Take A Stroll Through the Biggs!

Sewell C. Biggs (1914–2003), a University of Delaware graduate, world traveler and collector of fine and decorative art from the Delaware Valley, founded the Biggs Museum of American Art in 1993. He filled the museum with the pieces he had collected over the years, arranging this significant collection in a timeline that begins in 1700 and extends to the present. In this presentation, Biggs placed the fine and decorative arts of Delaware alongside national examples of American style.

We invite you to stroll through the Biggs Museum of American Art—as well as this online timeline—and in doing so, stroll through the history of the major periods in art in America. You will notice how some particularly popular styles often remained so to Delaware patrons long after nearby trendsetters moved on to the latest fashions. As a result, many style periods tend to overlap on the Biggs Museum timeline.

COLONIAL SETTLEMENT AND
GLOBAL TRADE
1680–1720

AMERICAN BAROQUE PERIOD
1720–1750

AMERICAN ROCOCO PERIOD
1750–1785

PERIOD HIGHLIGHT:
THE JANVIERS OF DELAWARE

1770–1820

AMERICAN FEDERAL PERIOD
1785–1815

PERIOD HIGHLIGHT: AMERICAN FOLK ART
1790–1900

AMERICAN EMPIRE PERIOD
1810–1835

GREEK REVIVAL PERIOD
1815–1850

HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL AND
LANDSCAPE ART
1820-1870

PERIOD HIGHLIGHT:
ART OF THE CIVIL WAR

1861-1865

AMERICAN GILDED AGE
1860–1900

AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM
1880–1910

PERIOD OF AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION
1880–1930

PERIOD OF THE AMERICAN ART COLONIES
1900–1940

PERIOD OF AMERICAN MODERNISM
1900–70

PERIOD OF CONTEMPORARY ART
1970-PRESENT