Art in the Americas

Toward a new "New World"-the interwoven 18th-century Americas as viewed through fine art, religious items, furniture, decorative objects and more

The story of 18th-century art from the Americas has traditionally emphasized a narrative of exceptionalism and independence. Yet the reality of this history is a far more nuanced story of encounter and interdependence across the geographic regions that are known today as North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Drawing a cultural cartography with objects from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art in the Americas illustrates the exchange of ideas, materials, styles and techniques in the Western hemisphere. Family portraits by John Singleton Copley pair with pastel drawings of Black women in Guadeloupe; delicate blue-and-white Chinese export bowls sit alongside sterling silver Torah finials; an inlaid cabinet made in New Spain dazzles next to an Andean tapestry. Together with dozens of other objects, these works invert the typical dynamics of old world and new world; colonizer and colonized; tradition and innovation. Bolstered with essays by 27 writers, Art in the Americas reflects the range of voices who created fine and decorative arts in the 18th century, and those who study and present their legacy today.