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Visions of America, an exhibition currently on view at the Everson, explores how artists depict life in the United States, from idyllic scenes of the American landscape to critical studies of the country’s history. Surrounded by works in the exhibition that are bold and saturated with color, Lena Gurr’s Evening at Home provides an intimate commentary on modern living. Gurr’s scene is familiar and domestic, but the tone is heightened by the palpable intrigue of friendly competition. Lena Gurr (1897-1992) was an American painter and printmaker of Russian-Jewish descent. Originally trained as a teacher, Gurr turned her attention to art in 1919, when she began taking classes at Educational Alliance Art School. She studied under John Sloan at the Art Students League in the early 1920s, and for the next several decades split her time between teaching art classes in New York City public schools and advancing her own art career. Read More

Henry Chapman Mercer established Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in 1898 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Mercer originally studied to become a lawyer, but after completing school, chose to dedicate his life to his true interests: archaeology and anthropology. Mercer was an avid collector of artifacts, developing a love for ceramics and pottery tools, and was greatly inspired by the Pennsylvania Germans, also known as the Moravians, from whom he drew the name for his company. Production began at his family estate in 1899 and transferred to the factory in 1912. Mercer designed all of the tiles produced at Moravian Pottery, and subscribed to the tenets of the Arts and Crafts movement, believing that the use of machines to create pottery led to the loss of character and uniqueness. Read More

Edward Kienholz (1927-1994) was an American installation artist, sculptor, and early pioneer of assemblage art. Born in Fairfield, Washington, Kienholz grew up on a wheat farm, where he learned carpentry, metalwork, and mechanics. He studied briefly at Washington College of Education while simultaneously working various odd jobs, but left school before earning a degree, deciding instead to move to Los Angeles in 1953 to launch his career as an artist. In 1956, Kienholz established NOW Gallery, a space for California artists to present their work without discrimination of medium or style. For the next several decades, he created installations and assemblages of found objects that pushed the boundaries of creativity while commenting on everything from racial and gender stereotypes to the hypocrisy of American consumerism. Read More

Jonas Lie (1880-1940) expressed an early interest in painting and from the age of twelve took art lessons first in Norway, then France and New York City, where he moved in 1893. To help support his mother and sister, Lie began working as a textile designer at a cotton factory in New York in 1897, but he refused to give up on dreams of becoming an artist. While working at the factory, Lie attended evening classes at the National Academy of Design, Cooper Union, and the Art Students League, improving and building upon his design skills. Lie kept up this grueling pace, working days and painting nights, until 1906, when he quit his factory job in order to focus on painting full time. Read More

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Cecilia Beaux (1855-1942) established a reputation as one of the premier portrait artists of her generation, whose skill and aesthetic were compared to those of Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. Beaux grew up in Philadelphia, raised by a grandmother and two aunts who ensured that fine art, music, and literature were an integral part of her childhood. Skilled at drawing, Beaux attended art classes as a teenager, and made frequent visits to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she encountered many American and European masterworks that would influence her later paintings. Read More