Book excerpt: With this publication, produced in conjunction with the largest expansion in the history of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the full scope of the museum's outstanding American art collection is represented for the first time. Following an introduction tracing the history of American art at this encyclopedic museum--a state-supported, privately endowed institution--readers will discover lively and generously illustrated essays about selected paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by many of America's leading artists: John James Audubon, Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt, Frederic Church, John Singleton Copley, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Willson Peale, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Singer Sargent, William Wetmore Story, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and James McNeill Whistler. Also included are decorative objects by well-known artisans and firms, such as John Henry Belter, the Goddard-Townsend group, Herter Brothers, Paul Revere, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Organized in chronological sections ranging from the colonial era to the mid-twentieth century, this long-awaited book examines a noteworthy collection through a variety of interpretive lenses--aesthetic and cultural--for the benefit of a broad readership. Published by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in association with the University of Virginia Press