This book highlights works from one of the US' most repspected museum collection of American art. In his engaging essay, Graham W.J. Beale -places the 96 works in historical context, relating them to contemporary social and artistic trends both at home and abroad. Beginning with the first truly home-grown talent - John Singleton Copley -in te 18th century to the social realism of John Sloan in the earlt20th, the volume presents an encycolpaedic view of American painting.