Twenty-five essays on great works of American art and design. John Wilmerding's "Masterpiece" column in The Wall Street Journal is one of the newspaper's most popular features. This book gathers those essays, each one integrating a detailed visual analysis with insights not only into the art and its creator, but also into the national context at the time of its execution. American Masterpieces features a full-sized reproduction of each sculpture, painting, piece of architecture, and photograph discussed. Some such as Mary Cassatt's "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair" are well known while others (such as Henry H. Richardson's Crane Memorial Library in Quincy, Massachusetts) are largely unregarded. This broad, representative, and eclectic selection of the best this country has produced is for anyone who with a taste for American art and history.