Finding America Printings at Georgetown Challenge Limits of Geography by Jeff Davis When Georgetown University art technician David Alan decided to spotlight American artwork from the Georgetown University Art Collection, he encountered an interesting problem: What constitutes American art? Is it artwork produced by an American artist, or can it be a piece capturing an American image that was created elsewhere by a foreigner? As curator of ìVisual Arts of the Americas,î now on display at Georgetown Universityís Lauinger Library, Alan answered this question by including all types of American artwork in the exhibit, which he separated into two parts to highlight pieces from Latin America as well as North America. The Georgetown University Art Collection consists of 10,000 prints and other works on paper, and the university organizes exhibits in its Lauinger Library three or four times a year. ìThese are works that donít often get shown or studied, so weíre pleased to show these pieces in this exhibit,î Alan said. The first phase of ìVisual Arts,î which opened May 9 and ran for the first half of the summer, featured art from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. Th e items currently on display showcase art from Canada and the United States. The exhibit exemplifies the struggle Alan faced to label American art, with a variety of pieces produced by non-American artists or by Americans who worked in Europe but created images of American icons and concepts. The second phase of the exhibit also reflects the unique relationship between Canada and the United States, in which Canada has struggled throughout history to show its independence from its larger neighbor while still benefiting from its proximity to the United States. The oldest item on display in ìVisual Artsî is ìHistoriae Canadensis,î or ìHistory of Canada,î a Latin text written by Jesuits in Paris who gave an account of what the New World had to offer. The text demonstrates one of the shortcomings of producing American art outside of the Americas, with engraved illustrations attempting to show, often unsuccessfully, how the New World appears based on images from people who had never seen the land. The same problem is evident in ìMort du General De Montcalme,î a watercolor by relatively unknown artist J. Jacques Escher that portrays the death of a French general who fought the English for control of Quebec. The death scene was produced entirely in Europe, and European misconceptions about the New World are evident in the artistís inclusion of an out-of-place palm tree in the background. Other Canadian items on display include commercial printings that convey the sense of competition between the United States and Canada. With World War I giving a boost to Canadian commerce, commercial printings in Canada became more advanced in advertising their products. A Toronto Symphony Orchestra concert pamphlet, for example, shows the advent of half-tone photography, the origins of which can be traced to Montreal. Many believe that individuals at the Leggo Co. in Canada were the first to use half-tone images and photolithography to transpose images onto lithographs. Other printings similarly tout aspects of Canadian culture and business that beat out their American counterparts. Adding to the broad definition of American art are pieces by artists who worked entirely out of Europe. For instance, the exhibit features several book illustrations by Henry Ritter, a Canadian artist who worked in D¸sseldorf, Germany. One of these pieces, ìRip Returns Home/Rip Under Questioning,î crosses several nationalities, having appeared alongside the writings of American author Washington Irving. The international focus on the Americas continues with a piece that was displayed in both phases of the exhibit. ìThe Description of America,î an engraving that is believed to be the first map reference to the New World as America, has been included throughout the ìVisual Artsî exhibit because of its dual geographic representation of both North and South America. The bright colors in the map define various regions and countries, and different native peoples are portrayed around the borders of the map, adding to its unique visual appeal. Of course, some pieces in the exhibit are without a doubt purely American. ìThe Bridge,î by C.C. Bowen, is a dark and mysterious representation of the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. Amid the dark black of the night sky and the dark blue of the murky water below, small yellow lights line the bridge and produce reflections in the water that capture the essence of North American unity. The many regions of South America and the Caribbean, primarily Mexico and Puerto Rico, were represented in the first phase of ìVisual Arts,î which concluded July 20, and even though the second half of the exhibit highlights only Canada and the United States, the international appeal and overlap is just as strong. ìVisual Arts of the Americas: Canada and the United Statesî runs through Oct. 19 at the Charles Marvin Fairchild Memorial Gallery on the fifth floor of the Georgetown University Lauinger Library, 37th and O streets, NW. For more information, please call (202) 687-1469 or visit www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/guac/americas_03/. Jeff Davis is an editorial intern for The Washington Diplomat.