Rare Declaration of Independence copy featured in auction house's US 250th exhibition

A copy of the Declaration of Independence, a 13-star American flag and a 1795 portrait of George Washington are among the works on display at Sotheby’s in New York in an exhibition marking 250 years of American independence.

“American Views: People & Places,” which runs from July 1 through July 16, brings together historical objects, paintings, photographs and literature to examine the development of American visual and material culture.

“The exhibition is really an overview and a retrospective review of 250 years of American independence,” said Nick Deimel, Sotheby’s senior vice president and head of modern private sales for the Americas.

The show is organized into five thematic chapters rather than a strict chronology, beginning with “Making of a Nation,” which includes an early Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington, a Revolutionary War-era 13-star flag and a to-scale model of Independence Hall commissioned for the Centennial Exhibition of American independence in 1876.

The exhibition also includes a copy of the Declaration of Independence from the first 200 copies commissioned in 1820 by then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams.

Other sections look at the American landscape, expansion, identity and postwar visual culture.

“Dreaming America” includes works by Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe, while “American Lives” features photography by Gordon Parks and a portrait by Barkley Hendricks.

The exhibition also considers how artists, writers and makers responded to the country’s landscape, immigrant communities, industrial growth and struggles over citizenship, equality and civil rights.

Camera: Andrew Hofstetter; Production, Writing, Editing: Roselle Chen/Reuters