Detail of Damien Hirst’s “In Love – Out of Love,” which sold for $750,000 at Phillips, a new record for the artist.

A Century of Painting at Spanierman Gallery

NEW YORK CITY – Spanierman Gallery, LLC will host “: A Century of Painting, 1840-1940,” an exhibition of oils and watercolors by American painters, including works by Thomas Cole, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Willard Metcalf, Georgia O’Keefe, John Frederick Peto, Theodore Robinson, John Singer Sargent, and John Henry Twachtman.

Also featured will be works by Edward Barnard, Howard Chandler Chritsy, John Joseph Enneking, Aaron Harry Gorson, Max Kuehne, Harriet Lumis, Robert Nisbet, Hovsep Pushman, and William John Whittemore.

Featuring 80 works, this exhibition will capture many aspects of America’s diverse artistic heritage while demonstrating the emphasis, adhered to by so many artists over the course of a century, on expressing moods of tranquility and quietude in their works.

This tendency reflects the response to a time of dramatic change in American life when the frontier became settled, when urban centers grew explosively, and when industrial manufactures spread as the nation’s technological prowess grew. In their images of restful places and contemplative figures, native artists from 1840 through 1940 epitomized the desire of the populace of the day for respite from the bustling, often competitive atmosphere of daily life.

In the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century period in particular, when it became apparent that the wilderness was quickly vanishing and that city life harbored significant dangers, artists created serene images that echoed the longing for “an age of contemplation, of quiet delight in nature and her romantic moods, of lyric poetry, of life unhurried.” (Robert W. MacBeth, Memorial Exhibition of Painting by Charles Warren Eaton, 1938.)

The exhibit continues through January 30. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9:30 to 5:30. Phone 212/832-0208