For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design

The New Mexico Museum of Art, including For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design, is currently closed to in-person visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Museum is now offering a variety of virtual exhibition content that can be accessed safely from home. Please see the links at the bottom of this page for a walkthrough of the galleries, highlights with a curator, and educational videos. Please visit our Virtual Tours page for an interactive tour of the exhibition. 

For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design features almost one hundred extraordinary paintings that present not only a visual document of the Academy’s membership, but a unique history of American painting as told by its makers. From its founding in 1825 to the present, the NAD has required all Academicians to donate a representative work to the Academy’s collection, and, from 1839 to 1994, the Academy also required Associates to present a portrait of themselves, whether painted by their own hand or that of a fellow artist. Such gifts of “diploma works” and “diploma portraits” are the defining feature of the Academy’s collection and the focus of this exhibition.

A remarkable selection of works by many major American artists is showcased across five exhibition sections, exploring a variety of historic themes: the origins of the Academy and the concomitant rise of the Hudson River School and American genre painting; the impact of contemporary European art and art education on the development of American painting; the Academy’s nascent role in the early twentieth century as the purveyor of artistic tradition in the United States; how realism in its various incarnations remained a viable alternative to American abstraction; and the ways in which paintings from living National Academy members address contemporary concerns while harkening back to America’s storied past. “We are thrilled to host an exhibition that offers such a extensive look at the history of American painting” says Christian Waguespack, Curator of 20th Century Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art and in-house curator for this exhibition. “With subjects ranging from George Washington to the Pueblos of New Mexico, there will definitely be something here for everyone.”

For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the National Academy of Design. Support for the national tour is provided by the JFM Foundation, Monique Schoen Warshaw, and Steph & Jody La Nasa.

Take a video walkthrough of For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design

Explore exhibition highlights with New Mexico Museum of Art’s Curator of 20th Century Art, Christian Waguespack

Learn more about the relationship between the New Mexico Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design