tooker, In the Summerhouse, 1958, egg tempera on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.100 

 

 

Ben Shahn, After Titian, 1959, tempera on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.78 

Will Barnet, Sleeping Child, 1961, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.1

Dreams No. 2

Jacob Lawrence, Dreams No. 2, 1965, tempera on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.95

Wolf Kahn, High Summer, 1972, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.42

Katherine Schmidt, Man with Coffee Cup, 1935, pen and ink and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.77

Arthur Dove, Oil Tanker II, 1932, watercolor and conte crayon on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.25

Isabel Bishop, Artist's Table, 1931, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.6

Raphael Soyer, Annunciation, 1980, oil on linen, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.98

Artists included

• Will Barnet
• Robert Birmelin
• Isabel Bishop
• Charles Burchfield
• Paul Cadmus
• Stuart Davis
• Arthur Dove
• Philip Evergood
• Sondra Freckelton
• Rose Mary Gonnella-Butler
• Morris Graves
• Nancy Grossman
• Edward Hopper
• Wolf Kahn
• Yasuo Kuniyoshi
• Bruce Kurland
• Gaston Lachaise
• Jacob Lawrence
• Jack Levine
• Reginald Marsh
• Richard Mayhew
• Kenneth Hayes Miller
• Louise Nevelson
• Guy Pene du Bois
• Bernard Perlin
• Hugo Robus
• Theodore Roszak
• Katherine Schmidt
• Honoré Sharrer
• Raphael Soyer
• Mark Tobey
• George Tooker
• Robert Vickrey