American Scene at British Museum

Prints from the American Scene at British Museum are on display until the 9th September giving Londoners an insight into the early 20th century in the USA. Covering a period of great political and social upheaval, the American Scene exhibition looks artists' work from the 1900s to the 1960s, and covers many of the most famous pieces of the time.

Edward Hopper, Josef Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock are just some of the famous names on show in the American Scene at British Museum over summer 2008, guaranteeing a fantastic exhibition of art from modernist America.

This is the first exhibition in the UK to show prints from the first half of the 20th century in 25 years, and no doubt the American Scene will be a big hit with lovers of art from that period. Aiming to introduce visitors to specifically American subject matters and artistic identities of the period, the exhibition gives you the chance to view the best collection of American prints from the early 20th century outside America itself.

Covering the arrival of Modernism in America with the jazz age, the skyscraper, and the involvement with the Second World War, the American Scene at British Museum takes viewers on a journey through the emerging national identity of the country and its changing political status. Many striking images are on show in the exhibition, and some have become renowned as iconic works in America even though they are relatively unknown outside the country.

With John Sloan's etchings of normal urban life, you can see works from the classic American Ashcan School, alongside amazing lithographs of boxing matches and mental asylums produced by George Bellows. Bold woodcuts from women modernists, the inspiration of the avant garde movement in Paris, and the highly evocative block colour scene from Edward Hopper of the city at night all combine to create a fantastic overview of the American Scene and the emergance of modern art and several recognisable artistis schools.

As printmaking was encouraged during the Depression, there was a glut of work produced during the twenties, meaning that the Modernists reached a previously unaccessable audience. Political and socially conscious work became more acceptable and abstract expressionism began to make an impression, with Jackson Pollock very much at the forefront. Classed as the first major art movement to begin in the US, the exhibition of the American Scene at British Museum concludes with this major contribution to the art world at large.

The American Scene at British Museum is on show until the 7th September 2008.

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Jack the Ripper and the East End

BP Portrait Award

Rothko at Tate Modern

Photographic Portrait Prize

Skin and Bones

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