Since the nation’s founding, America’s national identity has been tied to the rural ideal. The power of the young country was drawn from its nature, with forests to clear, resources to mine, and land to develop on an unprecedented scale. The yeoman farmer was among the most familiar of national characters. Even as the focus of American life drifted to the city from the farms, country ways remained a persistent subject of interest for artists.

Through a selection of prints, drawings, and photographs from the High’s collection, this exhibition will explore the many ways in which Americans imagined and engaged with life beyond the city limits over the course of a century.

Works by artists ranging from Winslow Homer and Rhonda Nicholls in the nineteenth century to Thomas Hart Benton, Marion Greenwood, Ansel Adams, and Andrew Wyeth in the twentieth century will offer various views of country life. The artworks also will foreground the diversity of the High’s collection to present a dynamic and varied picture of the complex and compelling story of the American pastoral.

This exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.