Iconic Paintings

[Tharmas]

Although I am neither British nor Australian, I have always admired the painting “The Last of England,” by Ford Madox Brown. Recently I googled it and found that the British public had voted it in as #8 on the list of favorite paintings. I found myself idly wondering how popular it was in Australia, or if the average Aussie had even heard of it.

Then I started wondering what a top ten of iconic American paintings would include. In no particular order I thought of:

Warhol’s Tomato Soup cans

Grant Wood’s “American Gothic”

Hopper’s “Night Hawks”

Whistler’s Mother

A Frederick Remington, but I don’t know which. “The End of the Trail” is iconic, but it’s a bronze sculpture and not a painting.

What other examples of iconic, well-known American paintings come to mind?

 

[Elixir]

Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World.

 

[pood]

Convergence, Jackson Pollock.

 

[Elixir]

Anything by Maxfield Parrish, because -
Nothing is more American than wasting rare talent on visually overstating the obvious for the benefit of the meat of the bell curve of public taste.
He has been replaced/assimilated by AI.

 

[pood]

Pretty much any number of works by Norman Rockwell, through I greatly prefer painters like Pollock.

 

[Tharmas]

Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World.

Of course, absolutely! I was actually thinking of Christina's World when I wrote the initial post but I couldn't remember the artist or the name of the picture.

Convergence, Jackson Pollock.

It's hard for me to pick out an individual Pollock work, but Convergence certainly captures his essence. I saw an exhibition of Pollock's work at the local art museum a few years ago. I was struck by the results he achieved in his black and white technique.

Anything by Maxfield Parrish, because -
Nothing is more American than wasting rare talent on visually overstating the obvious for the benefit of the meat of the bell curve of public taste.
He has been replaced/assimilated by AI.

You're probably right, which I admit grudgingly since he was my grandmother's first cousin, whatever relation that makes him to me. "Daybreak" was popular on posters a few years ago. Like Norman Rockwell he made his living from magazine cover illustrations.

 

[Tharmas]

Pretty much any number of works by Norman Rockwell, through I greatly prefer painters like Pollock.

For some reason I can't remember I spent a couple of days in Stockbridge Mass, Norman Rockwell's home town, a few years ago. I did not visit the Norman Rockwell museum though. The other attraction in Stockbridge was Alice's Restaurant (where you can get anything you want ... except Alice), but it was way too crowded to get a seat there.

 

[Elixir]

Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World.

Of course, absolutely! I was actually thinking of Christina's World when I wrote the initial post but I couldn't remember the artist or the name of the picture.

Convergence, Jackson Pollock.

It's hard for me to pick out an individual Pollock work, but Convergence certainly captures his essence. I saw an exhibition of Pollock's work at the local art museum a few years ago. I was struck by the results he achieved in his black and white technique.

Anything by Maxfield Parrish, because -
Nothing is more American than wasting rare talent on visually overstating the obvious for the benefit of the meat of the bell curve of public taste.
He has been replaced/assimilated by AI.

You're probably right, which I admit grudgingly since he was my grandmother's first cousin, whatever relation that makes him to me. "Daybreak" was popular on posters a few years ago. Like Norman Rockwell he made his living from magazine cover illustrations.

Yes. I think he was brilliant. And probably didn’t mind taking up the populist niche. Nobody else was going off on that extreme lighting thing at the time iirc.

Cool that he was a relative!!

 

[ideologyhunter]

Any of Gerald Murphy's works, although he only painted for 8 years, completing 14 canvases, of which 6 are lost (!)
Very pop-oriented, with hints of cubism.

 

[bilby]

I found myself idly wondering how popular it was in Australia, or if the average Aussie had even heard of it.

That depends. Some Aussies can be pretty bloody average.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

Need one of Georgia O’Keefe’s. Damned if I know which one. Maybe “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1”.

Rockwell’s “Freedom from want”.

 

[Elixir]

Mose Tolliver is an interesting guy.
My sister gave me one of his originals a while back. It’s hanging in our basement because Mrs E thinks it’s creepy.

 

[Spacetime Inhabitant]

Australian here. Never heard of or seen 'The Last of England' before, nor am I familiar with 'The End of the Trail' though it does have some familiar aspects that would have seen in other works. I am familiar with the other works in the OP though didn't recall that one of them was called 'Night Hawks'.
With regard to Jackson Pollock, his 'Blue Poles' is extremely famous in Australia.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The Gulf Stream, Winslow Homer (1899) - probably overly familiar, but necessary,

 

[Thomas II]

Frederic Remington - "The Scout" - Friends or Foes

 

[Thomas II]

Andrew Wyeth- "Christina's World"

Wyeth- "Helga"

 

[Thomas II]

 

[Thomas II]

 

[pood]

For me, all of these are technically very well executed of course, but the lack the visual importance of the line of modern art that was germinated with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne, and eventually led to Cubism, expressionism, abstract expressionism, Dada. action painting, colorfield painting, pop art, post-modernism, and on and on.

 

[pood]

Turkey dinner sure looks good, though.