Art Gallery

Under the Wave off Kanagawa

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanj?rokkei)
ca. 1830?32 Katsushika Hokusai Japanese
The breathtaking composition of this woodblock print, said to have inspired Debussy's La Mer (The Sea) and Rilke's Der Berg (The Mountain), ensures its reputation as an icon of world art. Hokusai cleverly played with perspective to make Japan's grandest mountain appear as a small triangular mound within the hollow of the cresting wave. The artist became famous for his landscapes created using a palette of indigo and imported Prussian blue

American Progress

Painting entitled 'American Progress', by John Gast, depicting 'Manifest Destiny' (the religious belief that the United States should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in the name of God). In 1872 artist John Gast painted a popular scene of people moving west that captured the view of Americans at the time. Called 'Spirit of the Frontier' and widely distributed as an engraving portrayed settlers moving west, guided and protected by a goddess-like figure and aided by technology (railways, telegraphs), driving Native Americans and bison into obscurity. It is also important to note that angel is bringing the 'light' as witnessed on the eastern side of the painting as she travels towards the 'darkened' west.' USA, circa 1872. (Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images)

© 2010 Getty Images

'American Homestead Winter'

In a Currier & Ives print titled 'American Homestead Winter,' a man with his dog carries firewood to his home as a couple in a horse-drawn slegh pass him on the road, 1868. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

© 2005 Getty Images

52171945, America, Country, Dog, Engravings, Female, Horse, House, Illustration, Male, North, Pet, Prints, Sledge, Sledging, Snow, T948281, Weather, Winter, Wood