Perhaps you are expecting the July/August issue of American Fine Art Magazine to be formally dedicated to the United States Semiquincentennial. While there is related content inside, the truth is we’ve been covering this landmark event in every issue since 2025, and will continue to do so long after the fireworks have faded.
Exhibitions curated around the nation’s 250th birthday began opening last year. There have been so many of them since, large and small, specific and broad, no single issue could possibly contain them all, while giving each the attention they deserve. So, we’ve meted them out, magazine by magazine.
In this issue alone, we have American Stories: From Revolution to Rockwell at the Norman Rockwell Museum; Dear America: Artists Explore the American Experience at the National Gallery of Art; and USA @ 250 at Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Refer to our art show calendar for a dozen others that we’ve covered and are still ongoing.
I admit, at one point, I groaned. Another one? Is it 2027 yet? But then it occurred to me how special this moment is and why. Given the historic focus of this magazine, major national milestone or not, examining our country’s past through the lens of American art is largely what we do.
But right now, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that every single museum in the country—and there are upwards of 35,000 of them—is doing something in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. Thinking about all the collective energy focused on one unifying theme stopped me in my tracks to take some time to reflect, which is precisely what these exhibitions are aiming to do.
I have written about and talked to the curators of many USA 250 exhibitions. They are all in response to the same occasion, but each diverged into unique interpretations, often through the institutions’ own permanent collections. They approached the theme from countless different angles, some celebratory, others more critical. All of them acknowledge the complexity of the American story and recognize there is no one story. There are as many stories as there are people, and museums are making a Herculean effort to bring as many voices into the narrative as possible, expanding our understanding of what America was, is and can be.
Enjoy the July/August issue!
Sarah Gianelli
Managing Editor
sgianelli@americanartcollector.com
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