American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock

The American Scene features around 150 outstanding prints by 74 leading modern American artists, including George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois and Jackson Pollock.

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• 1 or Extra-large image

  Louis Lozowick (1892–1973), New York, lithograph, c.1925.
  © Lee Lozowick. More information

  Louis Lozowick (1892–1973), New York, lithograph, c.1925. © Lee Lozowick.

• 2 or Extra-large image

  Robert Gwathmey (1903–1988), The Hitchhiker, colour screenprint, 1937. © DACS, London/VAGA, New York 2007. More information

  Robert Gwathmey (1903–1988), The Hitchhiker, colour screenprint, 1937. © DACS, London/VAGA, New York 2007.

• 3 or Extra-large image

  Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Night on El Train, etching, 1918.
  © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. More information

  Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Night on El Train, etching, 1918. © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

• 4 or Extra-large image

  Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Evening Wind, etching, 1921.
  © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. More information

  Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Evening Wind, etching, 1921. © Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

• 5 or Extra-large image

  Robert Riggs (1896–1970), Psychopathic Ward, lithograph, c1940. More information

  Robert Riggs (1896–1970), Psychopathic Ward, lithograph, c1940.

• 6 or Extra-large image

  George Bellows (1882–1925), Business Men's Bath, lithograph, 1923. More information

  George Bellows (1882–1925), Business Men's Bath, lithograph, 1923.

• 7 or Extra-large image

  George Bellows (1882–1925), A Stag at Sharkey's, lithograph, 1917 More information

  George Bellows (1882–1925), A Stag at Sharkey's, lithograph, 1917.

• 8 or Extra-large image

  Martin Lewis (1880–1962), Spring Night, Greenwich Village, drypoint, 1930. © The estate of Martin Lewis, Courtesy Robert K. Newman, The Old Print Shop, Inc., New York. More information

  Martin Lewis (1880–1962), Spring Night, Greenwich Village, drypoint, 1930. © The estate of Martin Lewis, Courtesy Robert K. Newman, The Old Print Shop, Inc., New York.

• 9 or Extra-large image

  Martin Lewis (1880–1962), Little Penthouse, drypoint, 1931.
  © The estate of Martin Lewis, Courtesy Robert K. Newman, The Old Print Shop, Inc., New York. More information

  Martin Lewis (1880–1962), Little Penthouse, drypoint, 1931.
  © The estate of Martin Lewis, Courtesy Robert K. Newman, The Old Print Shop, Inc., New York.

• 10 or Extra-large image

  John Sloan (1871–1951), Turning out the Light, etching, 1905.
  © Kraushaar Galleries, New York More information

  John Sloan (1871–1951), Turning out the Light, etching, 1905. © Kraushaar Galleries, New York.

The first half of the 20th century was a period of great change in America, and this exhibition examines American society and culture through the prints produced by some of the most important artists of the time.

The exhibition begins with John Sloan's Ashcan School etchings of everyday urban experience in the 1900s and concludes with Jackson Pollock and the triumph of abstract expressionism in the 1950s.

Many of the images in the intervening period explore the changing urban landscape of New York, the onset of the Depression, the romanticised visions of the American heartlands by the Regionalists, the response to the rise of Fascism in Europe and America’s entry into the Second World War.

All the works come from the British Museum’s own American print collection, which is the most comprehensive outside the United States covering this period.

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Touring exhibition

This exhibition went on tour in 2009. More information

Image: Louis Lozowick (1892–1973), New York, lithograph, c.1925. © Lee Lozowick.