Nocturne

John La Farge

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A founder and leader of the American watercolor movement by the late 1870s, La Farge used the medium to make studies for illustrations and decorative projects, to record his travels, and to paint exquisite floral still-life exhibition pieces. This sheet typifies those still lifes in its quiet mood, its nuanced handling of the medium, and its echoes of Japanese asymmetrical composition and broad tonal planes. La Farge was in the vanguard of American artists who appreciated Japanese design principles.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art