Enfilade

From the MFA Boston:

Ethan Lasser and Erica Hirshler, eds., Art in the Americas: Conflict, Culture, and Exchange in the Eighteenth Century (Boston: MFA Publications, 2026), 288 pages, ISBN: ‎978-0878469116, $50.

Traditionally, the story of 18th-century art from the Americas has been a narrative of exceptionalism and independence, but the reality is a far more nuanced story of encounter and inter-dependence across North, South, and Central America as well as the Caribbean. Drawn from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the iconic paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts featured in this volume illustrate cultures coming together through the exchange of ideas, materials, styles, and techniques. Authored by some twenty-seven writers, including curators, historians, and contemporary artists engaged with the work of their eighteenth-century predecessors, Art in the Americas reflects the range of voices studying and presenting historical American art today. Readers can explore the interconnectedness of the Americas, how local knowledge and materials could influence a faraway market, and the role artists played in shaping ideas and myths of nationhood and identity that are still central to cultures across the Americas today.

Ethan Lasser is Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Conservation, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Erica E. Hirshler is Croll Senior Curator of American Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

c o n t e n t s

Director’s Foreword
From Independence to Interdependence

Boston’s World
Asian Styles in the Americas
History and Mythmaking
Power and Resistance
John Singleton Copley
Communities of Makers
Tea, Coffee, Chocolate and Mate
Homes and Families

Further Reading
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index