John Gast (painter)
Encyclopedia
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
who lived and worked most of his life in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York. He is most famous for painting American Progress, an allegory of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the 19th century American belief that the United States was destined to expand across the continent. It was used by Democrat-Republicans in the 1840s to justify the war with Mexico; the concept was denounced by Whigs, and fell into disuse after the mid-19th century.Advocates of...
that was widely disseminated in engravings and chromolithographic prints. Other than that, little is known about him.
External links
- Entry in Goulding's New York City directory (1877), listing him as GAST JOHN, artist & lithographer, 39 Park pl. h B'klyn
- Short biography, list of references, and examples of work on askart.com
- Essay on American Progress by historian Martha A. Sandweiss of Amherst College Includes high resolution version of the painting
- The Library of Congress -
- Works by Gast from the Department of Drawings and Prints
- Works by Gast in the general Catalog
- New approved method of zinc etching or photo-zinc-engraving (1886), by Gast