As the United States gets into the swing of its semiquincentennial celebrations, museums around the country are looking more closely at the country’s brief but complicated history. Confronting the fact that certain symbols mean different things to different people, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., considers how artists have incorporated the US flag into their work (6 June–6 December). Though the display of 30 works is modest in size, it is ambitious in scope, stretching from the 1860s to the present day. One of the oldest works here – Allegory of Freedom by an unknown artist, possibly made during the Civil War – sums up many people’s ambivalence towards the flag: as one Union soldier confidently rides a horse while holding the stars and stripes aloft, one of his Black comrades stands beneath a US flag at full mast, looking traumatised and hopeful simultaneously.
Find out more from the National Gallery of Art’s website.
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