Facing the Issues: William Sidney Mount and Current Events June 10, 2012

The Long Island artist William Sidney Mount (1807-1868) lived during a time of tremendous growth and change in America. The population grew rapidly, more people moved from the countryside to cities, new states were admitted to the union, and the nation expanded westward. These rapid changes caused disruptions, uncertainty and discontent, as not everyone embraced the new politics, economy or morality. Mount's paintings reflect this tension. He himself had a foot in both the city world of New York (having spent part of his childhood there) and the rural world of Long Island (where he lived the majority of his life). Mount's paintings do not show a clear political, economic, or social position, but rather reflect the ambivalence and anxieties of his time. The paintings in this exhibit are divided into three groups, according to the issues they explore: Economic Growth, Politics and Changing Society.