BRIGHTON, UK.- Brighton Museum & Art Gallery presents today The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock - A British Museum Tour, on view through August 31, 2009. The American Scene features around 80 outstanding prints by 56 leading modern American artists, including George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois and Jackson Pollock.

The first half of the 20th century was a period of great change in America, and this exhibition examines American society and culture through the prints produced by some of the most important artists of the time.

The exhibition begins with John Sloan's Ashcan School etchings of everyday urban experience in the early 1900s and concludes with Jackson Pollock and the triumph of abstract expressionism in the 1950s. Many of the images in the intervening period explore the changing urban landscape of New York, the onset of the Depression, the romanticised visions of the American heartlands by the Regionalists, the response to the rise of Fascism in Europe and America’s entry into the Second World War.

The American Scene: prints from Hopper to Pollock was originally shown at the British Museum in 2008. It was seen by more than 413,000 people, making it one of the most popular exhibitions ever shown at the British Museum. The touring exhibition was made possible through the British Museum's Partnership UK scheme. The tour is supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The American Scene continues at Brighton Museum until 31 August. Entry to Brighton Museum is free; admission charges apply for The American Scene. For group booking information, telephone 03000 290901.