America after the Fall

Disappointing exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at American art of the 1930s.

I found the narrative of the show a bit thin but this may have just been in contrast to the richness of the Russian exhibition which I had just been to. The rooms were themed well but the handout then concentrated on specific artists in each section even though in some cases there was only one picture by the artist. Maybe I should have got the audio tour to give me a story.

There were however some wonderful pictures and it did have a good sense of time and place. I hadn’t realised that the term “the American Dream” was defined in this period and the Star Spangled Banner became the national anthem.  I liked Stuart Davies’s “New York – Paris No 3” a painted collage of images of the America and France including a café and a gas station. Also Grant Wood’s strange “Daughters of the Revolution” with three older ladies from that organisation set against “Washington Crossing the Delaware” with one of them holding up a willow patterned cup.

My favourite picture was Charles Sheeler’s “Home Sweet Home” a shaker style interior where the objects in the room take on an almost cubist composition, I loved the patterned rectangular rugs set at odd angles.

It was wonderful to see Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” which is on loan from Chicago. Like all pictures it is very different in the flesh to in reproduction. There was much more detail in it than I thought and I loved the texture of the man’s face. However I feel its fame does overshadow the rest of the work in the show. It’s like seeing warm up bands at a concert. The show is very busy but I suspect most people have just come to see this work.

Closes on 4 June 2017.

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