Crossing the Divide

Raymond Dabb Yelland (1848-1900), 'View of Monterey Bay,' 1879, oil on canvas, 53 15/16 x 36 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, gift of S.L. Wright, 1973.

America's art is as varied as its people. Landscapes range from western desert cliffs to lush eastern meadows. Portraiture features both this land's first inhabitants and the countless generations that have arrived since. Artists through the centuries each took their turn vying for the spotlight, and they used everything from oil on canvas to LED screens to share their ideas with the world.

This new exhibition celebrates the wondrous breadth and depth of American art in the Museum's permanent collection. Over the next five years, visitors will find familiar favorites from artists like Maynard Dixon, Minerva Teichert, and Mahonri Young, as well as rarely shown marvels by artists such as Benny Andrews, Valentina Sireech, and Xavier Martínez.

We invite all to explore, compare, and question the more-than-100 artworks in this curated collection. As they do they will find themselves amazed and humbled by the diverse medley of beliefs, struggles, and perspectives that have come to define the nation.