The Royal Academy of Arts explores how artists depicted America after the Great Depression. But what have critics thought of it? 

The Guardian: ***** “There is terrific range in style and subject matter, outlook and temperament, artistic registers, ambitions and focus here. These are glimpses of the past, but one whose repercussions are felt in the divisions of America today.”

The Spectator: “Not much in this selection, though, can compare to the power of the abstract expressionists at their peak in the Forties and Fifties — not even an early work by Pollock himself. But it does include a couple of masterpieces by Edward Hopper, plus several pictures so brashly over the top as to be quite interesting.”

The Financial Times: “This is a gripping prequel in art history to the RA’s Abstract Expressionism last year, as well as being a far-ranging exploration of American responses to America: a perfectly pitched exhibition.”

The Independent: **** “the show feels like journalism at its best, forever trying to make sense of the sheer, no holds barred cacophony of a ceaselessly unpeeling story.”

The Arts Desk: “fascinating and sharply focused exhibition”

Evening Standard: ***** “America After the Fall is finely tuned”

The Daily Mail: **** “This is a terrific exhibition, exploring a fascinating moment in American painting.”

The Times: “could not have come at a more resonant moment”

Culture Whisper: **** “While each of the 45 paintings its own story, the real triumph of this exhibition is the curation.”

Time Out: **** “Not all the paintings here are good, let alone great, but what a story: the American Dream was leaving people lost in a nightmarish abyss.” 

London Visitors:  “the exhibition offers plenty of opportunities to consider how art can often be used as prism to consider wider issues.”

America After the Fall is on display at the Royal Academy of Arts until the 4th June. To find out more and to book tickets visit: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/america-after-the-fall.