On View
On viewObject number1996/7.21
Americana
Artist
Roger Brown
(American, 1941-1997)
Date1988
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 6 ft. 11 in. × 8 ft. (210.8 × 243.8 cm)
Credit LineArt Auction Fund and Blanche Hull Fund
Exhibition HistoryAlabaama Impact Contemporary Artsits with Alabama Ties, Mobile Museum of Art, March 11-May 7, 1995. Travelled to the Huntsville Museum of Art, Juy 2 - September 1995.
On loan to Kalamazoo Valley Museum (July 17, 1997 - August 25, 1998).
"Art and the American Experience," KIA (Sept. 13 - Dec. 6, 1998).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).
"Legendary Voices: Art for the Next Century," KIA (September 7 - February 18, 2025)Label TextRoger Brown painted this work as a tribute to four great American artists who influenced his work: Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O'Keeffe, Diego Rivera, and Marsden Hartley. Brown identified with these innovative, 20th-century artists who worked outside the mainstream. Each with a unique vision (like Brown), these artists created their own distinct painting styles.
In Americana, these four figures are silhouetted against a strongly patterned background that suggests clouds seen in O'Keeffe's paintings. The colors are bright and saturated, especially the repeated touches of red paint. The formal, symmetrical composition is consistent with Brown's style.
