About seventy-eight percent of Americans believe that expressing personal creativity improves their lives substantially. (“4 Statistics That Promote the Power of Creativity in the Workplace”). Whether you’re the one creating or you’re the one experiencing the creativity – it still has a massive impact on you. Early American art shaped the founding fundamentals of Americans and continued to inspire individuals to keep fighting. John White (1540-1593) was the earliest notable colonial American artist. Unlike most of the influential artists from this time – John White wasn’t an oil painter, he enjoyed using watercolor paints. (“John White (Colonist and Artist)”). He started on the creative side by being an explorer and cartographer on top of being an artist. On the expedition to North America, White sketched out a lot of the land on Roanoke Island (“John White”).
White’s art kept people curious about Newfoundland. His sketches, paintings, and illustrations intrigued people and made everyone find a sense of explorer in themselves. John Singleton Copley (1769-1815) was another influential artist during the colonial period. In an interesting letter sent to Benjamin West in November of 1766, Copley stated, “In this country, as you rightly observe there are no examples of art, except what is to [be] met within a few prints indifferently executed, from which it is not possible to learn much.” (“Biography of John Singleton Copley”). Art wasn’t as plentiful back then as it is today – so artists I feel had a pure creative minds. They thought of things no one has ever done before. Copley was very talented at oil painting portraits. Unlike Peale, his success wasn’t about who he painted – people were so interested in how he painted with such realism. He would also use artifacts in his paintings that related to the subject’s life. His eye perceived the world in a different way than everyone else which made him stand out and more people started appreciating art. Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) was one of the key early American artists. As a young boy, he started as a saddler, watchmaker, politician, soldier, and silversmith – but later became invested in painting after he traded a saddle for some art classes from John Hesselius. He also is known for starting the first museum in America. He was very interested in natural history so the museum was based around that. Another random achievement from Peale was organizing the first scientific expedition in 1801. Peale was most known for his beautiful portraits of historical American heroes, including, Georggirls’e Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams (Britannica). In 1782, Peale opened up a gallery for Revolutionary heroes. Peale was an artist who captured the real heroes that started America. Susanna Paine (1792-1862) was one of the rare, influential woman artists during this period.
During the War of 1812, he saw the lack of respect Britains had for America and quickly became deeply pro-American. He returned to America in 1815 and made a living off creating portraits. Morse also had a strong sense of leadership. In 1827 he created the National Academy of Design because he wanted to increase the respect held for American artists. By the 1830s, Morse created a system of dots and dashes, becoming what we know as Morse code, and created a successful telegraph line (“Samuel F.B. Morse”). Samuel Morse is important to us today because he invented the telegraph and gave America a sense of leadership and passionate qualities. George Catlin (1796-1872) was an abnormal artist during this period – his focus was on the Native Americans. Catlin grew up in Pennsylvania – spending his time hunting, fishing, and looking for Indian artifacts. Early American artists set a mood out for the rest of Americans to get exploring, pay attention to the little details, and be brave. Creativity allowed these individuals to be free even when they were repressed by parliament. American artists helped influence our approach to colonizing our homeland.
