America, warts and All

“Young Washington” (lithograph on paper), by Alex Katz, in the show “Framing American Democracy: Contemporary Artists Reflect,’’ at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, through Sept. 13.

The museum says (this is slightly edited):

“Artists of the past 50 years have played an active role in shaping and critiquing American society and politics. Mostly drawn from The Wadsworth’s permanent collection of contemporary art, the works in this exhibition project an image of the United States that shows it both audacious and flawed, in which principles of self-governance and individual rights—such as those outlined in the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) and the Declaration of Independence (1776)—are both revolutionary forces and works in progress.

“Some artists reexamine American democratic ideals through a subversive lens, while others seek to expand national narratives to include people whose rights were excluded by the Founding Fathers, such as women and descendants of enslaved Africans. Many artists represent protest or even use their art as a form of activism, particularly during such watershed moments as the Civil Rights Era, the Vietnam War, and the AIDS crisis, while others ambivalently reflect on darker aspects of American culture, from consumerism to militarism.’’